db-replicas-views

db-replicas-views (M17)

Read replicas and materialized views scale reads, but both introduce staleness that silently breaks correctness if the application assumes fresh data. This is a Performance & Scale (axis performance) concern; feeds relational Escala w12 (shared with M16/M2/M9).

What it checks

1. Read-your-writes — a write immediately followed by a read of the same data, where the read may be routed to an async replica that has not yet caught up. User writes a comment, the next page load reads the replica and the comment is "gone." Recommend routing the immediate read to the primary, or using sync/quorum reads where required.
2. Materialized-view refresh — an MATERIALIZED VIEW queried as if live but refreshed manually / on a slow cron / never, so it serves stale data. Flag REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW without CONCURRENTLY (locks readers), and views with no visible refresh schedule.

Score / axis

Feeds performance only (relational Escala w12; replica/view concerns map to the Query/Escala categories in NoSQL profiles where applicable).

Tier-0 (static)

Detect replica routing config (read/write split in the ORM/driver, multiple connection URLs), write→ read sequences against the same entity, CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW DDL, and any REFRESH calls (and whether CONCURRENTLY). Actual replication lag and refresh recency are runtime → needs_api at Tier-0 (never a silent pass).

Tier-1/2 (verification query, Postgres)

-- replication lag (Tier-1, on primary):
SELECT client_addr, state,
       pg_wal_lsn_diff(pg_current_wal_lsn(), replay_lsn) AS replay_lag_bytes
FROM pg_stat_replication;
-- matview presence + populated state:
SELECT matviewname, ispopulated FROM pg_matviews;

Method query_stat / schema_introspect. Measurable replay_lag_bytes confirms the read-your-writes exposure as established; matview refresh recency needs the app's schedule or Tier-2 observation — absent it, staleness is directional.

Findings

Emit findings per schema/finding.schema.json. Examples:

• M17.comments.read_your_writes_on_replica — immediate read after write routed to a replica (severity:3, warn, axis performance, confidence directional static / established Tier-1, fixable: proposed — route the read to primary).
• M17.dashboard.matview_no_refresh — materialized view with no visible refresh schedule (severity:2, warn, directional / needs_api, fixable: advisory).
• M17.dashboard.refresh_blocks_readers — REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW without CONCURRENTLY (severity:2, warn, established from DDL, fixable: proposed).

Each finding: evidence.observed quotes the routing config / view DDL / catalog row verbatim; verification.reproduce is the query above referencing $DATABASE_URL; expected_impact is banded + confidence-tagged (no naked %).

Honesty

• Replica staleness is correct by design for most analytics/reporting reads — flag it only where the read path needs its own just-written data, not as a blanket "replicas are dangerous."
• Never quote a lag number or a stale-read probability you cannot measure; lag claims need Tier-1 to be established, otherwise directional.
• REFRESH … CONCURRENTLY requires a unique index on the matview — note that prerequisite in the fix preview. Routing/refresh changes are proposed/advisory, never auto.