pgoutput-client

Gem Version CI Ruby Version License: MIT

A transport-only PostgreSQL logical replication client for receiving raw pgoutput payloads in Ruby.

pgoutput-client connects to PostgreSQL using logical replication, starts a pgoutput replication stream, receives CopyData messages, handles keepalives, sends standby feedback, and yields raw pgoutput payload bytes to downstream gems such as pgoutput-parser and pgoutput-decoder.

It intentionally does not parse row-change messages or decode PostgreSQL values.

Requirements

  • Ruby 3.4+
  • PostgreSQL 10+
  • pg gem
  • PostgreSQL publication and logical replication slot

Ecosystem Position

PostgreSQL logical replication
        │
        ▼
pgoutput-client
        │
        ▼
CopyData / pgoutput payloads
        │
        ▼
pgoutput-parser
        │
        ▼
Protocol messages
        │
        ▼
pgoutput-decoder
        │
        ▼
Decoded row events

pgoutput-client is the transport layer only.

Features

  • Opens PostgreSQL logical replication connections
  • Builds replication commands
  • Supports CREATE_REPLICATION_SLOT
  • Supports DROP_REPLICATION_SLOT
  • Supports START_REPLICATION SLOT ... LOGICAL ...
  • Parses XLogData envelopes
  • Parses primary keepalive messages
  • Builds standby feedback messages
  • Provides LSN parse/format helpers
  • Yields raw pgoutput payload bytes
  • Includes RBS signatures
  • Includes Minitest coverage
  • No audit, parser, or decoder concerns

Installation

gem "pgoutput-client"

Then:

bundle install

Require:

require "pgoutput-client"

Quick Start

require "pgoutput-client"

client =
  Pgoutput::Client::Runner.new(
    database_url: ENV.fetch("DATABASE_URL"),
    slot_name: "my_slot",
    publication_names: ["my_publication"],
    auto_create_slot: true
  )

client.start do |payload, metadata|
  puts "WAL end: #{metadata.wal_end_lsn}"
  puts "Raw pgoutput payload bytes: #{payload.bytesize}"
end

Using With pgoutput-parser

require "pgoutput-client"
require "pgoutput"

client = Pgoutput::Client::Runner.new(
  database_url: ENV.fetch("DATABASE_URL"),
  slot_name: "my_slot",
  publication_names: ["my_publication"]
)

tracker = Pgoutput::RelationTracker.new

client.start do |payload, metadata|
  message = tracker.process(payload)
  p [metadata.wal_end_lsn, message]
end

Using With pgoutput-decoder

require "pgoutput-client"
require "pgoutput"
require "pgoutput/decoder"

tracker = Pgoutput::RelationTracker.new
decoder = Pgoutput::Decoder.new

client.start do |payload, metadata|
  protocol_message = tracker.process(payload)
  event = decoder.decode(protocol_message)
  p [metadata.wal_end_lsn, event]
end

What This Gem Does

PostgreSQL replication connection
        │
        ▼
CopyData stream
        │
        ▼
XLogData / Keepalive handling
        │
        ▼
Raw pgoutput payloads

It owns:

  • Replication connection setup
  • Replication command generation
  • CopyData reading
  • XLogData envelope parsing
  • Keepalive handling
  • Standby status feedback
  • LSN conversion

What This Gem Does Not Do

It does not:

  • Parse pgoutput row messages
  • Decode PostgreSQL OIDs
  • Build application events
  • Group transactions
  • Run processor pipelines
  • Manage Ractor worker pools
  • Store audit records
  • Own replay, checkpointing, deduplication, or sink ordering

Those responsibilities belong to higher layers, especially cdc-core and the sink that materializes downstream state.

Failure Semantics

If the live replication stream loses its connection, pgoutput-client retries a small number of times with a backoff and resumes from the latest confirmed WAL position.

It does not decide replay policy, deduplication strategy, checkpoint storage, or exactly-once delivery. Those concerns belong to the downstream CDC runtime and sink layer.

Logical Replication Setup

Example PostgreSQL setup:

ALTER SYSTEM SET wal_level = logical;

CREATE PUBLICATION my_publication FOR TABLE users, posts;

Create a slot automatically:

Pgoutput::Client::Runner.new(
  database_url: ENV.fetch("DATABASE_URL"),
  slot_name: "my_slot",
  publication_names: ["my_publication"],
  auto_create_slot: true
)

Or create the slot yourself:

SELECT * FROM pg_create_logical_replication_slot('my_slot', 'pgoutput');

Public API

Pgoutput::Client::Runner

High-level facade.

client = Pgoutput::Client::Runner.new(...)
client.start { |payload, metadata| ... }

Pgoutput::Client::Configuration

Immutable configuration object.

Pgoutput::Client::Connection

Thin wrapper around PG::Connection for replication commands.

Pgoutput::Client::Stream

Consumes CopyData messages and yields pgoutput payloads.

Pgoutput::Client::LSN

Pgoutput::Client::LSN.parse("0/16B6C50")
Pgoutput::Client::LSN.format(23_817_296)

Pgoutput::Client::XLogData

Represents a WAL data envelope.

Pgoutput::Client::Keepalive

Represents a primary keepalive message.

Pgoutput::Client::Feedback

Builds standby status update payloads.

Ractor Position

The replication connection itself is stateful and ordered. It should normally run as a single reader.

Downstream parsing, decoding, and processing can be parallelized with Ractors:

pgoutput-client reader
        │
        ▼
Ractor-safe queue
        │
        ▼
parser / decoder / processor pools

Rake Tasks

Default

Run them all

bundle exec rake

Code Linting and Formatting

bundle exec rake rubocop

Testing

bundle exec rake test

With coverage:

COVERAGE=true bundle exec rake test

Type Checking

bundle exec rbs:validate

Documentation

bundle exec rake yard

End-to-End PostgreSQL

Run the full Docker-backed E2E flow and clean up afterward:

script/test-e2e

Keep PostgreSQL running after the test for debugging:

KEEP_E2E_POSTGRES=1 script/test-e2e

You can also run the steps manually:

script/e2e-up
PGOUTPUT_CLIENT_E2E=1 bundle exec rake test:e2e
script/e2e-down

Equivalent Rake task:

bundle exec rake e2e:run

Transport lifecycle behavior

pgoutput-client owns PostgreSQL logical replication transport and lifecycle management. It opens the replication connection, optionally creates the logical replication slot, starts streaming, sends standby status feedback, and retries reconnectable failures.

Idle standby feedback

Long-running replication streams can be quiet for long periods when no WAL changes are produced. During those idle periods the client wakes periodically and sends standby status feedback so PostgreSQL does not terminate the walsender for replication timeout.

Control the feedback cadence with feedback_interval:

runner = Pgoutput::Client::Runner.new(
  database_url: ENV.fetch("DATABASE_URL"),
  slot_name: "mammoth_live",
  publication_names: ["mammoth_publication"],
  feedback_interval: 10.0
)

Idempotent automatic slot creation

When auto_create_slot is enabled, the client treats slot creation as "ensure this slot exists". Missing slots are created before streaming; existing slots are reused and do not cause startup failure.

runner = Pgoutput::Client::Runner.new(
  database_url: ENV.fetch("DATABASE_URL"),
  slot_name: "mammoth_live",
  publication_names: ["mammoth_publication"],
  auto_create_slot: true,
  temporary_slot: false
)

Publication creation remains outside this gem. Create publications through application migrations, database bootstrap SQL, or infrastructure tooling.

Restart recovery

After a stream has connected successfully, transient PostgreSQL outages are retried through the reconnect lifecycle. This includes ordinary container or process restart windows where PostgreSQL temporarily refuses connections or reports that the database system is starting up.

License

MIT.