Keep document metadata updates under optimistic revision control
Two editors update different metadata fields through whole-object replacement and silently overwrite each other's changes.
- Focused work estimate
- 2h 30m + prerequisites
- Priority in the scenario
- Medium
- Engineering practice
- Optimistic concurrency · Patch semantics
Estimated field mix
- Database engineering60%
- Backend40%
Field percentages are editorial estimates of the ticket's engineering focus. They total 100%; they are not measured time, proficiency scores, or ownership evidence.
Review it, then add it to your workspace.
The board opens an editable draft; nothing is saved until you confirm it. Sign-in and workspace permissions apply, and Demo boards remain ephemeral.
Project context
A fictional records portal stores every property in one JSON column. Queries disagree about missing values, and malformed records make ordinary filters fail.
Setup prerequisites
- Create synthetic document metadata with malformed and legacy versions.
- Use migrations and a local query API.
Preceding work
Complete these dependencies, or supply their agreed outputs before taking this ticket.
- AMETA-101 · Separate stable document identity fields from flexible attributes
- AMETA-102 · Define versioned metadata schemas with explicit size and depth limits
- AMETA-103 · Choose distinct semantics for absent, null and empty metadata values
- AMETA-104 · Extract stable document fields through an additive migration
Acceptance criteria
- Require expected document revision on metadata mutation.
- Validate the complete resulting versioned object.
- Return a conflict without discarding either editor's input.
Implementation constraints
- Use explicit patch semantics; do not merge unknown nested arrays heuristically.
Verification to include
- Apply a patch at the current revision.
- Race two patches and verify the stale one cannot overwrite the first.
Deliverables
- Revision-guarded metadata update
Rollout and recovery
Canary patches on synthetic documents; restore read-only editing if conflict handling is incomplete.
Value of the work
For the engineer: Practice relational/JSON boundaries, versioned validation and query semantics.
For the team: Review a data model that stays inspectable while allowing controlled variation.
Evidence boundaries
Outcome Evidence: Tests, patches, and runbooks are requested deliverables. They become Outcome Evidence only through a qualified Mission and immutable Evidence IDs.
Ownership Evidence: Independent adaptation must be observed under a declared verification policy and cite immutable Evidence IDs. Completing a planning ticket establishes no Ownership Evidence.