After load shedding (5 Nov), this post covers sagas: local commits, compensating actions, orchestration versus choreography, idempotent steps, stuck visibility, reservations, failure policy and contrasts with dual write and outbox.

सागाधर्मः: A Metrical Codification of the Saga Pattern (with English glosses)

What this post is about

Sagas implement long-running business flows across services with local transactions and compensating actions instead of a global lock.

Topics covered

1. Why not one global TX
2. Local commit plus outcome
3. Compensation as business reverse
4. Orchestration vs choreography
5. Idempotent steps
6. Stuck saga visibility
7. Reservations and semantic locks
8. Failure compensate-or-stop
9. When a local TX is enough
10. Dual write vs saga vs outbox

Sanskrit title

सागाधर्मः = sāgā-dharmaḥ “dharma of the saga”.

English

Minimizable; Sanskrit-first.

ग्राह्यम् / Keep

१. local TX per step: no global XA fantasy
२. business compensations: not only row undo
३. choose orch or choreography: document map
४. idempotent step ids: duplicate safe
५. age open sagas: ops dashboards
६. reserve scarce goods: TTL holds
७. prefer single-DB TX: when invariant fits

त्याज्यम् / Avoid

• hold distributed locks across SaaS APIs
• compensation that is not actually reversible
• no dashboard for open saga age

पदच्छेदः
दीर्घव्यवहारः बहुसेवासु यदि एकTX न सम्भवति । सागाधर्मस्तस्माद् क्रमक्षतिपूरणम् ॥१॥

Word-for-word

Gloss table

English sense
A saga breaks a cross-service business flow into local transactions plus compensating actions when a later step fails.

Context / topic
Topic: why saga. Distinct from dual write hope and from distributed 2PC.

वृत्तमिति: ८-८-८-८।

पदच्छेदः
each step local commit + outcome event । global lock मिथ्या ॥२॥

Word-for-word

Gloss table

English sense
Every participant commits locally and emits an outcome. Do not hold global locks across alien systems.

Context / topic
Topic: local transactions.

वृत्तमिति: ८-८-८-८।

पदच्छेदः
compensating action inverse business । not always DB undo ॥३॥

Word-for-word

Gloss table

English sense
Compensation is a business reverse such as refund or cancel not always a row delete.

Context / topic
Topic: compensation meaning.

वृत्तमिति: ८-८-८-८।

पदच्छेदः
orchestration vs choreography । एकं न सर्वकर्म ॥४॥

Word-for-word

Gloss table

English sense
Choose a central orchestrator or peer event choreography on purpose. Mixing both without a map creates ghost steps.

Context / topic
Topic: styles.

वृत्तमिति: ८-८-८-८।

पदच्छेदः
idempotent steps + compensations द्विः मा दह । at-least-once सामान्यम् ॥५॥

Word-for-word

Gloss table

English sense
Steps and compensations must tolerate duplicate delivery with saga and step ids.

Context / topic
Topic: idempotency.

वृत्तमिति: एकादशाक्षराः पादाः।

पदच्छेदः
timeouts and stuck sagas visible । zombie flow प्रेतः ॥६॥

Word-for-word

Gloss table

English sense
Track open sagas by age and state. Invisible stuck flows leak inventory and money.

Context / topic
Topic: observability.

वृत्तमिति: ८-८-८-८।

पदच्छेदः
semantic lock / reservation step । oversell without hold ॥७॥

Word-for-word

Gloss table

English sense
Reserve scarce resources early with TTL holds. Pure hope between steps oversells.

Context / topic
Topic: reservations.

वृत्तमिति: ८-८-८-८।

पदच्छेदः
failure: compensate forward or stop । policy स्पष्टा ॥८॥

Word-for-word

Gloss table

English sense
Define whether failure auto-compensates prior steps or pages a human with a frozen state.

Context / topic
Topic: failure policy.

वृत्तमिति: ८-८-८-८।

पदच्छेदः
not for tight single-DB invariants । local TX simpler ॥९॥

Word-for-word

Gloss table

English sense
If one database can own the invariant keep a local transaction. Sagas add moving parts for a reason.

Context / topic
Topic: when not.

वृत्तमिति: ८-८-८-८।

पदच्छेदः
द्वैधलेखनं द्वौ स्रोता सागा क्रम + क्षतिपूरणम् । आउटबॉक्स जन्म ॥१०॥

Word-for-word

Gloss table

English sense
Dual write invents two primaries at once; sagas sequence local commits with compensations; outbox still births each step event safely.

Context / topic
Topic: series distinctions.

सन्धिः: द्वैध युगपत्; सागा क्रम; पटल घटनाजन्म।

वृत्तमिति: एकादशाक्षराः पादाः।

पदच्छेदः
local-step compensate idempotent visible reserve पञ्चकम् । एभिः सागाधर्मः क्रमक्षतिपूरणसमन्वितः ॥११॥

Word-for-word

Gloss table

English sense
Five limbs: local commits, real compensations, idempotent handlers, visible stuck state and early reservations.

Context / topic
Topic: checklist.

वृत्तमिति: ८-८-८-८।

पदच्छेदः
इति सागाधर्मसारः क्रमक्षतिपूरणसमन्वितः । मितं दीर्घव्यवहारं क्रियायोग्यं तन्त्रधर्मः स उच्यते ॥१२॥

Word-for-word

Gloss table

English sense
Closing: sequence local truth, reverse with business sense and never lose the open saga in the dark.

Context / topic
Topic: close.

उपसंहारन्यायः: पदे पदे प्रतिज्ञां कुरु; दोषे क्षतिं पूरय; प्रेतं मा त्यज।

वृत्तमिति: ८-८-८-८।

१. Why saga
२. Local TX
३. Compensate
४. Orch/choreo
५. Idempotent
६. Visibility
७. Reserve
८. Failure policy
९. When not
१०. Series
११. Five limbs
१२. Close

1. Prior: dual write 2026-10-30; outbox 2026-09-28; events 2026-10-25.
2. Domain: saga pattern.
3. English minimizable; Sanskrit-first.
4. Style: no em dash; no Oxford comma in English clauses.