Change data capture (CDC)
A technique that tracks database changes in real-time and triggers automations based on inserts, updates, or deletes. More efficient than polling instead of checking for changes every 5 minutes, CDC fires instantly when data changes.
Expert insight
Change data capture (CDC) is more reliable than polling for catching every change to a database, since polling can miss two rapid changes to the same record between poll intervals, but CDC requires the source database to support it (via replication logs), which not every system does, making it unavailable for a lot of SaaS-tool integrations that only expose a REST API.
In a real workflow
Changes to customer records in the database are captured and streamed to the CRM within seconds.
Common mistakes
- Capturing changes but not deletions.
- Processing the same change twice after a restart.
Complexity level
Technical term used in production automation systems.
Related terms
See it in action
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Go deeper
Guides that cover Change data capture
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