Software Design

Optimistic Locking & Automatic Retries

UML Sequence Diagrams · made in Skemio

Sequence diagram showing Client, API Service, and Database executing an optimistic lock update, detecting a version conflict, and retrying successfully.
Sequence diagram showing Client, API Service, and Database executing an optimistic lock update, detecting a version conflict, and retrying successfully.
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What it shows

  • Tracks a version column on rows instead of holding database locks.
  • UPDATE fails if the version changed underneath during processing.
  • Application re-reads fresh state and retries the mutation automatically.

The takeaway

Optimistic locking maximizes read-heavy throughput by turning contention into controlled retries.

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