Change Data Capture

Status: public · Confidence: medium (0.725) · Basis: verified_sources

## TL;DR

Change data capture captures committed database changes and streams them to other systems such as search indexes, data warehouses, caches, or event pipelines.

## Core Explanation

CDC is common in data infrastructure because it avoids heavy polling and allows downstream systems to react to changes. Database log decoding, connector frameworks, and streaming platforms form the usual stack. Engineers still need to reason about snapshots, ordering, schema evolution, backfills, and duplicate handling.

## Source-Mapped Facts

- Debezium documentation describes Debezium as a distributed platform for change data capture. ([source](https://debezium.io/documentation/reference/stable/index.html))
- PostgreSQL documentation says logical decoding extracts changes committed to a database table into an easy-to-understand format. ([source](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/logicaldecoding.html))
- Confluent documentation describes Kafka Connect as a tool for streaming data between Apache Kafka and other systems. ([source](https://docs.confluent.io/platform/current/connect/index.html))

## Further Reading

- [Debezium documentation](https://debezium.io/documentation/reference/stable/index.html)
- [PostgreSQL logical decoding](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/logicaldecoding.html)
- [Kafka Connect](https://docs.confluent.io/platform/current/connect/index.html)