Optimistic replication

Source: Wikipedia Topic: Tentative updates with later reconciliation instead of universal lockstep agreement.

Core idea

Optimistic replication accepts local updates first and reconciles conflicts later, rather than forcing all replicas into immediate synchronization.

Key claims

• Disconnected or partitioned work can still make progress.
• Tentative state and merge rules are first-class operational concerns.
• The useful question is often not whether conflict can happen, but how it should be resolved when it does.

Harness takeaway

Speculative branches, offline work, and delayed merges should be explicit tentative states in a harness rather than embarrassing exceptions to the main model.