v1.0.34 - Hello, Operator

"Hello Operator" - adds a full MVCC lifecycle control plane so operators can see retention pressure, inspect debt and active readers, pause or resume automatic maintenance, switch databases into manual-only mode, retune lifecycle intervals live, and trigger pruning on demand from either the admin API or the new admin UI. This release also makes snapshot pressure behavior more visible and predictable, with pressure-aware warnings, audit trails for forced expiration, and safer debounced background maintenance under write-heavy load.

[v1.0.34] - 2026-03-25

Added

• Operator MVCC lifecycle control plane:

  • added a full admin-facing MVCC lifecycle manager with reader tracking, safe-floor computation, debt planning, fenced prune apply, pressure bands, emergency behavior, and runtime cadence changes.
  • added admin HTTP endpoints to inspect lifecycle state, pause or resume automatic work, trigger prune-now, change schedule intervals live, and inspect top debt keys.

• End-to-end lifecycle admin UI:

  • added a dedicated MVCC Lifecycle page under Security so operators can manage lifecycle behavior without direct API calls.
  • added confirmation-gated controls for pause, resume, prune-now, and schedule changes, plus views for pressure, debt, readers, per-namespace summaries, and short-window rollups.

• Lifecycle architecture and operator documentation:

  • added architecture documentation for MVCC lifecycle and background work behavior.
  • added a user guide for lifecycle API and UI workflows, including interval tuning guidance for mixed, churn-heavy, and manual-only operating modes.

Changed

• Storage engine lifecycle integration:

  • propagated lifecycle support through Badger, async, WAL, namespaced, and multi-database wrappers so MVCC controls remain available across wrapped deployments.
  • wired database runtime startup to initialize lifecycle management from config and expose status through DB admin methods and Heimdall metrics.

• Runtime lifecycle configurability:

  • added config support for enabling lifecycle management, setting the cycle interval, bounding snapshot lifetime, capping pathological chain growth, and debouncing write-triggered embedding work.
  • lifecycle cadence can now be changed at runtime, including switching a database into manual-only mode with 0s.

• Operator visibility and protection signals:

  • transaction responses now surface MVCC pressure warnings so clients can see when pinned history is building.
  • lifecycle metrics now expose pressure, debt, readers, rollups, and debt hotspots for easier diagnosis before maintenance pressure becomes an incident.

Fixed

• Pressure-driven snapshot handling:

  • fixed explicit transaction/session behavior so MVCC snapshot expiration is surfaced consistently as a retryable transient lifecycle error instead of leaking inconsistent terminal behavior.
  • added audit logging for forced snapshot expiration so pressure-driven cancellations are visible in operator trails.

• Background indexing and lifecycle coordination under write load:

  • fixed mutation-triggered search indexing to debounce queued work instead of amplifying one background execution path per write burst.
  • fixed search-service build completion signaling to avoid duplicate-close races during concurrent build and shutdown paths.

• MVCC churn retention behavior:

  • fixed lifecycle prune behavior to stay bounded under repeated update/delete/recreate churn while preserving current visible heads and retained-floor semantics.

Tests

• Added and expanded regression coverage for:
  • lifecycle manager planning, pressure hysteresis, fairness scheduling, emergency behavior, and metrics rollups
  • lifecycle delegation through storage wrappers and DB admin entry points
  • transaction admission, graceful snapshot cancellation, and hard-expiration behavior under MVCC pressure
  • server lifecycle handlers, pressure warnings, and audit logging for expired snapshots
  • search-service debounce behavior and idempotent build completion signaling
  • real-engine churn pruning bounds and tombstone compaction behavior

Technical Details

• Range covered: 5ae74b0..HEAD (from the commit that recorded the v1.0.33 changelog entry to current main head)
• Commits in range: 1 (non-merge)
• Repository delta: 57 files changed, +7,643 / -690 lines
• Primary focus areas: MVCC lifecycle control, operator visibility, runtime scheduling, pressure-aware snapshot handling, and safer background maintenance behavior.