pgwire-replication 0.4.0

Tokio-based Postgres wire-protocol logical replication client (pgoutput) with TLS and SCRAM.
Documentation

pgwire-replication

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A low-level, high-performance PostgreSQL logical replication client implemented directly on top of the PostgreSQL wire protocol (pgwire).

This crate is designed for CDC, change streaming, and WAL replay systems that require explicit control over replication state, deterministic restart behavior, and minimal runtime overhead.

pgwire-replication intentionally avoids libpq, tokio-postgres, and other higher-level PostgreSQL clients for the replication path. It interacts with a Postgres instance directly and relies on START_REPLICATION ... LOGICAL ... and the built-in pgoutput output plugin.

pgwire-replication exists to provide:

  • a direct pgwire implementation for logical replication
  • explicit, user-controlled LSN start and stop semantics
  • predictable feedback and backpressure behavior
  • clean integration into async systems and coordinators

This crate was originally extracted from the Deltaforge CDC project and is maintained independently.

Installation

Add to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
pgwire-replication = "0.4.0"

Or with specific features:

[dependencies]
pgwire-replication = { version = "0.4.0", default-features = false, features = ["tls-rustls"] }

Requirements

  • Rust 1.88 or later
  • PostgreSQL 15+ with logical replication enabled (older versions will probably work too)

Features

  • Logical replication using the PostgreSQL wire protocol
  • pgoutput logical decoding support (transport-level)
  • Explicit LSN seek (start_lsn)
  • pg_logical_emit_message() support
  • Bounded replay (stop_at_lsn)
  • Periodic standby status updates
  • Backpressure-safe feedback: keepalives keep flowing even when a slow consumer fills the event buffer, avoiding wal_sender_timeout resets
  • Multiple publications per replication slot
  • Optional pgoutput binary output format (PG 14+)
  • Pull-based replication metrics (ReplicationClient::metrics())
  • Keepalive handling
  • Tokio-based async client
  • SCRAM-SHA-256 and MD5 authentication
  • TLS/mTLS support (via rustls)
  • Unix domain socket connections (libpq-compatible: host starts with /)
  • Designed for checkpoint and replay-based systems

Non-goals

This crate intentionally does not provide:

  • A general-purpose SQL client
  • Automatic checkpoint persistence
  • Exactly-once semantics
  • Schema management or DDL interpretation
  • Full pgoutput decoding into rows or events

These responsibilities belong in higher layers.

Basic usage

use pgwire_replication::{ReplicationClient, ReplicationEvent};

let mut repl = ReplicationClient::connect(config).await?;

while let Some(event) = repl.recv().await? {
    match event {
        ReplicationEvent::XLogData { wal_end, data, .. } => {
            process(data);
            repl.update_applied_lsn(wal_end);
        }
        ReplicationEvent::KeepAlive { .. } => {}
        ReplicationEvent::Message { prefix, content, .. } => {
            // User-defined message from pg_logical_emit_message()
            handle_message(prefix, content);
        }        
        ReplicationEvent::StoppedAt { reached } => break,
    }
}
// Clean end-of-stream

Check the Quick Start and Examples for more detailed use cases.

Seek and Replay Semantics

pgwire-replication is built around explicit WAL position control. LSNs (Log Sequence Numbers) are treated as first-class inputs and outputs and are never hidden behind opaque offsets.

Starting from an LSN (Seek)

Every replication session begins at an explicit LSN:

let cfg = ReplicationConfig::new(host, user, password, database, slot, publication)
    .with_start_lsn(start_lsn);

This enables:

  • resuming replication after a crash
  • replaying WAL from a known checkpoint
  • controlled historical backfills

The provided LSN is sent verbatim to PostgreSQL via START_REPLICATION.

Bounded Replay (Start -> Stop)

Replication can be bounded using stop_at_lsn:

let cfg = ReplicationConfig::new(host, user, password, database, slot, publication)
    .with_start_lsn(start_lsn)
    .with_stop_lsn(stop_lsn);

When configured:

  • replication starts at start_lsn
  • WAL is streamed until the stop LSN is reached
  • a ReplicationEvent::StoppedAt { reached } event is emitted
  • After StoppedAt is emitted, the stream ends cleanly and recv() returns Ok(None)
  • the replication connection is terminated cleanly using CopyDone

This enables:

  • deterministic WAL replay
  • offline backfills
  • "replay up to checkpoint" workflows
  • controlled reprocessing in recovery scenarios

Progress Tracking and Feedback

Progress is not auto-committed. Instead, the consumer explicitly reports progress:

repl.update_applied_lsn(lsn);

Calling update_applied_lsn indicates that all WAL up to lsn has been durably persisted by the consumer (for example, flushed to disk or a message queue).

This allows callers to control:

  • durability boundaries
  • batching behavior
  • exactly-once or at-least-once semantics (implemented externally)

Updates are monotonic: reporting an older LSN is a no-op. Standby status updates are sent asynchronously by the worker using the latest applied LSN, based on status_interval or server keepalive requests. For CDC pipelines, progress should typically be reported at transaction commit boundaries, not for every message.

Backpressure

The event channel between the worker and your consumer is bounded (buffer_events). If the consumer falls behind and the channel fills, the worker does not block silently: it keeps sending standby-status feedback every status_interval while waiting for capacity, so PostgreSQL never trips wal_sender_timeout and resets the stream (which would force a full replay from confirmed_flush). Real backpressure still propagates to the server through TCP flow control, and feedback reports only the applied LSN, so nothing is acknowledged that the consumer has not durably processed.

Multiple publications

A single slot can subscribe to more than one publication. Pass a single name or a collection to new() / unix():

// one publication
ReplicationConfig::new(host, user, password, database, slot, "orders");

// several publications on the same slot
ReplicationConfig::new(host, user, password, database, slot, ["orders", "customers"]);

The publication set is bound once at START_REPLICATION and is fixed for the connection's lifetime; to change it, reconnect with a new config.

Binary output

By default pgoutput emits column values in text format. Set binary to request PostgreSQL's binary wire format (PostgreSQL 14+):

ReplicationConfig::new(host, user, password, database, slot, publication)
    .with_binary(true);

The library forwards XLogData payloads unchanged, so your decoder must handle binary values. Any column type without a binary send function makes the walsender error and close the stream, so leave this off unless you control both ends.

Observability

ReplicationClient::metrics() returns an Arc<ReplicationMetrics> with pull-based counters you can scrape into your own metrics system:

let metrics = client.metrics();
// ... later, from any task ...
println!(
    "events={} feedback={} stalls={} stall_us={}",
    metrics.events_forwarded(),
    metrics.feedback_sent(),
    metrics.stall_count(),
    metrics.stall_micros_total(),
);

Counters include events forwarded, feedback sent, keepalive replies, stall count and cumulative stall duration, and the last applied / server WAL-end LSNs. Reads never block the worker.

Idle behavior

PostgreSQL logical replication may remain silent for extended periods when no WAL is generated. This is normal.

idle_wakeup_interval does not indicate failure. It bounds how long the client may block waiting for server messages before waking up to send a standby status update and continue waiting. While the system is idle, the effective feedback cadence is bounded by idle_wakeup_interval, not status_interval.

Logical Decoding Messages

PostgreSQL's pg_logical_emit_message() lets applications write custom messages into the WAL stream. These are surfaced as ReplicationEvent::Message events:

ReplicationEvent::Message {
    transactional: bool,  // true if emitted inside a transaction
    lsn: Lsn,            // WAL position of the message
    prefix: String,       // application-defined prefix
    content: Bytes,       // raw message payload
}

NB: Messages are always enabled in the pgoutput protocol options.

Non-transactional messages (SELECT pg_logical_emit_message(false, ...)) are delivered immediately and are not tied to any transaction boundary.

Transactional messages (SELECT pg_logical_emit_message(true, ...)) are delivered only after the enclosing transaction commits, appearing between Begin and Commit events.

Use cases include:

  • application-level checkpoint markers
  • out-of-band coordination signals
  • schema migration fencing
  • custom CDC control messages

Unix Domain Sockets

On Unix systems, pgwire-replication supports connecting via Unix domain sockets. Following libpq convention, set host to the socket directory path:

let config = ReplicationConfig::unix(
    "/var/run/postgresql",  // socket directory
    5432,                    // port (used to form .s.PGSQL.5432)
    "replicator",
    "secret",
    "mydb",
    "my_slot",
    "my_pub",
);

Or equivalently, since any host starting with / is treated as a socket directory, pass one to new(...):

let config = ReplicationConfig::new(
    "/var/run/postgresql", // host as socket directory
    "replicator",
    "secret",
    "mydb",
    "my_slot",
    "my_pub",
)
.with_port(5432);

Any host starting with / is treated as a Unix socket directory. The actual socket file used is {host}/.s.PGSQL.{port}.

TLS is not supported over Unix sockets (not needed). Requesting a TLS mode other than Disable with a Unix socket host will return an error.

Shutdown

  • stop() requests a graceful stop (sends CopyDone). The client will continue to yield any buffered events and then recv() returns Ok(None).
  • shutdown().await is a convenience method that calls stop(), drains remaining events, and awaits the worker task result.
  • abort() cancels the worker task immediately (hard stop; does not send CopyDone).

Dropping ReplicationClient requests a best-effort graceful stop. When dropped inside a Tokio runtime, the worker is detached and allowed to finish cleanly; when dropped outside a runtime, the worker may be aborted to avoid leaking a task.

Important Notes on LSN Semantics

PostgreSQL logical replication delivers complete, committed transactions in commit order. This has important implications for LSN handling:

  • Commit LSNs are strictly monotonically increasing across the replication stream.
  • Within a single transaction, event LSNs are monotonically increasing.
  • Across transactions, event LSNs are not monotonic. Concurrent transactions interleave their writes in WAL, so a later transaction in the stream may contain events with lower LSNs than the previous transaction.
  • The tuple (commit_lsn, event_lsn) provides a total ordering suitable for checkpointing and replay.
  • LSNs are not dense: LSNs are byte offsets into the WAL, not sequential counters. Gaps between consecutive events are normal.

For CDC pipelines, progress tracking should typically be based on commit boundaries rather than individual event LSNs.

LSNs are formatted exactly as PostgreSQL displays them:

  • uppercase hexadecimal
  • X/Y format
  • up to 8 hex digits per part
  • leading zeros omitted

Examples: 0/0, 0/16B6C50, 16/B374D848

Parsing accepts both padded and unpadded forms for compatibility.

TLS support

TLS is optional and uses rustls. TLS configuration is provided explicitly via ReplicationConfig and does not rely on system OpenSSL.

Quick start

Control plane (publication/slot creation) is typically done using a proper "Postgres client" (Your choice). This crate handles only the replication plane.

use pgwire_replication::{
    client::ReplicationEvent, Lsn, ReplicationClient, ReplicationConfig, SslMode, TlsConfig,
};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
    // Control plane (publication/slot creation) is typically done using a Postgres client.
    // This crate implements the replication plane only.

    // Use a real LSN:
    // - from your checkpoint store, or
    // - from SQL (pg_current_wal_lsn / slot confirmed_flush_lsn), or
    // - from a previous run.
    let start_lsn = Lsn::parse("0/16B6C50")?;

    // ReplicationConfig is #[non_exhaustive]: build it with new()/unix() and the
    // with_* methods. A single publication name is accepted directly; pass an
    // array (e.g. ["pub_a", "pub_b"]) to subscribe to several at once.
    let cfg = ReplicationConfig::new(
        "127.0.0.1",
        "postgres",
        "postgres",
        "postgres",
        "my_slot",
        "my_pub",
    )
    .with_tls(TlsConfig::disabled())
    .with_start_lsn(start_lsn)
    .with_status_interval(std::time::Duration::from_secs(10))
    .with_wakeup_interval(std::time::Duration::from_secs(10));

    let mut client = ReplicationClient::connect(cfg).await?;

    loop {
        match client.recv().await {
            Ok(Some(ev)) => match ev {
                ReplicationEvent::XLogData { wal_end, data, .. } => {
                    println!("XLogData wal_end={wal_end} bytes={}", data.len());
                    client.update_applied_lsn(wal_end);
                }
                ReplicationEvent::KeepAlive {
                    wal_end,
                    reply_requested,
                    ..
                } => {
                    println!("KeepAlive wal_end={wal_end} reply_requested={reply_requested}");
                }
                ReplicationEvent::StoppedAt { reached } => {
                    println!("StoppedAt reached={reached}");
                    // break is optional; the stream should end shortly anyway
                    break;
                }
                ReplicationEvent::Begin { .. } | ReplicationEvent::Commit { .. } => {}
                ReplicationEvent::Message { prefix, content, .. } => {
                    println!("Message prefix={prefix:?} bytes={}", content.len());
                }
            },
            Ok(None) => {
                println!("Replication ended cleanly");
                break;
            }
            Err(e) => {
                eprintln!("Replication failed: {e}");
                return Err(e.into());
            }
        }
    }
    Ok(())
}

Examples

Examples that use the control-plane SQL client (tokio-postgres) require the examples feature.

Replication plane only: examples/basic.rs

START_LSN="0/16B6C50" cargo run --example basic

Control-plane + streaming: examples/checkpointed.rs

cargo run --example checkpointed

Bounded replay: examples/bounded_replay.rs

cargo run --example bounded_replay

With TLS enabled: examples/with_tls.rs

PGHOST=db.example.com \
PGPORT=5432 \
PGUSER=repl_user \
PGPASSWORD=secret \
PGDATABASE=postgres \
PGSLOT=example_slot_tls \
PGPUBLICATION=example_pub_tls \
PGTLS_CA=/path/to/ca.pem \
PGTLS_SNI=db.example.com \
cargo run --example with_tls

Enabling mTLS : examples/with_mtls.rs

Inject the fake dns record, if you need to:

sudo sh -c 'echo "127.0.0.1 db.example.com" >> /etc/hosts'

and then:

PGHOST=db.example.com \
PGPORT=5432 \
PGUSER=repl_user \
PGPASSWORD=secret \
PGDATABASE=postgres \
PGSLOT=example_slot_mtls \
PGPUBLICATION=example_pub_mtls \
PGTLS_CA=/etc/ssl/ca.pem \
PGTLS_CLIENT_CERT=/etc/ssl/client.crt.pem \
PGTLS_CLIENT_KEY=/etc/ssl/client.key.pem \
PGTLS_SNI=db.example.com \
cargo run --example with_mtls
  • PGUSER/PGPASSWORD are used for control-plane setup (publication/slot).
  • REPL_USER/REPL_PASSWORD are used for the replication stream.
  • If PGHOST is an IP address, you must set PGTLS_SNI to a DNS name on the cert.
  • Client key should be PKCS#8 PEM for best compatibility.
  • VerifyCa can be used instead of VerifyFull if hostname validation is not possible.

Testing

Integration tests use Docker via testcontainers and are gated behind a feature flag:

cargo test --features integration-tests -- --nocapture

License

Licensed under either of:

  • Apache License, Version 2.0
  • MIT License

at your option.