Change Data Capture
Change Data Capture (CDC) is a software design pattern that identifies and captures changes made to data in a database, such as inserts, updates, and deletes, and then delivers those changes in real-time or near-real-time to downstream systems. It enables efficient data synchronization, replication, and event-driven architectures by tracking data modifications at the source. CDC is commonly used in data integration, analytics, and microservices to keep systems up-to-date without full data reloads.
Developers should learn and use CDC when building systems that require low-latency data propagation, such as real-time analytics, data lakes, or event-driven applications, as it minimizes performance overhead compared to batch processing. It is essential for scenarios like database migration, maintaining data consistency across distributed systems, and enabling reactive architectures where changes trigger downstream actions. CDC helps avoid polling-based approaches, reducing resource consumption and improving scalability in data-intensive environments.