This guide covers the transaction commands for multi-operation atomicity. For the conceptual overview, see Concepts: Transactions.

Transactions in the CLI

When no transaction is active, commands are executed directly. When a transaction is active, data commands route through the transaction with read-your-writes semantics.

$ strata --db ./data
strata:default/default>

Transaction Lifecycle

Begin

$ strata --cache
strata:default/default> begin
OK

After begin, the CLI takes a snapshot of the current database state. All reads within the transaction see this snapshot plus your own writes.

You can also begin a read-only transaction:

strata:default/default> begin --read-only
OK

Execute Commands

Data commands (KV, Event, State, JSON) route through the transaction:

$ strata --cache
strata:default/default> begin
OK
strata:default/default> kv put key-a 1
(version) 1
strata:default/default> kv get key-a
1

Commit

$ strata --cache
strata:default/default> begin
OK
strata:default/default> kv put key value
(version) 1
strata:default/default> commit
OK

If a conflict occurs:

strata:default/default> commit
(error) TransactionConflict: key was modified by another transaction

Rollback

Explicitly abort a transaction:

strata:default/default> begin
OK
strata:default/default> kv put key value
(version) 1
strata:default/default> rollback
OK

All uncommitted changes are discarded.

Auto-Rollback on Exit

If the CLI session ends (quit, Ctrl-C) while a transaction is active, the transaction is automatically rolled back.

Transaction Scope

Transactional Commands

These commands route through the transaction when one is active:

Primitive	Commands
KV	kv get, kv put, kv del, kv list
Event	event append, event get, event len
State	state get, state init, state cas
JSON	json set, json get, json del

Non-Transactional Commands

These always execute directly, regardless of transaction state:

Category	Commands
Vector	All vector operations
Branch	branch create, branch info, branch list, branch exists, branch del
Database	ping, info, flush, compact

Query Transaction State

$ strata --cache
strata:default/default> begin
OK
strata:default/default> txn info
status: active
strata:default/default> txn active
true
strata:default/default> commit
OK
strata:default/default> txn active
false

Multi-Primitive Atomicity

Transactions span all transactional primitives. You can atomically update KV, State, and Event in a single transaction:

$ strata --cache
strata:default/default> begin
OK
strata:default/default> kv put config:version 2
(version) 1
strata:default/default> state set status updated
(version) 1
strata:default/default> event append config_change '{"version":2}'
(seq) 1
strata:default/default> commit
OK

All three changes commit atomically.

Conflict Retry Pattern

When a transaction conflicts, retry the entire operation. In a shell script:

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

for attempt in 1 2 3 4 5; do
    strata --db ./data <<'EOF' && break
begin
kv get counter
kv put counter 1
commit
EOF
    echo "Conflict on attempt $attempt, retrying..."
done

In the REPL:

$ strata --db ./data
strata:default/default> begin
OK
strata:default/default> kv get counter
42
strata:default/default> kv put counter 43
(version) 1
strata:default/default> commit
(error) TransactionConflict: key was modified by another transaction
strata:default/default> begin
OK
strata:default/default> kv get counter
43
strata:default/default> kv put counter 44
(version) 1
strata:default/default> commit
OK

Error States

Error	Cause
TransactionAlreadyActive	Called begin while a transaction is already open
TransactionNotActive	Called commit or rollback without an active transaction
TransactionConflict	Commit-time validation found conflicts with concurrent changes

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