Glossary — in plain language

Isolation level


In plain English

The isolation level controls how much one transaction can see of others that are running at the same time. PostgreSQL offers Read Committed (default), Repeatable Read, and Serializable — each stricter and more protective than the last.

Why it matters

Stricter levels prevent subtle data anomalies but can fail with serialization errors that your app must retry. Choosing the right level is a correctness-vs-throughput decision.

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