Dev Tools · 1h ago
Trigger.dev Bug Exposes Fundamental Limits of Distributed Systems
A December 2024 bug in Trigger.dev caused 3,800 duplicate tasks after a routine restart, as recovery logic requeued completed work. The incident illustrates the Two Generals Problem, proving exactly-once delivery is mathematically impossible. Industry giants like Google acknowledge duplicates are inevitable, with Google Cloud Tasks reporting 99.999% uniqueness—meaning 10 duplicates per million tasks.
Meridian48 take
This isn't a bug report; it's a reminder that distributed systems engineering is about managing impossibility, not eliminating it.
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