---
keywords: [batching mode, flow management, Flownode components, Flownode limitations, continuous aggregation]
description: Overview of Flownode's batching mode, the active execution mode for continuous data aggregation, including its architecture and query execution flow.
---

# Flownode Batching Mode Developer Guide

This guide provides a brief overview of the batching mode in `flownode`. It's intended for developers who want to understand the internal workings of this mode.

## Overview

The batching mode in `flownode` is designed for continuous data aggregation. It periodically executes a user-defined SQL query over small, discrete time windows. This is in contrast to the original streaming mode, now deprecated, where data was processed as it arrived.

The core idea is to:
1.  Define a `flow` with a SQL query that aggregates data from a source table into a sink table.
2.  The query typically includes a time window function (e.g., `date_bin`) on a timestamp column.
3.  When new data is inserted into the source table, the system marks the corresponding time windows as "dirty."
4.  A background task periodically wakes up, identifies these dirty windows, and re-runs the aggregation query for those specific time ranges.
5.  The results are then inserted into the sink table, effectively updating the aggregated view.

## Architecture

The batching mode consists of several key components that work together to achieve this continuous aggregation. As shown in the diagram below:

![batching mode architecture](/batching_mode_arch.png)

### `BatchingEngine`

The `BatchingEngine` is the heart of the batching mode. It's a central component that manages all active flows. Its primary responsibilities are:

-   **Task Management**: It maintains a map of `FlowId` to `BatchingTask`. It handles the creation, deletion, and retrieval of these tasks.
-   **Event Dispatching**: When new data arrives (via `handle_inserts_inner`) or when time windows are explicitly marked as dirty (`handle_mark_dirty_time_window`), the `BatchingEngine` identifies which flows are affected and forwards the information to the corresponding `BatchingTask`s.

### `BatchingTask`

A `BatchingTask` represents a single, independent data flow. Each task is associated with one `flow` definition and runs in its own asynchronous loop.

-   **Configuration (`TaskConfig`)**: This struct holds the immutable configuration for a flow, such as the SQL query, source and sink table names, and time window expression.
-   **State (`TaskState`)**: This contains the dynamic, mutable state of the task, most importantly the `DirtyTimeWindows`.
-   **Execution Loop**: The task runs an infinite loop (`start_executing_loop`) that:
    1.  Checks for a shutdown signal.
    2.  Waits for a scheduled interval or until it's woken up.
    3.  Generates a new query plan (`gen_insert_plan`) based on the current set of dirty time windows.
    4.  Executes the query (`execute_logical_plan`) against the database.
    5.  Cleans up the processed dirty windows.

### `TaskState` and `DirtyTimeWindows`

-   **`TaskState`**: This struct tracks the runtime state of a `BatchingTask`. It includes `dirty_time_windows`, which is crucial for determining what work needs to be done.
-   **`DirtyTimeWindows`**: This is a key data structure that keeps track of which time windows have received new data since the last query execution. It stores a set of non-overlapping time ranges. When a task's execution loop runs, it consults this structure to build a `WHERE` clause that filters the source table for only the dirty time windows.

### `TimeWindowExpr`

The `TimeWindowExpr` is a helper utility for dealing with time window expressions like `date_bin`.

-   **Evaluation**: It can take a timestamp and evaluate the time window expression to determine the start and end of the window that the timestamp falls into.
-   **Window Size**: It can also determine the size (duration) of the time window from the expression.

This is essential for both marking windows as dirty and for generating the correct filter conditions when querying the source table.

## Query Execution Flow

Here's a simplified step-by-step walkthrough of how a query is executed in batch mode:

1.  **Data Ingestion**: New data is written to a source table.
2.  **Marking Dirty**: The `BatchingEngine` receives a notification about the new data. It uses the `TimeWindowExpr` associated with each relevant flow to determine which time windows are affected by the new data points. These windows are then added to the `DirtyTimeWindows` set in the corresponding `TaskState`.
3.  **Task Wake-up**: The `BatchingTask`'s execution loop wakes up, either due to its periodic schedule or because it was notified of a large backlog of dirty windows.
4.  **Plan Generation**: The task calls `gen_insert_plan`. This method:
    -   Inspects the `DirtyTimeWindows`.
    -   Generates a series of `OR`'d `WHERE` clauses (e.g., `(ts >= 't1' AND ts < 't2') OR (ts >= 't3' AND ts < 't4') ...`) that cover the dirty windows.
    -   Rewrites the original SQL query to include this new filter, ensuring that only the necessary data is processed.
5.  **Execution**: The modified query plan is sent to the `Frontend` for execution. The database processes the aggregation on the filtered data.
6.  **Upsert**: The results are inserted into the sink table. The sink table is typically defined with a primary key that includes the time window column, so new results for an existing window will overwrite (upsert) the old ones.
7.  **State Update**: The `DirtyTimeWindows` set is cleared of the windows that were just processed. The task then goes back to sleep until the next interval.
