Electric is a Postgres data synchronization engine and replication proxy designed to enable local-first software. It replicates data from Postgres databases to client-side stores in real time using logical replication, allowing applications to maintain a local embedded database for offline access and low-latency updates.
The system distinguishes itself by using shapes to filter and authorize specific subsets of database rows and columns before streaming them to clients or edge workers. It further supports multi-user collaboration by integrating a conflict-free replicated data type framework to ensure consistent state synchronization across different users.
The project covers a broad range of capabilities, including reactive state management and real-time data streaming to client interfaces and server-side renders. It provides tools for data shaping and transformation, database integration across various cloud and serverless Postgres providers, and security primitives such as token-based authorization and end-to-end encryption.
The service can be deployed as a containerized web service on cloud platforms with support for rolling deployment management.
