Transaction holds external calls
An AI agent wrote this Java service method to create an order, charge the card, and send a confirmation email — all wrapped in one transaction for 'consistency'. Under load, the team sees database connection-pool exhaustion and occasional orders with no payment.
What's wrong with the transaction boundary, and how should this be structured?
Implement
external_ms_in_transaction(steps: list[str]) → intExamples
in
[["begin","db|save_order|5","http|charge|800","http|email|400","db|save_order|5","commit"]]out1200in
[["begin","db|save_order|5","commit","http|charge|800","begin","db|record_payment|4","commit","queue|enqueue_email|2"]]out0in
[["begin","begin","http|charge|800","commit","http|email|400","commit"]]out1200What a strong answer looks like
Treat the AI’s output as a draft to verify, not an answer to trust. Name the specific flaw and the input that triggers it, say how you’d catch it (tests, edge cases, reading critically), and how you’d re-prompt or decompose to get it right.
0:00 of about 18 min
Vibe & agentic: describe the solution in plain language (or narrate it) and the coach grades your approach.
Which questions mattered is sealed until you submit. Telling you now would just be handing over the edge cases.
Run or narrate your approach, then ask the coach.