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Explanations

Deep dives into ETL concepts, architecture, and design decisions

Explanations help you build mental models of how ETL works and why it's designed the way it is. These topics provide background knowledge, compare alternatives, and explore the reasoning behind key architectural choices.

Core Concepts

ETL Architecture Overview

The big picture of how ETL components work together

Understand the relationship between pipelines, destinations, stores, and the Postgres replication protocol. Learn how data flows through the system and where extension points exist.

Topics covered: Component architecture, data flow, extension patterns, scalability considerations.

Reading Guide

New to ETL? Start with the ETL Architecture to understand how the system works.

Planning a production deployment? Read Architecture to understand system behavior.

Building extensions? Check out the Custom Implementations Tutorial.

Next Steps

After building a conceptual understanding:

Contributing to Explanations

Found gaps in these explanations? See something that could be clearer? Open an issue or contribute improvements to help other users build better mental models of ETL.