> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://xata.io/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# v1.3.1

> pgstream v1.3.1 release notes

**Release Date:** August 4th, 2026

pgstream v1.3.1 is a patch release about snapshots taken while the source schema is moving. The data snapshot now reads the columns the schema snapshot captured, so a column added mid-snapshot no longer breaks the load, and drift that the pin cannot absorb is reported instead of silently applied. It also adds a `CREATEDB` preflight check for snapshots that create the target database, and documents how DDL replication can carry privileges from a less trusted source to the target. No migration is required.

## Snapshot Column Pinning

[PR #1058](https://github.com/xataio/pgstream/pull/1058), with catalog helpers in [PR #1057](https://github.com/xataio/pgstream/pull/1057), by [@kvch](https://github.com/kvch).

The data snapshot read rows with `SELECT * FROM ONLY <table> WHERE ctid BETWEEN '(x,0)' AND '(y,0)'`. `SET TRANSACTION SNAPSHOT` pins row visibility, but not the catalog, and every page range plans its own query — so the column list was re-resolved from the live source catalog throughout the snapshot, while the target's schema stayed as the schema dump had left it. A column added to the source once the dump was done appeared in the reads of every page range planned after it, and those rows carried a column the target did not have.

Each table's read is now pinned to the columns the schema snapshot captured. `pg_dump` is preceded by a catalog read that records the column list of every table in the dump's scope, and the page range queries spell those columns out instead of `*`, so a column added afterwards is simply not read. The `ADD COLUMN` and any backfill arrive over the replication stream, which already starts from an LSN taken before the snapshot. A snapshot with no schema dump — schema-only runs, or a data snapshot configured on its own — captures nothing and keeps reading `*` as before.

## Schema Drift Is Reported Rather Than Absorbed

The pin narrows the window but does not remove it: the capture and the dump are two separate reads of the source. After the dump, the columns are read again and any table that changed in between is named in a warning, since it may be snapshotted with stale columns and needs replication to converge — or a re-snapshot if none follows.

A column dropped after the capture is dropped from the read too, so the rest of the table still loads. If *none* of a table's captured columns still exist, the table snapshot fails with `source schema changed during the snapshot` rather than falling back to `SELECT *`, which would reintroduce the bug for that table. A table dropped mid-snapshot now reports the same error instead of a bare `relation does not exist`. A table that the capture did not see — created after it, or a name that did not resolve to a catalog entry — is logged and read with the columns it has now.

## `CREATEDB` Preflight Check

[PR #996](https://github.com/xataio/pgstream/pull/996), contributed by [@lghuy05](https://github.com/lghuy05).

`pgstream check` verifies that the target role can create databases when the snapshot is configured to create the target database:

```yaml theme={null} theme={null}
snapshot:
  schema:
    pgdump_pgrestore:
      create_target_db: true
```

The check reads `rolcreatedb` from `pg_roles` for the current target session role and reports an actionable finding when the privilege is missing, instead of the run failing at restore time. It is registered only when `create_target_db` is enabled for a Postgres target.

## DDL Replication and Trust Domains

[PR #1052](https://github.com/xataio/pgstream/pull/1052), by [@tsg](https://github.com/tsg).

DDL captured on the source is replayed on the target as the `pgstreamtarget` role, which means pgstream assumes source and target are in one trust domain. Where they are not — roles that can run DDL on the source being less trusted than `pgstreamtarget` — those roles can get SQL executed on the target with the target role's privileges. [`docs/privileges.md`](https://github.com/xataio/pgstream/blob/main/docs/privileges.md) now says so, and recommends granting `pgstreamtarget` only what it needs (no `SUPERUSER`, `CREATEROLE` or `CREATEDB` unless a feature requires it), or disabling DDL replication with `ignore_ddl` where the trust levels differ.

## Upgrade

No configuration changes are required, and no re-initialization or migration is needed.

⚠️ **If you snapshot a source that receives DDL.** Snapshots run before this release may have loaded rows shaped by a column list that changed underneath them; a table that failed to write mid-snapshot for a column the target did not have needs a re-snapshot. Going forward, watch for the two new signals: the drift warning naming tables that changed during the dump, and `source schema changed during the snapshot`, which aborts that table's snapshot.

**Snapshots that previously ran to completion can now fail.** The `source schema changed during the snapshot` error is new: a table whose captured columns have all been dropped, or that was dropped outright, now stops rather than reading whatever the source has at that moment. This is the intended outcome — the alternative silently produces a table the target cannot accept — but a pipeline that snapshots concurrently with heavy DDL will surface it as a table-level failure that did not exist before.

**Preflight.** `pgstream check` with `create_target_db: true` now runs one additional query against the target and reports a finding if the role lacks `CREATEDB`. Targets already holding the privilege see no change beyond an extra passing check in the output.

## Support

* Issues: [https://github.com/xataio/pgstream/issues](https://github.com/xataio/pgstream/issues)
* Documentation: [https://github.com/xataio/pgstream/tree/main/docs](https://github.com/xataio/pgstream/tree/main/docs)
* Discussions: [https://github.com/xataio/pgstream/discussions](https://github.com/xataio/pgstream/discussions)