Datalog Framework Automates Reasoning for Conflict-Free Replicated Data Types

Conflict-free replicated data types (CRDTs) are essential for local-first collaborative applications, allowing concurrent updates without global coordination. However, designing CRDTs that correctly capture concurrency semantics remains challenging. Researchers Elena Yanakieva, Annette Bieniusa, and Stefania Dumbrava propose a novel declarative framework that uses Datalog—a logic programming language—to specify CRDT semantics as executable logic programs over operation contexts. This approach makes concurrency explicit and compositional, enabling automated reasoning about correctness properties.

The framework supports property-based testing to compare CRDT implementations against their specifications. The authors evaluate their methodology using a collaborative graph editing case study, testing correctness validation and scalability across increasing numbers of operations and replicas. Presented at ICLP 2026, this work is the first to systematically use Datalog as a foundation for prototyping and analyzing complex CRDTs and their compositions. It opens the door for more reliable and verifiable distributed data types in production systems.