Raft

Terms Divide Time

Terms organize Raft leadership changes over replayed events.

highlighted = computed this step

Terms divide time

Raft uses terms as epochs. A node can move from follower to candidate to leader as events replay. Note: the timeline renders term and role after each event.

terms as epochs\text{terms as epochs}

Term timeline

The recomputed timeline has 5 snapshots and 1 elected leader. Note: leaders appear only after event replay.

snapshots=5,leaders=1\text{snapshots}=5,\quad \text{leaders}=1

a simplified Raft over a tiny cluster: terms, votes, leader election, and the term-restricted commit rule are exact on these traces; the full safety proof, membership changes, snapshotting, log compaction, and real RPC/timing are beyond these traces - no product claims.

Terms divide time commitIndex 1 0 1 2 3 4 A t0/F t1/C t1/L t1/L t1/L B t0/F t1/F t1/F t1/F t1/F C t0/F t1/F t1/F t1/F t1/F vote tally t1 A:3 leader log A t1:x

Summary

Terms make leadership a replayed event fact, not an authored initial state. Note: this is simplified Raft; the full safety proof, membership changes, snapshots, and real timing are beyond these traces.

term replay\text{term replay}