## Overview This epic tracks the implementation of switching from **lookup-based to propagation-based state inheritance** for GitLab's namespace hierarchy (Organization > Group > Subgroup > Project), as described in [ADR 003: State Propagation Model](https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/architecture/design-documents/group_and_project_operations_and_state_management/decisions/003_state_propagation_model/) and [MR !19153](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/content-sites/handbook/-/merge_requests/19153). ### Problem The current lookup-based approach determines effective state by traversing up the ancestor hierarchy at read time. This causes: - Read-time query overhead on every state check - Inconsistent state inference across descendants - No clear propagation rules through the hierarchy - Caching complexity to mitigate read performance ### Solution Propagate states (`active`, `archived`, `deletion_scheduled`) to all descendants when set on a namespace, enabling fast reads via simple column comparisons without ancestor traversal. ### DRI @aakriti.gupta --- ## Implementation Outline ## Key Technical Decisions ## References - [ADR 003: State Propagation Model MR !19153](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/content-sites/handbook/-/merge_requests/19153) - [ADR 001: Unified State Management](https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/architecture/design-documents/group_and_project_operations_and_state_management/decisions/001_unified_state_management/) - [ADR 006: State Preservation](https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/architecture/design-documents/group_and_project_operations_and_state_management/decisions/006_state_preservation/) - [Tree Iterator Documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/development/database/poc_tree_iterator/) - [Transactional Outbox Pattern](https://microservices.io/patterns/data/transactional-outbox.html) <!-- STATUS NOTE START --> ## Status 2026-09-17 The team is on FCL work, so no epic changes landed. :clock1: **total hours spent this week by all contributors**: 0h _Copied from https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/21607#note_3846657122_ <!-- STATUS NOTE END -->