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Data Backfill - CI/CD Glossary Definition

A data backfill populates a new or changed column across existing rows, usually in batches to avoid locking.

A data backfill populates a new or changed column across existing rows after a schema migration adds it, usually in batches to avoid locking.

Backfills run separately from schema migrations because they can touch millions of rows; a pipeline often runs them as a background job rather than blocking the deploy.

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