Kanishka NaikCompensating transactions execute in reverse saga order. If steps T1, T2, T3 succeed but T4 fails, the system runs C3, C2, C1 in sequence, restoring each service's data to a consistent state.
Developers must explicitly design a compensating transaction for every saga step that can commit before the overall process fails. Microservices.io states no automatic rollback is available — each reversal is coded separately.
A compensating transaction reverses a previously committed transaction. It is a core mechanism in the saga pattern, used to restore data consistency across services where traditional ACID rollback is not available.