Hey! I’m finding myself using auto-linking relationships more and more. It’s a really powerful feature in specific cases!! And sometimes its between two very large datasets, making links of hundreds/at some point thousands of records.
Some questions:
Does it matter on what side the auto-linking rule is set, if one database is much bigger than the other?
Does it take up bandwidth on the workspace’s automation engine?
Is there a max number of auto-linking? (I know there’s pricing around tiers for it, but I mean from a tech side)
How does it work under the hood? If its possible to share! :))
To be clear, the pricing limits are based on the number of entities in the dbs (not the number of entities actually linked).
Imagine this, db A contains 1000 entities, and has configured an auto-link relation to db B (which currently has 10 entities). If I add a new B, then the backend needs to compare this new entity to all 1000 As in order to check which (if any) match.
Even if none match, the calculation still needs to be done for all 1000 items.
This is why the limit is set on db size, not actual number of linked entities per month.
Wow, so it really is just automation runs on read-only fields.
Are there plans in some future to convert auto-linking into something more robust? As in, not using automations, but using foreign keys on the tables. Still not sure exactly how relations work under the hood in Fibery, so idk if it’s feasible, but auto-linking is quite a big differentiator from other tools that allows a lot more complex workflows. If it takes up a lot of processing power right now, might be worth it.
Follow up question: @Chr1sG Still with this new info, not ALL entities need to be rechecked at least once a month. It’s just when there’s an update to a field the auto-link is checking on, no? So why the question on why not enforce the monthly limit based on real usage still stands.
Reason I’m asking: Just implimented my own auto-linking using automations instead of the default auto-linking because I know the size of the db will be big, and automations reset, but auto-links don’t.
Another followup (might deserve its own topic): If still using automations, how about the ability to filter when it will TRY auto-linking in order to reduce automation count. In my rule, I only have it trigger the autolink if the From Currency != To Currency, then it looks for an exchange rate. If its the same, exchange rate doesn’t exist and it shouldn’t even try looking.
So far, I don’t think we’ve heard feedback from anyone else that the auto-linking speed (nor the limits) is preventing them from achieving what they want, so we’re not likely to make changes to the current behaviour.