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+# Architectural Decision Record: Fast Fetch Transport Eligibility
+
+## Status
+
+Accepted
+
+## Context
+
+Fast Fetch accelerates Fast Setup (Simple Fetch) by reading bounded pages from
+CouchDB's continuous changes feed. It consumes each response incrementally,
+persists documents while the page is still arriving, and cancels the underlying
+request when the page completes or fails.
+
+The CouchDB setting `useRequestAPI`, labelled 'Use Internal API', routes ordinary
+replication through Obsidian's `requestUrl` API to avoid browser CORS
+restrictions. This API exposes a completed response as text, JSON, or an
+`ArrayBuffer`; it does not expose the network response progressively or accept
+the Fetch API's `AbortSignal`. Wrapping its result in a `Response` does not
+restore those transport properties.
+
+Custom headers can cause a browser preflight, and an authenticating proxy may
+reject that preflight before the requested header values are sent. Custom
+headers do not, however, make Fast Fetch intrinsically incompatible. A server
+with correctly configured CORS can accept the same headers through the ordinary
+Fetch API and retain streaming behaviour.
+
+Ordinary PouchDB replication has a different response contract. Standard Fetch
+uses finite batches, while LiveSync uses long-poll responses whose change
+payload is bounded by the replication batch size. Both can process each response
+after it has completed and do not depend on progressively reading a
+document-bearing continuous feed.
+
+## Decision
+
+Fast Fetch requires a Fetch-compatible transport which exposes the response
+body progressively and honours request cancellation.
+
+When `useRequestAPI` is enabled for a CouchDB remote, Fast Fetch falls back to
+Standard Fetch before entering the Fast Fetch activity or resetting the local
+database through the Fast Fetch path. The presence of custom headers alone does
+not disable Fast Fetch. Once Standard Fetch resets the local database, it
+invalidates any retained Fast Fetch checkpoint for that database.
+
+Commonlib's Rebuilder owns this eligibility decision because it owns both Fast
+Fetch and the existing Standard Fetch fallback. The streaming implementation
+does not receive Obsidian's buffered request adapter, and LiveSync does not add
+proxy-specific or Cloudflare-specific policy.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- Initial retrieval through Standard Fetch may be slower and issue more HTTP
+  requests because PouchDB uses the configured batch size, document retrieval,
+  and checkpoint operations. The decision does not assume that `requestUrl` is
+  faster; its benefit here is compatibility with connections which browser CORS
+  would otherwise reject.
+- LiveSync remains supported with `useRequestAPI`. Its HTTP adapter uses
+  long-poll responses whose change payload is bounded by the replication batch
+  size, rather than the document-bearing stream required by Fast Fetch.
+- A user whose server accepts the configured custom headers through correct
+  CORS handling can leave `useRequestAPI` disabled and continue to use Fast
+  Fetch.
+- The decision can be revisited if Obsidian provides a progressively readable,
+  cancellable internal request API, or if a separately designed buffered
+  transport establishes explicit payload bounds and equivalent cancellation
+  semantics.
+
+## Verification
+
+Commonlib unit tests verify that `useRequestAPI` selects only the existing
+Standard Fetch activity, does not invoke Streaming Fetch, and invalidates any
+retained Fast Fetch checkpoint after the local database is reset. Existing
+tests continue to verify that custom headers are passed to Fast Fetch when
+`useRequestAPI` is disabled.
+
+## References
+
+- [Fast Fetch Persistence and Completion Semantics](2026_08_fast_fetch_persistence_and_completion.md)
+- [Apache CouchDB changes-feed API](https://docs.couchdb.org/en/stable/api/database/changes.html)