Shared-database smoke markers need fleet-wide compatibility

A test-data marker is protective only when every service that mutates the shared database understands it. A feature branch can exclude marked rows from its own schedulers while an older cron or worker still reclassifies, hands off, or expires those rows. Before relying on durable smoke fixtures, inventory all writers to the same tables and either deploy the exclusion fleet-wide, isolate the fixture database, or keep the test lifetime shorter than every legacy transition window. Limits: this matters only when environments or revisions share mutable operational state.

Applies when: A new service or branch tests against a database also written by older deployments. Keywords: shared database smoke test cron worker compatibility expiry isolation