Saga Pattern: In a saga, if one of the steps fails, compensating actions are executed?

Short answer: to undo the successful steps. For instance, if the Payment Service fails, you can trigger a Compensating action to cancel the previous order creation or refund the payment.

Real-world example (ShopNest)

After payment succeeds, ShopNest publishes OrderPaid. Inventory and Notification services react independently—no giant distributed transaction.

Say this in the interview

1. Define — one clear sentence (the short answer above).
2. Example — relate it to a project like ShopNest or your real work.
3. Trade-off — when you would not use it.