method. This method differs from our `.safe_find_or_create_by` methods
because it performs the `INSERT`, and then performs the `SELECT` commands only if that call
fails.
If the `INSERT` fails, it will leave a dead tuple around and
increment the primary key sequence (if any), among [other downsides](https://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/Relation.html#method-i-create_or_find_by).
We prefer `.safe_find_or_create_by` if the common path is that we
have a single record which is reused after it has first been created.
However, if the more common path is to create a new record, and we only
want to avoid duplicate records to be inserted on edge cases
(for example a job-retry), then `.create_or_find_by` can save us a `SELECT`.
Both methods use subtransactions internally if executed within the context of
an existing transaction. This can significantly impact overall performance,
especially if more than 64 live subtransactions are being used inside a single transaction.
## Monitor SQL queries in production
GitLab team members can monitor slow or canceled queries on GitLab.com