> - Introduced in GitLab 13.1 in [beta](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/gitlab-the-product/#alpha-beta-ga) with feature flag `gitaly_distributed_reads` set to disabled.
> - [Made generally available and enabled by default](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/-/issues/2951) in GitLab 13.3.
> - [Disabled by default](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/-/issues/3178) in GitLab 13.5.
> - [Enabled by default](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/-/issues/3334) in GitLab 13.8.
Praefect supports distribution of read operations across Gitaly nodes that are
configured for the virtual node.
The feature is disabled by default. To enable distributed reads, the `gitaly_distributed_reads`
[feature flag](../feature_flags.md) must be enabled in a Ruby console:
```ruby
Feature.enable(:gitaly_distributed_reads)
```
If enabled, all RPCs marked with `ACCESSOR` option like