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AI Features and extensions pgvector

PostgreSQL pgvector and RAG: Best Practices and Examples for Better Results

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) has become one of the most practical applications of AI in production systems, and PostgreSQL’s pgvector extension has emerged as a robust solution for implementing vector search. However, getting optimal results requires more than just installing pgvector and throwing embeddings at it. Let’s explore proven best practices and real-world examples to help […]

David Sterling 
Features and extensions postgresql

What Is pgvector and When You Should Use It Instead of a Dedicated Vector DB

pgvector is a PostgreSQL extension that adds a native vector data type and similarity search so you can turn Postgres into a capable “vector DB” without adding new infrastructure. For many workloads—especially RAG over modest corpora, recommendations tied tightly to transactional data, and anomaly detection in existing Postgres-backed systems—pgvector is often simpler and cheaper than […]

David Sterling 
postgis postgresql

Beyond the Basics: 5 Powerful PostGIS Queries You Can Use Today

You’ve got PostGISqueries up and running—now what? If you completed the 15-minute quickstart, you’ve seen the basics: creating spatial tables, inserting points, and running simple distance queries. But PostGIS offers so much more. In this follow-up guide, I’ll show you five immediately useful PostGIS techniques that go beyond simple point queries. These are practical patterns […]

David Sterling 
AI Features and extensions pgvector pgvectorscale

PostgreSQL Vector Search: From Possible to Competitive with pgvector and pgvectorscale

PostgreSQL has quietly crossed an important line in the last year: AI with Postgres is no longer a science project, it is genuinely competitive with specialized vector databases at production scale. From “possible” to “competitive” For a long time, the story around AI and Postgres sounded like “you can do it if you really want […]

David Sterling 
Performance and tuning postgresql

PostgreSQL 18 Async I/O on AWS: Why 2–3× Throughput Doesn’t Mean 3× Smaller Instances

The PostgreSQL 18 async I/O feature has generated a lot of excitement—and for good reason. Lab benchmarks show 2–3× better read throughput on cloud storage compared to synchronous I/O. But if you’re expecting to downsize your AWS RDS instances by 3× and pocket massive savings, I have news: real-world deployments tell a more nuanced story. […]

David Sterling 
Learning resources postgresql

Essential PostgreSQL Books Every Engineer Should Own

1. Learn PostgreSQL (latest edition) “Learn PostgreSQL” (recent editions target PostgreSQL 15–16) is a beginner-friendly, end-to-end introduction that stays useful even after you’re no longer a beginner. It walks through SQL basics, core internals like transactions and MVCC, replication, security, backups, and monitoring, with hands-on exercises that resemble real production use cases.goodreads+1​ Why a PostgreSQL […]

David Sterling 
postgresql

PostgreSQL 18 Async I/O in Production: Real-World Benchmarks, Configuration Patterns, and Storage Performance in 2026

When PostgreSQL 18 dropped in September 2025, the async I/O subsystem was the headline feature that had database administrators and performance engineers buzzing. Six months into production deployments across diverse infrastructure environments, we now have enough real-world data to move beyond the release notes and understand how async I/O actually performs in the wild. This […]

David Sterling