Xata - Postgres at Scale

The summer edition of the London Postgres Meetup is behind us!

Thanks to the organisers for a great evening.

Chris Ellis gave a sharp talk on UUIDs, and Andrew Farries introduced pgroll, our open-source tool for zero-downtime schema changes.

Always a joy to talk Postgres over pints!

PostgreSQL Schema Migrations & Data Modeling, Tue, Jul 29, 2025, 6:30 PM | Meetup We're excited to be back for our 2nd meet up of 2025, following on from our even in April. This event will be covering PostgreSQL schema migrations and management, a topic

Join us tonight for the summer edition of the London PostgreSQL Meetup!
📍 The Star of Kings, Kings Cross
🕰️ 18:30 start
🗨️ Talks by Andrew Farries (on pgroll + schema migrations) & Chris Ellis (UUID magic)
🥂 Drinks + snacks

RSVP: tinyurl.com/5n77sp8t

Zero Downtime Schema Changes with Vercel and Xata by Divyendu Singh Discover how Xata’s pgroll‑powered platform plus Vercel preview deployments enable zero‑downtime Postgres schema changes with instant branches.

Or why you'll never write a backfill script again?

Full breakdown with implementation details: xata.io/blog/zero-downtime-schema-changes-with-vercel-and-xata

Zero Downtime Schema Changes with Vercel and Xata by Divyendu Singh Discover how Xata’s pgroll‑powered platform plus Vercel preview deployments enable zero‑downtime Postgres schema changes with instant branches.

Just published a deep dive on how every Vercel preview gets a full production database copy.

But that's not even the best bit.

Want to know how to safely update your database schema add a column, rename a field, even do complex behind‑the‑scenes transformations while production keeps humming?

Pgroll is on a roll! We reached 5k stars on Github by Gulcin Yildirim Jelinek Pgroll is an open-source, zero-downtime, reversible schema migration tool built exclusively for Postgres. We’ve reached 5k stars on GitHub!

pgroll just passed 5,000 stars 🎉

What matters more:
🧠 35% of issues are from the community
🔍 Feedback led to real roadmap updates
🔄 Reversible, zero-downtime schema changes for Postgres

Thanks for helping shape the project!

🔗 xata.io/blog/pgroll-...

We wanted to see how our Postgres service ranks among the others on the @planetscale.com benchmarks.

The blog post reviews in detail the benchmarking methodology, relevancy, fairness, and openness.

xata.io/blog/reactio...

pgroll 0.14 - new commands and control over version schemas by Andrew Farries pgroll 0.14 is released with several new subcommands and better control over how version schema are created.

🎉 pgroll 0.14 can now modify primary key columns with alter_column operation.

A long-standing issue, fixed!

Read more here: xata.io/blog/pgroll-...

Try it today → github.com/xataio/pgroll

#PostgreSQL #pgroll #DatabaseDev

pgroll 0.14 - new commands and control over version schemas by Andrew Farries pgroll 0.14 is released with several new subcommands and better control over how version schema are created.

Running a migration but don’t want a version schema?

Use --use-version-schema=false in pgroll 0.14

Trade side-by-side rollout for simplicity.

Read more here: xata.io/blog/pgroll-...

#Postgres #pgroll #DevTools #schemamigration #opensource

pgroll 0.14 - new commands and control over version schemas by Andrew Farries pgroll 0.14 is released with several new subcommands and better control over how version schema are created.

You can now name your own version schema 🎯

No more relying on migration file names.

Flexible naming with "version_schema:" in YAML.

Details 👉 xata.io/blog/pgroll-...

#pgroll #Postgres #SchemaMigrations

pgroll 0.14 - new commands and control over version schemas by Andrew Farries pgroll 0.14 is released with several new subcommands and better control over how version schema are created.

🔗 "pgroll latest url" gives you a ready-to-use Postgres connection string for the newest schema version.

Perfect for CD pipelines 🛠️

More: xata.io/blog/pgroll-...

#pgroll #Postgres #DevOps

pgroll 0.14 - new commands and control over version schemas by Andrew Farries pgroll 0.14 is released with several new subcommands and better control over how version schema are created.

✨ Upgrading pgroll just became easier!

No need to manually fix old migration files for breaking changes.

"pgroll update" now auto-fixes outdated syntax (like create_index)!

Blog: xata.io/blog/pgroll-...

#pgroll #Postgres #DX #OpenSource

pgroll 0.14 - new commands and control over version schemas by Andrew Farries pgroll 0.14 is released with several new subcommands and better control over how version schema are created.

🧪 "pgroll validate" is here!

Check migration files for syntax that the objects referenced by a migration exist in the target database.

Spot issues like missing tables before they break CI/CD.

👉 xata.io/blog/pgroll-...

#PostgreSQL #pgroll #DevTools

pgroll 0.14 - new commands and control over version schemas by Andrew Farries pgroll 0.14 is released with several new subcommands and better control over how version schema are created.

🚀 pgroll v0.14 is out!

New subcommands, more control over version schemas, and smoother upgrades for your pgroll versions.

Read the release blog 👉 xata.io/blog/pgroll-...

#Postgres #pgroll #SchemaMigrations #DevOps

Behind the scenes: Speeding up pgstream snapshots for PostgreSQL by Esther Minano Sanz How targeted improvements helped us speed up bulk data loads and complex schemas.

🚀 We've made pgstream faster than pg_dump/pg_restore for snapshots without sacrificing logical replication or DDL support.

We optimized writes, added binary COPY, delayed indexes and made batching smarter.

📖 Full blog: xata.io/blog/behind-...

#PostgreSQL #OpenSource #CDC #DDL #snapshot #benchmark

If you're attending Swiss PGDay 🇨🇭 do not miss Xata's talks!

@apatheticmagpie.bsky.social will deliver her talk, "Anatomy of Table-level locks in PostgreSQL" 🔐 at 10:20 today and Andrew Farries will talk about "Postgres schema migrations using the expand/contract pattern" 🛠️ tomorrow at 13:00.

PostgreSQL Branching: Xata vs. Neon vs. Supabase - Part 1 by Alex Francoeur Take a closer look at PostgreSQL branching by comparing Xata, Neon, and Supabase on architecture, features, and real-world costs.

Miss part 1? Check out the blog for a break down of features and underlying architectures supporting Postgres branching across these platforms 👇

xata.io/blog/neon-vs...

PostgreSQL Branching: Xata vs. Neon vs. Supabase - Part 2 by Alex Francoeur Take a closer look at PostgreSQL branching by comparing Xata, Neon, and Supabase on architecture, features, and real-world costs.

Part 2 of our Postgres branching series is live. This time we compare costs across 5 real-world scenarios 💰

• CI/CD previews
• High availability
• Multi-tenant SaaS
• Model training
• Ephemeral agent DBs

See how Xata, Neon & Supabase compare 📊

xata.io/blog/neon-vs...

pgstream v0.7.1: JSON transform, snapshot progress, wildcard by Ahmet Gedemenli Learn how pgstream v0.7.1 transforms JSON data, improves snapshot experience with progress tracking and wildcard support.

🚀 pgstream v0.7.1 is here!

✨ JSON transformers to transform json/jsonb data with set and delete operations

📊 Snapshot progress tracking

⚡ Wildcard support for snapshots

Check the blogpost here → xata.io/blog/pgstrea...

Let us know what you think, your feedback & contributions are appreciated!

YouTube video by Plain Schwarz Gülçin Yıldırım Jelinek – Anatomy of Table-Level Locks in PostgreSQL #bbuzz

At @berlinbuzzwords.de, @apatheticmagpie.bsky.social gave her talk "Anatomy of Table-Level Locks in PostgreSQL" 🧠🔒

MVCC lets reads and writes run without blocking, but DDL like ALTER TABLE needs stronger locks.

📽️ Watch the full recording here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiaL...

#bbuzz #postgres

We kicked off the day at @berlinbuzzwords.de with a rooftop breakfast for the amazing women speakers.
As a proudly female-founded Postgres company, we’re thrilled to support moments like this. 💜
Don’t miss @apatheticmagpie.bsky.social talk at 15:20 (Maschinenhaus room)!

PostgreSQL Branching: Xata vs. Neon vs. Supabase - Part 1 by Alex Francoeur Take a closer look at PostgreSQL branching by comparing Xata, Neon, and Supabase on architecture, features, and real-world costs.

Part 1 of our two-post series breaks down how Xata, Neon, and Supabase each implement PostgreSQL branching.

In this first post, we cover features, internals, and trade-offs between the different solutions ⚔️

xata.io/blog/neon-vs...

pgstream v0.6.0: Template transformers, observability, and performance improvements by Ahmet Gedemenli Learn how pgstream v0.6 simplifies complex data transformations with custom templates, enhances observability and improves snapshot performance.

🐘 pgstream v0.6, our open-source Postgres CDC tool, now available 🚀
Custom template transformers 📝, built-in observability to quickly identify bottlenecks 🔭 and snapshot performance improvements 🏎️

Read more:

pgroll 0.13.0 - Easy pgroll onboarding using baseline feature by Andrew Farries The new baseline feature in pgroll 0.13.0 makes it easy to start using pgroll on databases with existing schema and keep your schema histories clean.

🦋 pgroll v0.13.0 is live!

🎯 New: baseline support
Start using pgroll with existing schemas or compress 100s of migrations into one clean file.

⚠️ Note: "name" field in migration files is now deprecated.

Full details on our blog:

Xata Agent 0.3.1: Custom MCP servers, Ollama integration, reasoning models by Gulcin Yildirim Jelinek Version 0.3.1 of the open-source Xata Agent adds support for custom MCP servers and tools, introduces Ollama as a local LLM provider, and includes support for reasoning models O1 and O4-mini.

Just released: Xata Agent v0.3.1 🧠

Now with:
🔧 Custom MCP tools & servers
🤖 Local LLMs via Ollama
✅ Support for reasoning models (O1 & O4-mini)
🎨 A refined UI to manage tools and servers

Learn more → xata.io/blog/xata-ag...
Try it out → github.com/xataio/xata-...

From OpenAPI spec to MCP: how we built Xata's MCP server by Alexis Rico Learn how we built an OpenAPI-driven MCP server using Kubb, custom code generators, and Vercel’s Next.js MCP adapter.

From OpenAPI to a working MCP server: see how Xata built real-time AI tooling using Kubb and @vercel.com's @nextjs.org js.org adapter.

Practical breakdown: codegen, tool gen, and deployment.
Check it out:👇 xata.io/blog/built-x...

pgstream v0.5.0 update by Esther Minano Sanz Improved user experience with new transformers, YAML configuration, CLI refactoring and table filtering.

🚀 pgstream 0.5 is out with simpler snapshots & replication for Postgres.

📃 YAML config support
🕶️ Masking & dynamic transformers with validation
💻 Revamped CLI
🔍 Table filtering

Check out the blog for more:

Highlights from PGConf.DE 2025 by Natalia Woroniec A recap of Xata's presence at PGConf.DE 2025 in Berlin - our sessions, hallway track conversations and everything inbetween.

Just published our pgconf.de ’25 recap🇩🇪
Talks on PII-safe staging, table locks, and an AI-driven Xata Agent that analyzes your clusters and suggests next steps 🦋

Photos + lessons learned → xata.io/blog/highlig...

Off the Grid, On the Same Page - Club Xata Iceland 2025 by Natalia Woroniec Vikings, Volcanoes, and Very Good Meetings. In this blog, we recount the memorable moments and key takeaways from our March 2025 offsite.

In March the Xata team headed to Iceland for an offsite full of collaboration, innovation & adventure 🌍✨ We wrapped up our hackathon 🏆, tackled key projects & took in Iceland’s stunning landscapes ➕ a surprise northern lights show 🌌
👀 our blog: xata.io/blog/club-xa...

Here is the link to the blog post: xata.io/blog/xata-po...

Control plane in our account, dataplane over Kubernetes on your account.

You can deploy Xata fully in your own AWS/GCP/Azure account. This gives you maximum flexibility, security, and compliance. It also let’s you use your cloud provider credits.