What is postgres.new?

postgres.new is an in-browser version of Postgres with built-in AI assistance, created by Supabase. It is built upon the PGLite technology mentioned previously.

This allows us to:

• automatically create a database from a CSV file
• generate charts using natural language prompts
• generate database diagrams automatically

Is it useful?

Yes, potentially. Even if only for over-coming the blank page problem and giving you a starting point for your database design.

Screencasts

The following are a couple of screencasts by John showcasing some of the capabilities.

The first is about creating a database from a CSV file.

And the second is about querying, and generating reports from that data.

Supabase demo

Supabase also published their own video demo of the product:

Wrapping it up

The potential applications of this technology are intriguing, though its utility for published products remains to be fully determined.

As a tool for testing and local development, it looks promising. The ability to create and destroy instances rapidly makes it particularly well-suited for these scenarios, allowing developers to work efficiently and iterate quickly.

It also has the capabilities for on-device implementation of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). With support for vector operations, via pgvector, this technology could enable more contextual and specific responses from language models. By incorporating embeddings based on user input or actively retrieved data, it opens up possibilities for enhanced search results and more tailored interactions.

Using PGLite in it’s browser-based form raises some concerns that will need to be addressed, particularly if it sees widespread adoption in production environments.