OpenAI: Scaling PostgreSQL to the Next Level

At the PGConf.dev 2025 Global Developer Conference, Bohan Zhang from OpenAI shared OpenAI’s best practices with PostgreSQL, offering a glimpse into the database usage of one of the most prominent unicorn companies. At OpenAI, we utilize an unsharded architecture with one writer and multiple readers, demonstrating that PostgreSQL can scale gracefully under massive read loads. — PGConf.dev 2025, Bohan Zhang from OpenAI Bohan Zhang is a member of OpenAI’s Infrastructure team. He studied under Professor Andy Pavlo at Carnegie Mellon University and co-founded OtterTune with him. Background PostgreSQL serves as the core database supporting the majority of OpenAI’s critical systems. If PostgreSQL experiences downtime, many of OpenAI’s key services would be directly affected. There have been several instances in the past where issues related to PostgreSQL have led to outages of ChatGPT. OpenAI utilizes managed databases on Azure, employing a classic PostgreSQL primary-replica replication ... Read full article.