--- title: "Postgres 18.2 released (but you may want to wait)" publication: "Postgres Weekly" issue: 636 published_at: "2026-02-18" canonical_url: "https://postgresweekly.com/issues/636" --- Plus Citus 14, a way to send queries to run in the background, and when to use materialized views (or not). #​636 — February 18, 2026 [Web Version](https://postgresweekly.com/issues/636) Together with [![Tiger Data logo\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,w_1280,h_282/e_make_transparent/co_white,e_outline:30/px1u7kjyvz7xnbm6ytir.png)](https://www.tigerdata.com/timescaledb?utm_source=cooperpress&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=postgres-weekly-newsletter) Postgres Weekly [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/gzagviw0qirkfuv1j7qc.jpg)](https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/postgresql-182-178-1612-1516-and-1421-released-3235/) [Postgres 18.2, 17.8, 16.12, 15.16, and 14.21 Released, But..!](https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/postgresql-182-178-1612-1516-and-1421-released-3235/) — Every maintained release line of Postgres has received an update to both fix a variety of bugs as well as five security issues covering `oidvector`, `intarray`, `pgcrypto`, `pg_trgm`, and a multibyte character length validation issue that can result in a buffer overrun. However, look at the note below before you upgrade. PostgreSQL Global Development Group ⚠️ Shortly after the release above, the Postgres team [announced an out-of-cycle release is expected on February 26](https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/out-of-cycle-release-scheduled-for-february-26-2026-3241/) to address regressions introduced by the above releases. [Percona has decided to wait till that release](https://percona.community/blog/2026/02/18/postgresql-minor-release-postponed-in-q1-2026/) to ship a new build of its distribution. [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/c_limit,w_480,h_480,q_auto/copm/5eee791a.png)](https://www.tigerdata.com/timescaledb?utm_source=cooperpress&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=postgres-weekly-newsletter) [That Analytics Database Was Supposed to Be Temporary](https://www.tigerdata.com/timescaledb?utm_source=cooperpress&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=postgres-weekly-newsletter) — Now it has its own pipelines, its own schema, its own problems. TimescaleDB extends Postgres so analytics runs on live data—no second system needed. Hypertables, 95% compression, continuous aggregates. [Start building for free](https://www.tigerdata.com/timescaledb?utm_source=cooperpress&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=postgres-weekly-newsletter). Tiger Data (creators of TimescaleDB) sponsor [Read Efficiency Issues in Postgres Queries](https://www.pgmustard.com/blog/read-efficiency-issues-in-postgres-queries) — A walkthrough of two causes of slow queries: heap/index bloat and the less commonly discussed issue of data locality. Includes working examples, buffer counts, and before/after query plans showing the impact and how to fix it. Michael Christofides **IN BRIEF:** - The [Open Alliance for PostgreSQL Education](https://oapg-edu.org/) is [looking for _technical contributors_](https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/call-for-technical-members-3233/) to help review their vendor-neutral Postgres certification exam material. - 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Jimmy Angelakos [shares what happened at the last PostgreSQL Edinburgh meetup](https://vyruss.org/blog/postgresedi-feb-2026-meetup-two-talks.html) – the [next one is on March 12](https://luma.com/5pglgx8h), if you want to go. - Roger Welin explains why [Postgres's 'bloat' "is a feature, not a bug."](https://rogerwelin.github.io/2026/02/11/postgresql-bloat-is-a-feature-not-a-bug/) [Bluebox Docker: A Living Postgres Sample Database](https://www.softwareandbooz.com/introducing-bluebox-docker-a-living-postgresql-sample-database/) — [Bluebox](https://github.com/ryanbooz/bluebox) is a sample database for exploring Postgres features with non-trivial data. _Bluebox Docker_ provides container images with the dataset preloaded across all major Postgres versions, plus `pg_cron` jobs that continuously update data for testing vacuuming, bloat, index usage monitoring, etc. Ryan Booz [Materialized Views: When Caching Your Query Results Makes Sense (And When It Doesn't)](https://stormatics.tech/blogs/postgresql-materialized-views-when-caching-your-query-results-makes-sense) — Materialized views aren’t complicated, but using them well takes care. This guide digs into the operational stuff that matters, with a concrete example taking a 28-second query down to 180ms through precomputed aggregations. Umair Shahid 📺 [Language is a Virus: Managing Locales in Postgres](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__zmR6k15co) – A pragmatic look at Postgres’ support for locales. Christophe Pettus 📄 [How to Compile Postgres Extensions with Visual Studio 2026 on Windows](https://www.enterprisedb.com/blog/compiling-postgresql-extensions-visual-studio-2026-windows) – Some pointers for a potentially tricky task. Xavier Fischer 📄 [Teaching an LLM What It Doesn't Know About Postgres](https://www.pgedge.com/blog/teaching-an-llm-what-it-doesn-t-know-about-postgresql) Dave Page (pgEdge) 📄 [Do Sub-Transactions Hurt Performance?](https://shaneborden.com/2026/02/10/do-postgresql-sub-transactions-hurt-performance/) Shane Borden 📰 Classifieds 🔥 Need an MCP server for Postgres that works with quick prototypes or enterprise-grade production AI apps?[github.com/pgEdge/pgedge-postgres-mcp](https://github.com/pgEdge/pgedge-postgres-mcp) **RELEASES AND CODE:** [`pg_background`: Run SQL in the Background, Independent of Your Session](https://vibhorkumar.wordpress.com/2026/02/16/pg_background-make-postgres-do-the-long-work-while-your-session-stays-light/) — An extension to execute SQL commands asynchronously in the background. Handy if you want to return to the client quickly, while letting Postgres crunch away on things. Unlike something like [pg_cron](https://github.com/citusdata/pg_cron), this is for on-demand rather than scheduled tasks. Vibhor Kumar [Citus 14 Released with Postgres 18 Support](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/ADforPostgreSQL/distribute-postgresql-18-with-citus-14/4494868) — The open-source extension (now maintained by Microsoft) that enables horizontal scaling by sharding tables across multiple nodes now supports Postgres 18, along with its improvements such as async I/O, virtual generated columns, OAuth support, and more. Mehmet Yilmaz (Microsoft) [`pg_stat_ch`: An Extension That Exports Every Metric to ClickHouse](https://clickhouse.com/blog/pg_stat_ch-postgres-extension-stats-to-clickhouse) — Turns every query execution into a fixed-size ~4.6KB event and streams them into ClickHouse. Kaushik Iska (ClickHouse) - [Postgres Language Server 0.21.0](https://github.com/supabase-community/postgres-language-server) – LSP and tooling for Postgres that uses `libpg_query` for 100% syntax compatibility bringing autocompletion and syntax highlighting to editors and IDEs. - [PGHoard 2.7.0](https://github.com/Aiven-Open/pghoard) – Aiven's Postgres backup and restore daemon that stores compressed backups and WALs in cloud object stores. - [pg_clickhouse v0.1.4](https://justatheory.com/2026/02/pg_clickhouse-0.1.4/) – Query ClickHouse databases from Postgres. **Got a new email?** You can [change your address here](https://postgresweekly.com/edit_subscription/*|UID|*). --- **Bored of us?** [Click here to stop getting Postgres Weekly](https://postgresweekly.com/leave/*|UID|*). --- **Got a link for us?** Reply and tell us. We can't include everything but we'll look at anything you send. _Thanks!_ --- Published by Cooper Press Ltd. 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