--- title: "New SQL features from the latest standards meeting" publication: "Postgres Weekly" issue: 655 published_at: "2026-07-01" canonical_url: "https://postgresweekly.com/issues/655" --- Plus a Rust rewrite of Postgres, seeing checkpoint problems before they bite, and a tool that tries to break your Postgres server. #​655 — July 1, 2026 [Web Version](https://postgresweekly.com/issues/655) Together with [![EDB\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,e_trim,w_308,h_100/e_make_transparent/co_white,e_outline:7/vrltbo1rhou91lmjw2rl.png)](https://store.enterprisedb.com/category/shop-database-options/0ZGPP0000004HVJ4A2?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=em_ww_vcop_ecommerce-20260625) Postgres Weekly [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/crih5wm9tpxdxxxon0jl.jpg)](https://peter.eisentraut.org/blog/2026/06/30/waiting-for-sql-202y-stockholm-meeting-report) [New SQL Standard Features with Postgres Implications](https://peter.eisentraut.org/blog/2026/06/30/waiting-for-sql-202y-stockholm-meeting-report) — Postgres contributor and SQL standards committee member Peter Eisentraut reports from the latest standardization meeting, where `QUALIFY`, `INSERT ... BY NAME`, and `JOIN TO ONE` were adopted into the draft standard. Plus an update on the still under discussion ‘key joins’ proposal. Peter Eisentraut 💡 Peter notes _"the PostgreSQL 20 development cycle is about to kick off, and this article contains some project ideas in various stages, if someone wants to chip in."_ [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/c_limit,w_480,h_480,q_auto/copm/2667fd30.jpg)](https://store.enterprisedb.com/category/shop-database-options/0ZGPP0000004HVJ4A2?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=em_ww_vcop_ecommerce-20260625) [Buy and Upgrade EDB Postgres, No Sales Call](https://store.enterprisedb.com/category/shop-database-options/0ZGPP0000004HVJ4A2?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=em_ww_vcop_ecommerce-20260625) — Buying or upgrading Postgres used to mean a sales call and a contract. Now you can do it yourself. The store lets technical teams purchase and scale on their own terms, no waiting on a quote. [Pick your product and check out](https://store.enterprisedb.com/category/shop-database-options/0ZGPP0000004HVJ4A2?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=em_ww_vcop_ecommerce-20260625). EDB sponsor [Why Slow Postgres Checkpoints Make Restarts Risky](https://ardentperf.com/2026/06/24/happiness-hint-alarm-on-checkpoint-time/) — Restarting a struggling Postgres instance feels like a safe move, but a veteran engineer explains why it can be the opposite, using two real, extended outages on databases with checkpoint problems. He also shares a practical starting threshold for alerts, so you don’t have to learn the hard way. Jeremy Schneider **IN BRIEF:** - [PGlite](https://pglite.dev/), a WebAssembly build of Postgres for use in JavaScript environments, [celebrates reaching 10 million weekly downloads](https://electric.ax/blog/2026/06/25/pglite-reaches-10-million-weekly-downloads) while explaining the use cases and how to get started with it yourself. - ClickHouse [has unveiled WAL-RUS, a Rust-based rewrite of WAL-G](https://clickhouse.com/blog/walrus-postgres-backups-in-rust) for more predictable memory use over long-running archival processes. - 🇺🇸 Ticket sales for [Postgres Summit US](https://2026.postgressummit.us/), taking place this fall in NYC, [have now opened.](https://2026.postgressummit.us/registration/) [Running `pgvector` in Production on Amazon Aurora](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/database/running-pgvector-in-production-on-amazon-aurora-postgresql/) — A dense guide to working with [pgvector](https://github.com/pgvector/pgvector), from index choices, quantization, and query operators to config settings and operational aspects. It’s Aurora-_focused_, but still highly useful for both existing and potential pgvector users elsewhere. Aichholzer and Pareek (AWS) [Too Many Tables are Bad for You](https://www.cybertec-postgresql.com/en/too-many-tables-are-bad/) — A new performance consulting tale from Laurenz. This time demonstrating how having too many tables can not only spike memory usage, but also slow down queries against Postgres own system catalog. Laurenz Albe ▶[44 Talks from POSETTE 2026](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOBORF8Y_l8g) — Microsoft has shared all the talks from its recent POSETTE virtual Postgres conference on YouTube. Highlights include: - [Postgres 19 Hackers Panel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw4WKeoxKq4&list=PLOBORF8Y_l8g&index=3) – Four Postgres contributors discuss the Postgres development and release process. What makes the cut, how, and why? Plus some future Postgres features are teased. - [The Hitchhiker’s Guide to PostgreSQL Hacking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY8UCINpe5c&list=PLOBORF8Y_l8g&index=38) – A useful introduction to getting involved with working on the Postgres codebase. - [Querying & Visualizing Graphs in Postgres with Apache AGE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3WzuHqKxzc&list=PLOBORF8Y_l8g&index=35) - [JSON: Evil Data Type or Just Needs to be Tamed?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on8qjyOEwPk&list=PLOBORF8Y_l8g&index=14) - [An MCP for your Postgres DB](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_JPHuXgDyQ&list=PLOBORF8Y_l8g&index=4) Microsoft 📄 [Why It's So Hard to Add a Column in the Middle of a Postgres Table](https://www.bytebase.com/blog/why-its-hard-to-add-a-column-in-the-middle-of-postgres-table/) Tianzhou (Bytebase) 📄 [Reading Your Own Writes with `WAIT FOR LSN` in Postgres 19](https://rednafi.com/system/wait-for-lsn/) Redowan Delowar 📰 Classifieds PostgreSQL-as-a-service w/ hybrid search, token budgeting, streaming API, no vendor lock-in. [Try it on pgEdge Cloud](https://app.pgedge.com). **RELEASES AND CODE:** 🤖 [pgrust: An AI-Assisted Rewrite of Postgres in Rust](https://github.com/malisper/pgrust) — It's not production ready, and AI did much of the work, but it's neat to see that producing an implementation that passes Postgres' own regression tests is possible. The author has spun up [a Web-compiled demo](https://pgrust.com/) so you can kick the tires. Michael Malis 💡 pgrust is no mere _"Claude, reimplement Postgres in Rust for me"_ project. Michael has [blogged about what's involved](https://malisper.me/pgrust-rebuilding-postgres-in-rust-with-ai/) and [his progress](https://malisper.me/pgrust-update-at-67-postgres-compatibility-and-accelerating/) since April. He has _eight_ Codex accounts running in parallel on this! [Noisia 0.3: A _Harmful Workload_ Generator for Postgres](https://github.com/lesovsky/noisia) — Creates things like deadlocks, transactions that do nothing, and queries that produce on-disk temporary files for stress-testing your setup. Use with care! The latest version adds a [‘backend killer’ workload](https://github.com/lesovsky/noisia/pull/12) (via OOM) and a [‘slot-bloat’ workload](https://github.com/lesovsky/noisia/pull/13). Alexey Lesovsky [Biscuit: A High-Performance Pattern Matching Index](https://github.com/CrystallineCore/Biscuit) — An experimental specialized index access method for speeding up `LIKE`/`ILIKE` pattern matching. Sivaprasad Murali - [pgtt 4.5](https://github.com/darold/pgtt/) – Create and manage Oracle-style Global Temporary Tables. v4.5 adds Postgres 19 and `CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY` support. - [PGSync 7.1.0](https://github.com/toluaina/pgsync) – Postgres to Elasticsearch/OpenSearch syncing. - [pgvector 0.8.4](https://github.com/pgvector/pgvector) – Two small fixes for HNSW vacuuming. **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. Fairfield Enterprise Centre, Louth, LN11 0LS, United Kingdom Postgres, PostgreSQL and the Slonik Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of the PostgreSQL Community Association of Canada. 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