> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://planetscale.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Postgres compatibility

> PlanetScale Postgres is built on standard PostgreSQL, providing full compatibility with PostgreSQL features. This page documents the specific behaviors, limitations, and differences you should be aware of when using PlanetScale Postgres.

## Overview

PlanetScale Postgres runs on PostgreSQL versions 17 and 18. See our [supported versions](/postgres/cluster-configuration/versions) documentation for the specific versions available.

PlanetScale Postgres is designed to be fully compatible with standard PostgreSQL. Unlike PlanetScale Vitess, which has [certain MySQL compatibility limitations](/vitess/mysql-compatibility), PlanetScale Postgres supports the full PostgreSQL feature set, including stored procedures, triggers, and foreign keys.

## Full PostgreSQL feature support

PlanetScale Postgres supports all core PostgreSQL features:

| Feature                                        | Support | Notes                                                                                             |
| ---------------------------------------------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Stored procedures and functions                | ✅       | Full support for `CREATE FUNCTION` and `CREATE PROCEDURE`                                         |
| Foreign keys and constraints                   | ✅       | All constraint types supported                                                                    |
| Triggers                                       | ✅       | All trigger types supported                                                                       |
| Materialized views                             | ✅       | Full support including `REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW`                                                |
| Transactions and ACID                          | ✅       | Full transactional support                                                                        |
| JSON/JSONB                                     | ✅       | All JSON functions and operators                                                                  |
| Full-text search                               | ✅       | Including `tsvector`, `tsquery`, and related functions                                            |
| Table partitioning                             | ✅       | Range, list, and hash partitioning                                                                |
| Logical replication                            | ✅       | As source or target — see [logical replication documentation](/postgres/integrations/logical-cdc) |
| Window functions                               | ✅       | Full support                                                                                      |
| Common Table Expressions (CTEs)                | ✅       | Including recursive CTEs                                                                          |
| `LISTEN`/`NOTIFY`                              | ✅       | Full support for pub/sub messaging                                                                |
| `CREATE DATABASE` / multiple logical databases | ✅       | Create multiple PostgreSQL databases within a single cluster                                      |

## Tool compatibility

PlanetScale Postgres works with the PostgreSQL ecosystem:

* **Drivers**: Standard PostgreSQL drivers and connection strings (libpq, psycopg, pg, node-postgres, etc.)
* **ORMs**: Prisma, ActiveRecord, Sequelize, Drizzle, Django ORM, SQLAlchemy, and others
* **Monitoring**: pganalyze, Datadog DBM — see [monitoring documentation](/postgres/monitoring/pganalyze)
* **Migration tools**: pgcopydb, AWS DMS — see [import documentation](/postgres/imports/postgres-imports)
* **CDC tools**: Debezium, Fivetran, Airbyte, ClickPipes — see [CDC documentation](/postgres/integrations/logical-cdc)

## PlanetScale-specific behaviors

While PlanetScale Postgres is fully PostgreSQL-compatible, there are some platform-specific behaviors to be aware of.

### Roles and permissions

<Note>
  The following reference describes PlanetScale-specific permission behaviors.
</Note>

| Behavior                     | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| ---------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **No SUPERUSER access**      | PlanetScale does not grant `SUPERUSER` privileges as part of our security model. The default role has near-superuser capabilities. See [role management](/postgres/connecting/roles) for details.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| **Default role permissions** | The default `postgres` role has `NOSUPERUSER CREATEDB CREATEROLE INHERIT LOGIN REPLICATION BYPASSRLS` and inherits permissions including `pg_read_all_data`, `pg_write_all_data`, `pg_monitor`, `pg_read_all_settings`, `pg_read_all_stats`, `pg_stat_scan_tables`, `pg_signal_backend`, `pg_checkpoint`, `pg_maintain`, `pg_use_reserved_connections`, and `pg_create_subscription`. See [role management](/postgres/connecting/roles) for the complete list. |
| **User-defined roles**       | Create application-specific roles with minimal required permissions. Roles created via the dashboard, CLI, or API are managed by PlanetScale.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |

Most operations that would require `SUPERUSER` in vanilla PostgreSQL work with PlanetScale's default role. If you encounter a specific use case requiring elevated permissions, [contact support](https://planetscale.com/contact?initial=support).

### Extensions

PlanetScale supports a curated list of vetted PostgreSQL extensions. See the [extensions documentation](/postgres/extensions) for the complete list.

| Behavior                    | Description                                                                                                                                         |
| --------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Curated extension list**  | Extensions must be on our supported list. You can [request new extensions](https://ps-extensions.io/) or contact support.                           |
| **Version pinning**         | Extension versions are pinned to each PostgreSQL major version and do not auto-upgrade.                                                             |
| **Restart requirements**    | Some extensions require a cluster restart to enable. These are marked in the [extensions documentation](/postgres/extensions#supported-extensions). |
| **Dashboard configuration** | Extensions requiring shared memory or background workers must be enabled through the PlanetScale dashboard.                                         |

<Warning>
  When migrating to PlanetScale Postgres, verify that your required extensions are supported and check version compatibility. Extensions like PostGIS may have version differences that affect functionality.
</Warning>

### Branch behavior

PlanetScale Postgres uses [branches](/postgres/branching) for isolated database environments.

| Behavior                        | Description                                                                                                        |
| ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Configuration not inherited** | New branches start with default configuration. Extensions and custom parameters must be re-enabled on each branch. |
| **Isolated environments**       | Branches are completely isolated. Schema and data changes in one branch do not affect others.                      |
| **No automatic schema sync**    | Unlike PlanetScale Vitess deploy requests, schema changes must be manually applied to each branch.                 |

### Configuration and logging

| Behavior                | Description                                                                                                                                                                         |
| ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Log line prefix**     | The `log_line_prefix` does not include database (`%d`) and user (`%u`) identifiers by default, but can be [customized](/postgres/cluster-configuration/parameters) to include them. |
| **Default search path** | Default `search_path` is `"$user", public`. Custom search paths from source databases need manual configuration via `ALTER ROLE ... SET search_path = 'your_schema'`.               |
| **Parameter changes**   | Some parameters require a cluster restart. See [parameters documentation](/postgres/cluster-configuration/parameters) for details.                                                  |

### Operational characteristics

| Behavior                   | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| -------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Failover behavior**      | Production clusters have 1 primary and 2 replicas. Failovers typically complete in seconds. See [operations philosophy](/postgres/operations-philosophy).                                                                          |
| **Disk autoscaling**       | Storage autoscaling is enabled by default for network-attached storage clusters, automatically growing disk when utilization thresholds are reached. See [storage configuration](/postgres/cluster-configuration/cluster-storage). |
| **No CPU/RAM autoscaling** | Cluster sizing is manual. Use the Clusters page to monitor utilization and resize as needed.                                                                                                                                       |

## Migrating to PlanetScale Postgres

For detailed migration guidance, including step-by-step instructions for importing your existing PostgreSQL database, see our [import documentation](/postgres/imports/postgres-imports).

## Need help?

Get help from [the PlanetScale Support team](https://planetscale.com/contact?initial=support), or join our [Discord community](https://pscale.link/community) to see how others are using PlanetScale.