Postgres Locking Mechanism Fails to Scale Effectively
timetoogo · hn · 2026-07-10
This article explores the severe scaling bottlenecks encountered when relying on PostgreSQL as the primary database for highly concurrent applications (such as AI Agent session logs).
The author notes that Postgres's native locking mechanism cannot effectively scale horizontally when handling massive concurrent writes and state updates, easily becoming a system performance bottleneck. The article analyzes the underlying mechanics of these locks and shares how architectural adjustments or alternative solutions were implemented in the engineering practices at Recall.ai to resolve database lock contention and support large-scale, real-time data interactions.
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