Can We Use Rust to Develop Extensions for PostgreSQL? | POSETTE: An Event for Postgres 2025

Video of a conference talk highlighting one of PostgreSQL's greatest strengths: its extensibility. Traditionally, extensions have been written in C, but in recent years, Rust has emerged as a powerful alternative for extension development. So, why should we consider Rust over the traditional C approach? In this talk, we'll explore pgrx, a cutting-edge framework that simplifies PostgreSQL extension development in Rust. With features like safe Rust bindings for PostgreSQL's C API, a fully managed development environment, and automatic schema generation, pgrx makes it easier than ever to build robust and reliable extensions. Drawing from my own experience implementing PostgreSQL extensions in Rust, I will share practical insights on getting started and discuss the pros and cons of using Rust. No prior knowledge of Rust is required—this talk is designed for anyone curious about modernizing PostgreSQL extension development. Shinya Kato is a database engineer at the NTT DATA Group Corporation whose primary responsibilities include support, research and development (R&D), and maintaining several extensions for PostgreSQL. The support team handles over 100 inquiries annually. His R&D work on PostgreSQL covers topics such as PostgreSQL on Kubernetes and Neon, and a software solution for separating compute and storage in PostgreSQL. ► Video bookmarks: ⏩ 00:00 Introduction ⏩ 01:15 Can we use Rust for Postgres extensions? ⏩ 02:06 Why Rust? - Memory safety and security ⏩ 03:41 What is pgrx? ⏩ 05:45 DEMO: pgrx ⏩ 10:27 pgrx: Pros & Cons ⏩ 12:48 Requirements for C-Based Extensions ⏩ 16:40 Memory management in C/PostgreSQL ⏩ 24:17 PostgreSQL & Rust: Core vs. Extensions ⏩ 25:18 Summary 📕 Everything you need to know about POSETTE: An Event for Postgres 2025 can be found at: https://posetteconf.com ✅ Learn more: Watch more POSETTE talks: https://aka.ms/posette-playlist 📌 Let’s connect:   LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/posetteconf/