November 3, 2025
Latency Wars: HTTP Strikes Back
Show HN: Centia.io – Open PostgreSQL/PostGIS back end for developers
SQL over HTTP drops—speed skeptics pounce, others ask about pgbouncer
TLDR: Centia.io offers a web-style API for PostgreSQL, letting apps run SQL over HTTP or WebSocket with built-in security. Commenters split: one warns about a “very large” efficiency hit versus native drivers, while another asks if it works with pgbouncer, signaling a showdown between convenience and performance.
Centia.io just landed on Show HN promising a web‑friendly way to talk to your database: SQL over HTTP or WebSocket with JSON‑RPC wrappers on top of trusty PostgreSQL and PostGIS. They tout “secure by default” with OAuth2, row‑level rules, rate limits, docs, SDKs and a CLI. Postgres is a popular open‑source database, and PostGIS adds map and location smarts. WebSockets keep apps connected in real time; JSON‑RPC is a simple message format for requests.
First reaction: speed alarms. Nullfield asks what anyone gets back for the “very large decrease in efficiency” versus the native database protocol. Translation: why swap battle‑tested drivers for JSON unless the payoff is huge—simpler auth, safer defaults, or fewer moving parts?
Then the pragmatists show up. Lab14 fires the compatibility flare: will it work with pgbouncer—the popular connection pooler that keeps database traffic calm? If not, red flag; if yes, smooth sailing. Cue the eternal meme: “HTTP all the things” vs “just use the driver.” Benchmarks, please.
Bottom line: Centia sells convenience and control; the crowd splits between security‑and‑simplicity fans and the latency police. Show numbers and a pooling story, and it flies. Without them, it’s back to drivers. Devs want both speed and easy security.
Key Points
- •Centia.io offers an instant SQL API over HTTP and WebSocket, backed by PostgreSQL/PostGIS.
- •Security features include OAuth2, row-level security, and rate limiting by default.
- •Developers can submit SQL queries via a JSON payload with parameters and output format control.
- •SQL statements can be wrapped in JSON-RPC methods for structured access and formatting.
- •Developer tooling includes a clean OpenAPI schema, SDKs, and a CLI for data management.