June 26, 2026
Postgres Did WHAT Now?
Show HN: DBOSify – Drop-in Temporal replacement built on Postgres
A one-database shortcut to a famous workflow tool has commenters squinting hard
TLDR: DBOSify says Python developers can swap out Temporal’s usual setup and run durable background work using only Postgres, which could make life much simpler. Commenters immediately challenged how broad that claim really is, turning the launch into a debate over whether this is a true replacement or clever wording.
A new Show HN post dropped with a big promise: what if you could get the same kind of “never lose your place” background job system without running a whole extra server farm—just with Postgres, a popular database? That’s the pitch behind DBOSify, which says Python developers can swap in its library instead of Temporal’s and keep durable tasks, retries, and crash recovery while only depending on Postgres. For anyone outside the software bubble, the appeal is simple: fewer moving parts, less setup pain, and one less thing to babysit at 2 a.m.
But the real action is in the comments, where readers instantly went into “wait, what exactly is being replaced here?” mode. Creator Peter jumped in cheerfully with a “Hi HN” invitation for questions, and the community wasted no time using it. The strongest reaction so far is pure Hacker News skepticism: people are poking at the wording, asking whether this replaces the whole Temporal system or just the Python side of it, and side-eyeing diagrams that still seem to show worker machines hanging around. In other words: is this truly “just Postgres,” or is that marketing doing a little cardio?
That tension is the drama. Fans of simpler setups are intrigued by the dream of cutting out extra infrastructure, while skeptics are already fact-checking every inch of the claim. The vibe is half excitement, half courtroom cross-examination—with a side of the classic programmer joke that “just use Postgres” has now expanded into yet another genre.
Key Points
- •DBOSify is presented as a drop-in replacement for Temporal Python that runs durable workflows on Postgres via DBOS Transact instead of requiring a Temporal server.
- •The article shows developers can install `dbosify`, import it instead of `temporalio`, and connect clients and workers directly to a Postgres database.
- •DBOSify uses a deterministic interpreter and Postgres-backed checkpointing so workflow execution, activities, timers, signals, updates, cancellations, and recovery can be replayed and resumed exactly once.
- •Testing includes ports of Temporal Python tests and sample apps, additional kill-and-recover tests, and API signature parity tests.
- •The article states there is no gRPC wire compatibility, no support for other-language Temporal SDKs, and no Temporal Web UI, temporal CLI, or tctl support.