PostgreSQL Quest

Tracks

1. 01🌍Foundations

   0/10 lessons

   Why PostgreSQL, what problem it solves

   Where PostgreSQL came from, why it became the default, and what it actually does that a CSV doesn't.

   Lesson list (10)

   • 01
     What a Database Is~15 min · foundations, concepts
   • 02
     Why Files and Spreadsheets Break~14 min · foundations, comparison
   • 03
     Relational vs Document vs Key-Value~14 min · foundations, models
   • 04
     Why PostgreSQL Became the Default~14 min · foundations, history
   • 05
     PostgreSQL Strengths in One Page~15 min · foundations, features
   • 06
     Common Use Cases~12 min · foundations, use-cases
   • 07
     OLTP vs OLAP~12 min · foundations, workload
   • 08
     ACID in Plain English~14 min · foundations, transactions
   • 09
     SQLite vs PostgreSQL: When to Upgrade~12 min · foundations, comparison
   • 10
     The PostgreSQL Ecosystem~14 min · foundations, ecosystem

   ✓Quiz · 5 questions→

2. 02🏗️Schema and Types

   0/10 lessons

   Designing tables that age well

   The shape of your data — types, primary keys, NULLs, defaults, foreign keys, constraints. The decisions that compound for years.

   Lesson list (10)

   • 01
     Tables, Rows, and Columns~12 min · schema, basics
   • 02
     Data Types That Matter~14 min · schema, types
   • 03
     Primary Keys: Identity for Every Row~12 min · schema, keys
   • 04
     SERIAL vs IDENTITY vs UUID~12 min · schema, keys
   • 05
     NULL and NOT NULL~12 min · schema, null
   • 06
     Default Values & Generated Columns~14 min · schema, defaults
   • 07
     Foreign Keys and Relationships~14 min · schema, relationships
   • 08
     One-to-Many and Many-to-Many~14 min · schema, relationships
   • 09
     UNIQUE, CHECK, and EXCLUDE Constraints~14 min · schema, constraints
   • 10
     Schema Design Habits~15 min · schema, design

   ✓Quiz · 5 questions→

3. 03📝Queries

   0/16 lessons

   SELECT, joins, aggregation, windows, CTEs

   The full vocabulary of asking PostgreSQL questions — from SELECT to recursive CTEs. The longest track for a reason.

   Lesson list (16)

   • 01
     SELECT: Asking the Database a Question~12 min · queries, select
   • 02
     WHERE: Filtering Rows~12 min · queries, filter
   • 03
     ORDER BY, LIMIT, and Pagination~12 min · queries, ordering
   • 04
     INSERT: Adding Rows~10 min · queries, write
   • 05
     UPDATE and DELETE Without Tears~12 min · queries, write
   • 06
     RETURNING: PostgreSQL's Secret Weapon~10 min · queries, write
   • 07
     NULL Semantics in Queries~12 min · queries, null
   • 08
     CASE, COALESCE, and Conditional Logic~10 min · queries, expressions
   • 09
     DISTINCT, IN, BETWEEN, LIKE~10 min · queries, operators
   • 10
     INNER JOIN: Stitching Tables Together~14 min · queries, joins
   • 11
     LEFT JOIN and the Orphan Finder~12 min · queries, joins
   • 12
     RIGHT JOIN, FULL JOIN, and Cross Joins~10 min · queries, joins
   • 13
     GROUP BY and Aggregate Functions~14 min · queries, aggregation
   • 14
     HAVING: Filtering After Aggregation~10 min · queries, aggregation
   • 15
     Window Functions~14 min · queries, windows
   • 16
     ROW_NUMBER, RANK, and CTEs~14 min · queries, advanced

   ✓Quiz · 5 questions→

4. 04⚡Indexes

   0/10 lessons

   B-tree, GIN, partial, expression — and when to skip them

   The intuition for when an index helps, when it hurts, and how to read EXPLAIN to know the difference.

   Lesson list (10)

   • 01
     What an Index Is~12 min · indexes, concepts
   • 02
     B-tree: The Default Workhorse~12 min · indexes, btree
   • 03
     When PostgreSQL Uses an Index~14 min · indexes, planner
   • 04
     Composite Indexes~12 min · indexes, composite
   • 05
     Unique and Partial Indexes~12 min · indexes, unique, partial
   • 06
     Expression Indexes~12 min · indexes, expression
   • 07
     GIN Indexes for JSONB and Full-Text~12 min · indexes, gin
   • 08
     Indexing Foreign Keys~10 min · indexes, foreign-keys
   • 09
     Covering Indexes (INCLUDE)~12 min · indexes, covering
   • 10
     Index Strategy: Less Is Often More~14 min · indexes, strategy

   ✓Quiz · 5 questions→

5. 05🔒Transactions and Concurrency

   0/10 lessons

   ACID, isolation, MVCC, locks, deadlocks

   The mental model of multiple writers without corruption — and the patterns that keep web apps consistent under load.

   Lesson list (10)

   • 01
     What a Transaction Is~12 min · transactions, concepts
   • 02
     BEGIN, COMMIT, ROLLBACK~10 min · transactions, control
   • 03
     Isolation Levels~14 min · transactions, isolation
   • 04
     MVCC: How PostgreSQL Handles Concurrency~14 min · transactions, mvcc
   • 05
     Row Locks and Table Locks~12 min · transactions, locks
   • 06
     Deadlocks: How They Happen~12 min · transactions, deadlocks
   • 07
     Upserts and INSERT ON CONFLICT~12 min · transactions, upsert
   • 08
     Idempotency in Database Operations~12 min · transactions, idempotency
   • 09
     Race Conditions in Application Code~12 min · transactions, concurrency
   • 10
     Transaction Patterns for Web Apps~14 min · transactions, patterns

   ✓Quiz · 5 questions→

6. 06🧩Extensions and Semi-Structured Data

   0/10 lessons

   JSONB, FTS, pgvector, generated columns

   The features that make a single Postgres replace four other services. Document storage, search, embeddings, ranges, time, and the philosophy of being good enough at everything.

   Lesson list (10)

   • 01
     JSONB: Semi-Structured Data, First-Class~14 min · extensions, jsonb
   • 02
     When JSONB Helps and When It's Laziness~12 min · extensions, jsonb
   • 03
     Arrays in PostgreSQL~12 min · extensions, arrays
   • 04
     UUID and uuidv7()~10 min · extensions, uuid
   • 05
     Full-Text Search Without Elasticsearch~14 min · extensions, fts
   • 06
     Materialised Views~12 min · extensions, views
   • 07
     Generated Columns: Stored vs Virtual~12 min · extensions, generated
   • 08
     Extensions: PostgreSQL's Real Superpower~12 min · extensions, extensibility
   • 09
     pgvector: Embeddings Inside Postgres~14 min · extensions, vector, ai
   • 10
     Why PostgreSQL Wins by Being Good Enough at Everything~12 min · extensions, philosophy

   ✓Quiz · 5 questions→

7. 07🚀Application Integration

   0/10 lessons

   Drivers, ORMs, migrations, hosting, security

   The boundary between PostgreSQL and the application that talks to it — drivers, pooling, migrations, EXPLAIN, RLS.

   Lesson list (10)

   • 01
     Connecting from Python and Node.js~12 min · apps, drivers
   • 02
     Raw SQL vs ORMs~14 min · apps, orm
   • 03
     Migrations: Schema Evolution~14 min · apps, migrations
   • 04
     Seeding Data for Development~10 min · apps, seeding
   • 05
     Local, Staging, Production: Different but the Same~12 min · apps, environments
   • 06
     Backups: Logical vs Physical~14 min · apps, backups
   • 07
     Managed Postgres: Neon, Supabase, RDS~12 min · apps, hosting
   • 08
     Connection Pooling and pgBouncer~12 min · apps, pooling
   • 09
     EXPLAIN and EXPLAIN ANALYZE~14 min · apps, performance
   • 10
     Security: Roles, Privileges, and Injection Prevention~14 min · apps, security

   ✓Quiz · 5 questions→

8. 08🏎️Operations and Performance

   0/10 lessons

   Diagnose, vacuum, plan, and know when to graduate

   The instincts of someone who runs Postgres in production — measure first, fix the right thing, and know what only Postgres can't do.

   Lesson list (10)

   • 01
     How to Spot the Real Bottleneck~14 min · operations, diagnosis
   • 02
     Query Shape First, Indexes Second~12 min · operations, queries
   • 03
     SELECT * as an Anti-Pattern~10 min · operations, queries
   • 04
     The N+1 Query Problem~14 min · operations, queries
   • 05
     Pagination: OFFSET vs Keyset~12 min · operations, pagination
   • 06
     Bulk Operations and COPY~12 min · operations, bulk
   • 07
     VACUUM and Autovacuum in Plain English~14 min · operations, vacuum
   • 08
     The Query Planner and Statistics~12 min · operations, planner
   • 09
     When PostgreSQL Is the Wrong Tool~12 min · operations, philosophy
   • 10
     Staying Current With PostgreSQL~12 min · operations, learning

   ✓Quiz · 5 questions→