Just Use Postgres for Durable Workflows

PostgreSQL can serve as a simpler, more efficient alternative to external workflow orchestration systems (like Temporal and Airflow) by eliminating the need for a separate orchestrator server and leveraging the database itself for workflow coordination, checkpointing, and state management. This database-native approach provides inherent advantages in scalability (tens of thousands of workflows per second), availability (through proven Postgres replication and failover mechanisms), observability (via SQL queries on workflow tables), and security, while reducing architectural complexity and operational overhead. For IT organizations, this means consolidating workflow infrastructure onto existing Postgres deployments, reducing tooling complexity, and leveraging decades of Postgres operational expertise rather than learning specialized orchestrator platforms.