Microsoft Open-Sources PostgreSQL Extension for In-Database Durable Execution

Microsoft announced the open-sourcing of pg_durable – a new PostgreSQL extension that enables the execution of durable workflows directly within the database. The goal is to reduce reliance on external tools for orchestration and management of long-running tasks.

According to the company, pg_durable allows developers to build complex SQL-based processes without the need to combine cron jobs, background workers, message queues, and external orchestration platforms. Instead, workflows are defined directly in SQL, while the extension handles retries, parallel execution, failure recovery, and execution tracking.

One of the key features of pg_durable is that the state of running processes is stored entirely within PostgreSQL. Information about progress, checkpoints, and execution history is recorded in dedicated tables, allowing workflows to resume from the last successful point in the event of a database crash, server restart, or individual task failure.

Microsoft defines durable functions as a graph of SQL operations executed sequentially or in parallel by PostgreSQL, while continuously recording the state of each step. This eliminates the need for developers to manually restore process state after an issue occurs.

The extension provides a specialized DSL (Domain Specific Language), which includes built-in mechanisms for:

• task scheduling;
• conditional execution;
• parallel processing;
• automatic recovery after failures;
• progress tracking and checkpoint management.
  
  

Microsoft outlines several key use cases for pg_durable. These include workflows for generating vector embeddings, where data is split into chunks, sent to external AI services, and then written back using pgvector. The solution is also suitable for automated administrative tasks such as detecting database issues, sending notifications, approval workflows, and executing follow-up actions.

The extension can also be used for integration with external API services, where workflow execution often depends on responses from external systems and requires reliable recovery in case of interruptions.

The architecture of pg_durable is designed with a minimal number of components. The solution includes a PostgreSQL extension and a background worker, without the need for a separate control platform. For its implementation, Microsoft uses two Rust libraries:

• duroxide – responsible for orchestration, checkpoint mechanisms, timers, and retries;
• duroxide-pg – manages state storage, execution history, and work queues directly within PostgreSQL.
  
  

The concept of durable execution is gaining popularity as an approach for building reliable long-running processes in modern applications. It enables automatic recovery after interruptions and significantly simplifies the development of distributed systems, AI agents, and cloud control plane solutions. Similar concepts are already used by platforms such as Temporal and Cloudflare, and with pg_durable, this functionality becomes available directly within PostgreSQL.

By open-sourcing pg_durable, Microsoft provides the PostgreSQL community with a new tool for building resilient and scalable workflows that can run entirely within the database.