--- title: This New Postgres Feature Is Crazy Powerful | daily.dev description: Postgres 19 introduces several powerful new features. The headline addition is native graph query support via SQL/PGQ, allowing developers to define a property... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/this-new-postgres-feature-is-crazy-powerful-kt2rmgbn2 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: This New Postgres Feature Is Crazy Powerful | daily.dev og:description: Postgres 19 introduces several powerful new features. The headline addition is native graph query support via SQL/PGQ, allowing developers to define a property... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/this-new-postgres-feature-is-crazy-powerful-kt2rmgbn2 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/KT2rmgBn2.png og:image:alt: This New Postgres Feature Is Crazy Powerful og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # This New Postgres Feature Is Crazy Powerful **[YouTube](https://daily.dev/sources/youtube)** · 7 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Postgres 19 introduces several powerful new features. The headline addition is native graph query support via SQL/PGQ, allowing developers to define a property graph over existing tables and traverse relationships using graph syntax instead of complex multi-table joins — without changing the underlying schema. Other notable features include: `ON CONFLICT DO SELECT` for atomic upsert-and-return in a single query, a built-in `REPACK` command (with `CONCURRENTLY` support) to reclaim disk space without locking tables, query plan pinning via `pg_plan_advice`, JIT compilation disabled by default, parallel vacuum index cleanup, automatic GROUP BY inference, and native JSON export via COPY. Beta 2 is available, with final release expected around September or October. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does ON CONFLICT DO SELECT work in Postgres 19 and how is it different from ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING? ON CONFLICT DO SELECT in Postgres 19 lets you insert a row and, if a conflict occurs, return the existing row — all in a single atomic statement. Previously, ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING returned nothing when a row already existed, requiring a follow-up SELECT that made the operation non-atomic. The new syntax also supports FOR UPDATE to lock the returned row within the same statement. _Developers upgrading Postgres codebases track changes like this on daily.dev._ ### Does Postgres 19 native graph support replace Neo4j or a dedicated graph database? Postgres 19 graph support is not a replacement for dedicated graph databases like Neo4j when you need graph-native storage and traversal performance. It is best suited for simplifying complex multi-table joins using graph syntax over existing relational schemas. You define a property graph pointing at existing tables — vertex tables hold data, edge tables define relationships — and query them without schema changes. _Teams deciding between Postgres and a dedicated graph database can follow the trade-off discussion on daily.dev._ ### What is the REPACK feature in Postgres 19 and how does it differ from VACUUM FULL? REPACK in Postgres 19 rewrites an entire table into a fresh file, reclaiming dead space and returning it to the OS — something VACUUM alone cannot do. Unlike VACUUM FULL, which locks the table for the entire rewrite, REPACK supports a CONCURRENTLY keyword that keeps the table readable and writable during the operation. A caveat: you need free disk space equal to a second copy of the table and its indexes. _Postgres operators managing large tables can find related tuning discussions on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [PostgreSQL 19 Beta Introduces SQL Graph Queries and Concurrent Table Repacking](https://daily.dev/posts/postgresql-19-beta-introduces-sql-graph-queries-and-concurrent-table-repacking-2adopzbmz) · InfoQ · 91 upvotes · 4 comments - [SQL/PGQ in PostgreSQL 19: Graph Queries Without the Graph Database](https://daily.dev/posts/sql-pgq-in-postgresql-19-graph-queries-without-the-graph-database-jjw0uthjc) · Planet PostgreSQL · 14 upvotes · 2 comments --- Tags: [#backend](https://daily.dev/tags/backend), [#sql](https://daily.dev/tags/sql), [#postgresql](https://daily.dev/tags/postgresql) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/this-new-postgres-feature-is-crazy-powerful-kt2rmgbn2) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"This New Postgres Feature Is Crazy Powerful","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/this-new-postgres-feature-is-crazy-powerful-kt2rmgbn2","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/this-new-postgres-feature-is-crazy-powerful-kt2rmgbn2"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T07:43:47.310Z","dateModified":"2026-08-16T05:31:22.171Z","description":"Postgres 19 introduces several powerful new features. 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