Post by @polotek@social.polotek.net

@polotek@social.polotek.net

2025-12-04 23:07 UTC

I'm really annoyed at database options right now. Keeping a local database in a container feels bad. It risks losing data. Probably not a big deal for personal projects, but it causes me anxiety. The project is immediately not "low maintenance" anymore. I like managed databases, but getting a separate PaaS to talk to RDS is not a thing. And if the PaaS you're using offers their own managed databases, that's usually the place where you hit the paid tier and the project is no longer free/cheap.

Replies (3)

@polotek@social.polotek.net 2025-12-04 23:10

I use s3 for files. This is again something I end up introducing way earlier than most people. For basically the same reason as databases. I just don't wanna worry about losing anything. And if I make it Amazon's problem, that's one less thing for me to worry about. I also tend to see these things as keeping myself sharp on what it takes to make things "production ready". Every single time I do s3 I have to look up the right way to secure a new s3 bucket without just making it public.

Open ##2300286
@bo_brinkman@kind.social 2025-12-04 23:28

@polotek@social.polotek.net I've been thinking about whether/how to make my containerized local DB automatically back it self up, so I can easily move it. I have a bad habit of doing a bunch of manual tinkering in my databases, and I'm looking to try to reduce the temptation.

Open ##2300299
@jgrg@mstdn.science 2025-12-04 23:33

@polotek@social.polotek.net SQLite or DuckDB?

Open ##2300301