Databases in 2025: A Year in Review (cs.cmu.edu)

Article summary

The article reviews the developments in the database world in 2025, with a focus on PostgreSQL and its continued dominance. The author notes that most major tech companies now have their own PostgreSQL offerings, and there are several independent PostgreSQL DBaaS companies. The article also discusses the introduction of Model Context Protocol (MCP) and its potential security risks. Additionally, the author mentions the lawsuit between MongoDB and FerretDB over patent and trademark infringement.

Main themes

• PostgreSQL developments
• Database-as-a-Service
• Model Context Protocol
• Database security
• MongoDB and FerretDB lawsuit
• Time-series databases

What commenters say

• The introduction of MCP may pose significant security risks due to its potential to expose databases to unauthorized access and malicious activities.
• Implementing least privilege principles and monitoring MCP requests can help mitigate security risks associated with MCP.
• Some commenters believe that using MCP with write permissions in production is a bad practice and should be avoided.
• Others argue that MCP can be used safely if proper precautions are taken, such as using it with a mutable yet isolated snapshot of the database.
• There is a need for a system that can balance the trade-off between row-order writes and column-order reads for analytics.
• Some commenters suggest using a combination of SQLite for writes and DuckDB for reads to achieve this balance.
• Others propose using a sync process to rearrange data from row-order to column-order for analytics, with some arguing that this can be done in batches or in real-time.
• The use of MCP may require rethinking database design and security principles to ensure safe and efficient interaction with external tools and data sources.