Graph Data Modeling Without Graph Databases
Graph Data Modeling Without Graph Databases: PostgreSQL and Hybrid Approaches for Agentic Systems 🖇️
Organizations implementing AI systems today face a practical challenge: maintaining multiple specialized databases (vector stores, graph databases, relational systems) creates significant operational complexity, increases costs, and introduces synchronization headaches.
Companies like Writer (insight from a recent Waseem Alshikh interview with Harrison Chase) have tackled this problem by implementing graph-like structures directly within PostgreSQL, eliminating the need for separate graph databases while maintaining the necessary functionality. This approach dramatically simplifies infrastructure management, reduces the number of systems to monitor, and eliminates error-prone synchronization processes that can cost thousands of dollars in wasted resources.
For enterprises focused on delivering business value rather than managing technical complexity, these PostgreSQL-based implementations offer a pragmatic path forward, though with important trade-offs when considering more sophisticated agentic systems.
Writer implemented a subject-predicate-object triple structure directly in PostgreSQL tables rather than using dedicated graph databases. This approach maintains the semantic richness of knowledge graphs while leveraging PostgreSQL's maturity and scalability. Writer kept the conceptual structure of triples that underpin knowledge graphs implemented through a relational schema design.
Instead of relying on native graph traversals, Writer developed a fusion decoder that reconstructs graph-like relationships at query time. This component serves as the bridge between the storage layer (PostgreSQL with its triple-inspired structure) and the language model, enabling sophisticated information retrieval without requiring a dedicated graph database's traversal capabilities. The approach focuses on query translation and result combination rather than storage structure optimization.
Complementing the triple-based approach, PostgreSQL with extensions (PG Vector and PG Vector Scale) can function effectively as a vector database. This challenges the notion that specialized vector databases are necessary, Treating embeddings as derived data leads to a more natural and maintainable architecture. This reframes the database's role from storing independent vector embeddings to managing derived data that automatically synchronizes with its source.
But a critical distinction between retrieval systems and agentic systems need to be made. While PostgreSQL-based approaches excel at knowledge retrieval tasks where the focus is on precision and relevance, agentic systems operate in dynamic environments where context evolves over time, previous actions influence future decisions, and contradictions need to be resolved. This distinction drives different architectural requirements and suggests potential complementary roles for different database approaches. | 15 comments on LinkedIn
Graph Data Modeling Without Graph Databases
