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PostgreSQL FTS
Postgres's built-in full-text search — zero new infra.
Monthly cost
Free
Free with Postgres
Popularity
4/5
LLM knowledge
5/5
Difficulty
Easy
#open-source#low-cost
What PostgreSQL FTS is good at
Strengths
- +No new service to run
- +Good enough for most apps
- +Free
Tradeoffs
- −Not as relevance-tuned as Algolia
- −Scale limits
Coding-agent prompt
Drop into Claude / Cursor to get idiomatic PostgreSQL FTS code.
You're working with PostgreSQL FTS. Postgres's built-in full-text search — zero new infra. Best practices: - Lean on: no new service to run - Lean on: good enough for most apps - Lean on: free Things to watch for: - Watch out for: not as relevance-tuned as algolia - Watch out for: scale limits General guidance: - Follow the official docs — don't invent APIs. - Keep secrets in environment variables, never commit them. - Write TypeScript where the ecosystem supports it; add types to every exported function. - Add tests for the critical paths before declaring the task done. - Read-the-docs is usually faster than guessing — cite the docs page in code comments when you apply a non-obvious pattern.
Beginner's guide to PostgreSQL FTS
In one line: Use Postgres's built-in full-text search — no new service needed.
If you already have Postgres, its FTS (full-text search) is good enough for most apps. You don't pay for or run anything new.
Popular pairings with PostgreSQL FTS
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