The system catalogs are how PostgreSQL describes itself. Data types, tables, indexes, functions, privileges, and the activity of a running database can all be observed through these relations. When a major version ships, a column added to or removed from a system catalog is usually the trace left behind by some new capability.
PG Catalog Atlas puts the system catalogs, system views, statistics views, and progress reports of PostgreSQL 9.0 through the 19 development snapshot on one timeline. Search by name or column, enter a single catalog from the global matrix, then follow its changes through the column evolution matrix and the version diffs.
Starting from PG Catalog Almanac
This project was inspired by Richard Yen’s PG Catalog Almanac, and keeps a complete snapshot of both its site and its source data. The original is open source on GitHub under the MIT license; its structured data sits in src/data/catalog.json rather than being locked inside the page.
That site uses React with client-side routing and bundles the JSON into JavaScript. We archived both the GitHub data and the deployed files and confirmed the two agree. This project inherits its idea of reading catalog changes through a version matrix, extends coverage back to PostgreSQL 9.0, and re-extracts and re-verifies the data from official material.
Built to be read for a long time
The site is built with Hugo + Oink 1.0.0. Every system catalog and every release has a real static HTML page; the catalog structure, the column evolution matrix, and the adjacent-version changes are all readable without running JavaScript. The interactive layer adds full-text search, version filters, arbitrary version comparison, and shareable page state.
Catalog and column names, types, and the original English descriptions are kept as they are. Styles, fonts, scripts, and data all load from local assets — no third-party CDN, no remote query service.
Credits and licensing
- PostgreSQL Global Development Group: the database, the official manual, and the source code; the original material is under the PostgreSQL License.
- Richard Yen: the idea, the code, and the data-extraction work behind PG Catalog Almanac; MIT License.
- Oink: the 1.0.0 theme providing the Hugo site frame, navigation, and dark mode.
- Hugo: static page generation and local asset pipeline.
Coverage boundaries, how differences are decided, and the download entry points are described in Data and Method. Original copyright, license files, and the archive manifest live under sources/ and themes/oink/ in this project’s source tree.