5 Common Pain Points in PostgreSQL

Before building Flashboard (our PostgreSQL admin app), our development team had struggled with a lot of stuff that you might’ve encountered in your PostgreSQL journey.

I’m not just talking about tracking foreign keys or building extra-complex SQL queries, but also finding a way to make data editable for non-technical folks without needing to build an entire new software to support the main thing — after all, the main thing is where the core of the work should be, right, Project Owners?

Well, here are the most common pain points in PostgreSQL (and, being honest, a bit about how Flashboard solves them at the end of the article).

1. Time-Consuming Query Creation

Building SQL queries is fun — until it isn’t. It’s like RegEx — you get that big, broad smile when it works, but after the 10th time you just hit ChatGPT and ask it to build it for you. It becomes tiresome, error-prone, and, mainly, time-consuming. The f-in-fun becomes f-in-frustration when you have to redo it all because you got a new client.

2. Navigating Foreign Keys

A good PostgreSQL database probably has a lot of foreign keys — and that’s a green flag in architecture design… or at least that’s what the architects say. When the developers need to navigate the schema, jumping from one related table to the other, things get confusing — you gain database-performance in exchange for developer-speed.

3. Handling JSON Data

I know the feeling of working with JSON in PostgreSQL. Saving data this way saves time and space, but it’s waaaay too difficult to query it. You need special operators and functions, and when you’re working with nested structures, it’s easy to mess something up.

4. Creating Secure Interfaces for Non-Tech Teams

You might need to give access to the database to non-technical users — sometimes there’s no time to build a feature in the main app or there’s no proper admin panel setup for them. This is hard work — it’s not just about making sure they don’t break anything, but also ensuring sensitive data stays locked down. Building a secure admin interface means juggling encryption, access control, and usability — when you notice it, you are building a secondary software as hard to maintain as the primary one.

5. Scaling Custom Admin Solutions

Continuing from the last topic: what starts as a simple admin panel for a small team can quickly balloon into a mess as your user base or data grows. Suddenly, you’re dealing with performance issues, broken queries, and features that no longer work as expected. Scaling a custom solution is a beast of a task, and unless you planned for it from day one, you’ll probably need to rebuild a good chunk of it down the road.

It would be awesome if a tool existed to solve all of these problems, right?

(read the next sentence as if a TV host from the 80s was saying it)

Well, I have some good news! Flashboard to the rescue!

(ok, serious now)

We got tired of sidetracking our main things to build complicated admin panels, so we made admin panels our main thing. I know this next paragraph might sound a little sale-y, but I promise we’re just devs recommending good software for other devs. Yeah, we believe in what we’re building — and you know this feeling.

Flashboard instantly generates admin panels, so no more hand-coding complex queries. It simplifies foreign key navigation and JSON querying, so you can breathe easy. Security? Encrypted credentials and tailored user access are built in. And it’s scalable, so whether you’re a startup or scaling up, it’ll grow with you.

(now, back with the TV host’s voice)

Say goodbye to PostgreSQL admin pain points and focus on what you do best — building awesome stuff.

Comment below what other pain points you find in PostgreSQL! We’re totally not going to add that to our backlog 😉