Aaron Tyson from the Stellar Development Foundation presents Bucket List DB, a next-generation database replacing SQL for Stellar Core storage. The new system reduces disk usage by 50%, improves read performance 2.6-4.2x, and eliminates data duplication while maintaining fast hashing for consensus.
Aaron Tyson, core engineer at the Stellar Development Foundation, detailed Bucket List DB, a new searchable database that replaces PostgreSQL in Stellar Core. The bucket list structure stores ledger changes temporally across levels, enabling fast hashing for consensus verification every five seconds. Bucket List DB uses bloom filters and page-range indexes to efficiently search entries without scanning all buckets. Key improvements include 50% disk reduction, 2.6-4.2x faster reads, and elimination of the expensive bucket apply operation. Currently experimental and off by default, it requires tuning page size and index cutoff parameters. Offers still use SQL due to complex query patterns needed for DEXs and AMMs. The system leverages temporal and spatial locality for superior performance compared to Merkle trees used by other blockchains.