Every internal tool gets its own Postgres

The internal tools team has a rule: share the one managed database. Not because sharing is good architecture: because each managed instance is a monthly line, and nobody wants to justify a fourth one for a tool three people use.

So nine tools share one database, one schema namespace, one connection pool, one maintenance window, and one bad migration in 2024 that took all nine down.

On Hoody each tool is a container with its own Postgres inside it. Nine tools, nine databases, one bare metal box. A Postgres serving three people is nearly idle: a small resident process, a few hundred megabytes, no CPU between queries. The ninth database costs the box what the first did, which is nothing beyond the rent.