PGSimCity
Ranked 3 of 31 interactive visualizations by recommenders
People praise it as an engaging 3D visual tour of how PostgreSQL works internally. The most common complaint is that the screen is too busy and crowded with popups to follow.
People praise it as an engaging 3D visual tour of how PostgreSQL works internally. The most common complaint is that the screen is too busy and crowded with popups to follow.
30 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 27
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 90%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 27 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Engaging way to show complex internals
“it presents such a complex technical implementation process in such an engaging way”
Comment from 27 Jul 2026 in “PGSimCity - How PostgreSQL Works” “This is really cool, I like having visualization to hold on my head!”
Comment from 27 Jul 2026 in “PGSimCity - How PostgreSQL Works” “I don't know what I am looking at but it is fabulous.”
Comment from 27 Jul 2026 in “PGSimCity - How PostgreSQL Works” Visually impressive and cool
“Amazing, great work. Keep polishing this up!”
Comment from 27 Jul 2026 in “PGSimCity - How PostgreSQL Works” “So much stuff to see but looks very cool!”
Comment from 27 Jul 2026 in “PGSimCity - How PostgreSQL Works” “This is awesome, what a cool idea!”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “PGSimCity – an explorable 3D model that shows how Postgres works”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Too busy and cluttered
“There are too many boxes and things changing on the screen to get a sense of what is happening.”
Comment from 27 Jul 2026 in “PGSimCity - How PostgreSQL Works” “I think it's too busy to understand.”
Comment from 27 Jul 2026 in “PGSimCity - How PostgreSQL Works” Popups and UI block the view
“remove ~50% of the UI since it covers too much of a laptop screen”
Comment from 27 Jul 2026 in “PGSimCity - How PostgreSQL Works” “80% of the visual space is popups that completely block it”
Comment from 27 Jul 2026 in “PGSimCity - How PostgreSQL Works”
Other interactive visualizations people recommend
The four most recommended other interactive visualizations, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ciechanow.ski | 33 | 1 | 97% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Size of Life | 30 | 4 | 88% | 2 | — | — |
| PGSimCityThis page | 27 | 3 | 90% | 1 | — | — |
| Ithihāsas | 18 | 3 | 86% | 1 | — | — |
| Now I Get It | 17 | 10 | 63% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
25 of the 31 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“This is awesome, what a cool idea!”
“it all sort of gets lost in the sauce”
“maybe not easy to find (help is on "?", which is also maybe not easy to find)”
“UI looks great on a 32" monitor, idk what everyone's complaining about”
“The logo shape of the platform is a very niche touch, kudos”
“new visualizations technics inspired by video games”
“The layers are clearly separated and it does give a sense of the connections being accepted and processed in the central part.”
“Considering that it has been vibe-coded with not even 48 hours passed”
“So much stuff to see but looks very cool!”
“So the tour is an excellent idea. Great presentation. Congratulations.”
“the site is going blank sometimes if I zoom in a bit too much”
“I think it's too busy to understand.”
“Can’t wait to explore the architecture”
“but I agree, could be better”
“thats cool. n1. spent 15min looking on it rn”
“What it needs is narrative, purpose, with main actors clearly defined - client and data.”
“Great work! When zooming out a bit, I'm somewhat sure that the 'blinking'/glitching is due to z-fighting”
“Amazing, great work. Keep polishing this up!”
“remove ~50% of the UI since it covers too much of a laptop screen”
“80% of the visual space is popups that completely block it”
“fantastic attempt, but don't know where to start or where to end.”
“it presents such a complex technical implementation process in such an engaging way”
“This is really cool, I like having visualization to hold on my head!”
“There are too many boxes and things changing on the screen to get a sense of what is happening.”
“I don't know what I am looking at but it is fabulous.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.