Historically, NoSQL databases have often been limited to proprietary cloud-specific solutions, complicating interoperability and portability. To address this, in a bold (and unexpected) move, Microsoft has officially unveiled DocumentDB, a fully open-source document database platform under the permissive MIT License.
This means that developers are free to fork, customize, and embed DocumentDB in their own solutions without facing any hidden fees or obligatory contributions back to the core project.
According to official Microsoft’s annoucement:
We decided to launch DocumentDB—a fully open-source platform powered by PostgreSQL on which an end-to-end document database experience can be built, to meet the community’s NoSQL database needs.
Now, let’s say a few things about the database itself on the technical side of things. One of the most appealing aspects of DocumentDB is its modular architecture, which consists of two primary components:
- pg_documentdb_core – A custom PostgreSQL extension that optimizes the storage and manipulation of the BSON (Binary JavaScript Object Notation) data type. This layer also seamlessly integrates with other Postgres extensions, such as PostGIS for geospatial functions and pg_vector for vector search capabilities.
- pg_documentdb_api – The data plane that implements fundamental NoSQL operations, including CRUD and advanced indexing features. By building on the robustness of PostgreSQL, DocumentDB provides single-field, multi-key, compound, text, and geospatial indexes—ensuring developers can easily perform complex queries.
Furthermore, DocumentDB supports SCRAM (Salted Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism) for authentication, reinforcing security. Over time, the team envisions adding a protocol translation layer on top of these core components, enabling full compatibility with various NoSQL protocols.
For those eager to get started quickly, DocumentDB can be paired with FerretDB, a popular open-source solution that provides a user-facing document database interface.
Developers interested in trying out DocumentDB can download and install it directly from the project’s official GitHub repository, where the latest source code is publicly available.
From there, they can explore the open-source documentation, set up their local environment using Docker or other preferred methods, and quickly begin experimenting with all the features DocumentDB has to offer.
For more information, visit the official Microsoft announcement.
