PgSTAC & STAC API (catalog back end)

PgSTAC is a PostgreSQL/PostGIS schema and set of functions that store and search STAC catalogs at scale; a STAC API sits in front of it to answer “what data covers this area and time?” over the web.

Why it matters

A STAC catalog can hold tens of millions of items. PgSTAC indexes them so a spatial-and-temporal search returns in milliseconds — it’s the engine that makes a cloud archive searchable, the counterpart to NASA’s CMR for STAC-native systems.

Where you’ll meet it

• VEDA’s STAC API is backed by PgSTAC; the same software powers the STAC APIs you query with pystac-client.
• Items are loaded by a STAC ingest / bulk-loading system — in VEDA, veda-stac-ingestor validates records and bulk-loads them into PgSTAC.
• A search returns STAC items whose assets point at the actual COG or Zarr files — which TiTiler then renders.
• Microsoft Planetary Computer and the Copernicus Data Space both expose PgSTAC-style STAC APIs.

In plain terms

The library’s search computer: type a place and a date, and it instantly lists every matching item and where to find it — across millions of records.