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TiDB

TiDB is an open-source, distributed NewSQL database built by PingCAP. It combines NoSQL-style horizontal scalability with RDBMS- style SQL, ACID semantics, and secondary indexes — positioned as the successor to legacy NoSQL stores when the workload has grown past per-row atomicity.

Definition

TiDB's architecture layers:

  • TiDB server — stateless SQL layer; MySQL-protocol-compatible.
  • TiKV — distributed transactional KV store (RocksDB-backed) that provides the actual data storage with Raft-based replication.
  • TiFlash — optional columnar replica for HTAP analytics.
  • PD (Placement Driver) — cluster metadata and scheduler.

Core properties:

  • Horizontal scalability via automatic region splits at the TiKV layer.
  • Distributed transactions via a Percolator-inspired protocol over TiKV.
  • MySQL wire compatibility — existing MySQL clients work without driver changes.
  • Strong consistency — Raft groups per region guarantee linearisable reads.
  • Rich SQL — joins, secondary indexes, aggregations, window functions.

Why Pinterest chose it (2021+)

As the successor for the general-NoSQL residual after the workload-specific migrations rehomed OLAP / time-series / KV to specialised stores, Pinterest needed a substrate that was:

From the HBase-deprecation post:

"To accommodate the remaining HBase use cases, we needed a new technology that offers great scalability like a NoSQL database while supporting powerful query capabilities and ACID semantics like a traditional RDBMS. We ended up choosing TiDB, a distributed NewSQL database that satisfied most of our requirements." (Source: sources/2024-05-14-pinterest-hbase-deprecation-at-pinterest)

TiDB collapses Pinterest's Sparrow + Omid stack (distributed transactions bolt-on) and Ixia + Manas stack (secondary-indexing bolt-on) back into the substrate itself — this is the load-bearing NewSQL promise.

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