# Perplexity's AI agents helped build a database. They weren't allowed to run it.

DevFeed: [Perplexity's AI agents helped build a database. They weren't allowed to run it.](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/perplexity-s-ai-agents-helped-build-a-database-they-weren-t-allowed-to-run-it-31533.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://thenewstack.io/perplexity-cobbledb-ai-database/>)

Author: Amanda Caswell

Published: 2026-09-16T21:51:15Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [The New Stack](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/the-new-stack.md>)

Topics: [Database](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/database.md>), [DynamoDB](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/dynamodb.md>), [Rust](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/rust.md>), [Artificial Intelligence](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai.md>), [rocksdb](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/rocksdb.md>), [Amazon S3](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/amazon-s3.md>)

Tags: [agents](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/agents.md>), [ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai.md>), [ai-agents](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-agents.md>), [ai-infrastructure](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-infrastructure.md>), [api](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/api.md>), [coding](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/coding.md>), [coding-agents](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/coding-agents.md>), [database](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/database.md>), [databases](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/databases.md>), [dynamodb](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/dynamodb.md>), [open-source](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/open-source.md>), [performance](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/performance.md>), [perplexity](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/perplexity.md>), [rocksdb](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/rocksdb.md>), [rust](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/rust.md>), [s3](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/s3.md>)

## AI overview

Perplexity built CobbleDB, a Rust key-value store, after finding DynamoDB too costly and insufficiently controllable for its search workload. Coding agents helped develop it, but were not allowed to run it in production. Perplexity measured lower read latency and expects lower costs, with plans to open-source the database.

## Source excerpt

Perplexity decided it was paying too much for DynamoDB and wasn't getting the control it wanted over read performance. So The post Perplexity's AI agents helped build a database. They weren't allowed to run it. appeared first on The New Stack.