# Week0 Before the cohort officially kicks off, I’ve been reflecting on past projects, current ones and exploring areas where I can make meaningful contributions during the program. **Portal Client (Trin) – Execution Database Migration** Over the past two weeks, I focused on the Portal client (Trin), specifically its execution layer. I worked on [migrating database from RocksDB to Redb](https://github.com/ethereum/trin/pull/1873). This involved reworking key-value access patterns, adapting snapshotting logic, and modifying the trie-based state structure to align with Redb’s semantics. A key requirement was maintaining compatibility with revm, the EVM library. This deep dive helped me better understand embedded databases and how storage backends affect performance, especially around state diffing and trie traversal. **Lighthouse Beacon Node – Postgres Backend** Currently, I’ve shifted my focus to Lighthouse. I’m implementing [Postgres as an optional database backend](https://github.com/eth-protocol-fellows/cohort-six/blob/master/projects/project-ideas.md#lighthouse-add-postgresdb-as-an-optional-db-implementation-for-the-beacon-node) alongside the existing LevelDB and Redb options. The motivation is to provide a production-ready alternative that avoids NFS-related corruption issues seen with LevelDB and Redb in certain environments. Postgres offers strong durability guarantees and better support for remote storage use cases. What excites me is how this work builds naturally on the lessons from the Portal database migration. Both projects share the same core challenge: designing a clean, backend-agnostic abstraction for state access and ensuring safe, consistent transitions across database implementations. I’m applying patterns from Portal—like trait-based abstraction and batched writes—to guide the Postgres integration here. **Next Steps** I’ve decided to use `sqlx` as the async Postgres client. I've started prototyping and writing code, and I plan to begin submitting PRs soon. **Resources** * Redb design notes: https://github.com/cberner/redb * sqlx https://github.com/launchbadge/sqlx