In what cases is it advisable to use the jsonb data type in PostgreSQL?

The jsonb data type in PostgreSQL is suitable when you need to store and efficiently process semi-structured data in JSON format with fast search and indexing capabilities.

Main use cases:

• Data with dynamic or changing structure, where the schema is unknown in advance.
• The need to perform queries on nested JSON fields using indexes (GIN, GiST).
• Storing configurations, logs, metadata, where the structure may vary.
• When you need to combine relational data with flexible JSON objects.

jsonb stores data in a binary format, which provides faster access and consumes less space compared to json (text format).

Example of creating a table with a jsonb field and a query with filtering:

CREATE TABLE products (
    id serial PRIMARY KEY,
    info jsonb
);

-- Index for quick search by the "category" key
CREATE INDEX idx_products_info_category ON products USING gin ((info -> 'category'));

-- Search for products in the "books" category
SELECT * FROM products WHERE info ->> 'category' = 'books';