So you've outgrown MySQL. Maybe you need better JSON support, real window functions, or you're moving to a managed cloud database that defaults to Postgres. Whatever the reason — MySQL to PostgreSQL migration trips up almost everyone the first time. The two dialects look similar but behave very differently under the hood. This guide walks through the actual syntax differences, real failure points, and how to convert a MySQL dump cleanly. Why MySQL Dumps Don't Import Directly into PostgreSQL Here's a typical MySQL dump: sqlCREATE TABLE users ( id INT(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, username VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL, is_active TINYINT(1) DEFAULT 1, created_at DATETIME DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, PRIMARY KEY ( id ) ) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4; Paste this into psql and you get errors immediately.…