Xata has reduced Postgres database branching times from 20+ seconds to 1-2 seconds through a combination of custom storage (Xatastor using ZFS over NVMe-oF) and warm pools of pre-provisioned Kubernetes pods. Branches use copy-on-write storage so you only pay for diffs to the parent. With scale-to-zero billing per minute, 1,000 short-lived branches cost roughly $1. Real-world customers like AI coding agents and CI/CD preview environments are using thousands of branches per week for under $30/month. The architecture separates compute from storage, allowing volumes to be hot-connected to waiting pods in milliseconds.