diff --git a/internal/datastore/postgres/postgres_shared_test.go b/internal/datastore/postgres/postgres_shared_test.go
index b63e5574f6..b600f372bc 100644
--- a/internal/datastore/postgres/postgres_shared_test.go
+++ b/internal/datastore/postgres/postgres_shared_test.go
@@ -188,6 +188,15 @@ func testPostgresDatastore(t *testing.T, pc []postgresConfig) {
 					MigrationPhase(config.migrationPhase),
 				))
 
+				t.Run("TestSerializationError", createDatastoreTest(
+					b,
+					SerializationErrorTest,
+					RevisionQuantization(0),
+					GCWindow(1*time.Millisecond),
+					WatchBufferLength(50),
+					MigrationPhase(config.migrationPhase),
+				))
+
 				t.Run("TestStrictReadMode", createReplicaDatastoreTest(
 					b,
 					StrictReadModeTest,
@@ -270,6 +279,36 @@ func createReplicaDatastoreTest(b testdatastore.RunningEngineForTest, tf datasto
 	}
 }
 
+func SerializationErrorTest(t *testing.T, ds datastore.Datastore) {
+	require := require.New(t)
+
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	r, err := ds.ReadyState(ctx)
+	require.NoError(err)
+	require.True(r.IsReady)
+
+	_, err = ds.ReadWriteTx(ctx, func(ctx context.Context, rwt datastore.ReadWriteTransaction) error {
+		updates := []tuple.RelationshipUpdate{
+			tuple.Create(tuple.MustParse("resource:resource#reader@user:user#...")),
+		}
+		rwt.(*pgReadWriteTXN).tx = txWithSerializationError{rwt.(*pgReadWriteTXN).tx}
+		return rwt.WriteRelationships(ctx, updates)
+	})
+
+	require.Contains(err.Error(), "unable to write relationships due to a serialization error")
+}
+
+type txWithSerializationError struct {
+	pgx.Tx
+}
+
+func (txwse txWithSerializationError) Exec(ctx context.Context, sql string, arguments ...any) (commandTag pgconn.CommandTag, err error) {
+	return pgconn.CommandTag{}, &pgconn.PgError{
+		Code:    pgSerializationFailure,
+		Message: "fake serialization error",
+	}
+}
+
 func GarbageCollectionTest(t *testing.T, ds datastore.Datastore) {
 	require := require.New(t)
 
diff --git a/internal/datastore/postgres/readwrite.go b/internal/datastore/postgres/readwrite.go
index 48b93c7471..69a16224df 100644
--- a/internal/datastore/postgres/readwrite.go
+++ b/internal/datastore/postgres/readwrite.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/jackc/pgx/v5"
 	"github.com/jzelinskie/stringz"
 
+	"github.com/authzed/spicedb/internal/datastore/common"
 	pgxcommon "github.com/authzed/spicedb/internal/datastore/postgres/common"
 	"github.com/authzed/spicedb/pkg/datastore"
 	core "github.com/authzed/spicedb/pkg/proto/core/v1"
@@ -123,7 +124,7 @@ func (rwt *pgReadWriteTXN) collectSimplifiedTouchTypes(ctx context.Context, muta
 
 	namespaces, err := rwt.LookupNamespacesWithNames(ctx, touchedResourceNamespaces.AsSlice())
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf(errUnableToWriteRelationships, err)
+		return nil, handleWriteError(err)
 	}
 
 	if len(namespaces) == 0 {
@@ -148,7 +149,7 @@ func (rwt *pgReadWriteTXN) collectSimplifiedTouchTypes(ctx context.Context, muta
 
 		vts, err := typesystem.NewNamespaceTypeSystem(nsDef, typesystem.ResolverForDatastoreReader(rwt))
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf(errUnableToWriteRelationships, err)
+			return nil, handleWriteError(err)
 		}
 
 		notAllowed, err := vts.RelationDoesNotAllowCaveatsForSubject(rel.Resource.Relation, rel.Subject.ObjectType)
@@ -211,12 +212,12 @@ func (rwt *pgReadWriteTXN) WriteRelationships(ctx context.Context, mutations []t
 	if hasCreateInserts {
 		sql, args, err := createInserts.ToSql()
 		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf(errUnableToWriteRelationships, err)
+			return handleWriteError(err)
 		}
 
 		_, err = rwt.tx.Exec(ctx, sql, args...)
 		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf(errUnableToWriteRelationships, err)
+			return handleWriteError(err)
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -234,12 +235,12 @@ func (rwt *pgReadWriteTXN) WriteRelationships(ctx context.Context, mutations []t
 
 		sql, args, err := touchInserts.ToSql()
 		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf(errUnableToWriteRelationships, err)
+			return handleWriteError(err)
 		}
 
 		rows, err := rwt.tx.Query(ctx, sql, args...)
 		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf(errUnableToWriteRelationships, err)
+			return handleWriteError(err)
 		}
 		defer rows.Close()
 
@@ -263,7 +264,7 @@ func (rwt *pgReadWriteTXN) WriteRelationships(ctx context.Context, mutations []t
 				&subjectRelation,
 			)
 			if err != nil {
-				return fmt.Errorf(errUnableToWriteRelationships, err)
+				return handleWriteError(err)
 			}
 
 			rel := tuple.Relationship{
@@ -329,12 +330,12 @@ func (rwt *pgReadWriteTXN) WriteRelationships(ctx context.Context, mutations []t
 		Set(colDeletedXid, rwt.newXID).
 		ToSql()
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf(errUnableToWriteRelationships, err)
+		return handleWriteError(err)
 	}
 
 	rows, err := rwt.tx.Query(ctx, sql, args...)
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf(errUnableToWriteRelationships, err)
+		return handleWriteError(err)
 	}
 	defer rows.Close()
 
@@ -359,7 +360,7 @@ func (rwt *pgReadWriteTXN) WriteRelationships(ctx context.Context, mutations []t
 			&subjectRelation,
 		)
 		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf(errUnableToWriteRelationships, err)
+			return handleWriteError(err)
 		}
 
 		deletedTpl := tuple.Relationship{
@@ -397,17 +398,25 @@ func (rwt *pgReadWriteTXN) WriteRelationships(ctx context.Context, mutations []t
 	// Otherwise execute the INSERTs for the caveated-changes TOUCHed relationships.
 	sql, args, err = touchWrite.ToSql()
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf(errUnableToWriteRelationships, err)
+		return handleWriteError(err)
 	}
 
 	_, err = rwt.tx.Exec(ctx, sql, args...)
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf(errUnableToWriteRelationships, err)
+		return handleWriteError(err)
 	}
 
 	return nil
 }
 
+func handleWriteError(err error) error {
+	if pgxcommon.IsSerializationError(err) {
+		return common.NewSerializationError(fmt.Errorf("unable to write relationships due to a serialization error: [%w]; this typically indicates that a number of write transactions are contending over the same relationships; either reduce the contention or scale this Postgres instance", err))
+	}
+
+	return fmt.Errorf(errUnableToWriteRelationships, err)
+}
+
 func (rwt *pgReadWriteTXN) DeleteRelationships(ctx context.Context, filter *v1.RelationshipFilter, opts ...options.DeleteOptionsOption) (bool, error) {
 	delOpts := options.NewDeleteOptionsWithOptionsAndDefaults(opts...)
 	if delOpts.DeleteLimit != nil && *delOpts.DeleteLimit > 0 {