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Introducing Postgres how-tos: practical guides for real-world database challenges

· 4 min read
Nikolay Samokhvalov

Postgres AI Checkup service: expert-led, AI-assisted comprehensive database health assessment

Today, as part of our Launch Week (Day 4), we're excited to announce the release of our Postgres how-to guides collection – a comprehensive set of dozens of practical guides covering real-world PostgreSQL challenges.

The story behind Postgres how-tos

PostgreSQL's official documentation is excellent when it comes to reference-style information and explanations. The source code is equally excellent. However, when it comes to practical recipes and "how-to" style information, the PostgreSQL ecosystem has historically lacked comprehensive resources.

Our experience at Postgres AI, accumulated over many years of working with large database clusters, has given us insights into common challenges and their solutions. Today, we're sharing a portion of that knowledge with the community.

How it all started: #PostgresMarathon

The journey began in Fall 2023, when I announced the #PostgresMarathon on Twitter (now X). The challenge was ambitious: write one PostgreSQL how-to article every day. For almost 100 days in a row, I shared practical PostgreSQL knowledge in tweet form, covering everything from performance optimization to advanced internals.

The response from the PostgreSQL community was overwhelming. Database engineers, DBAs, and developers found these bite-sized guides helpful for solving real problems they faced daily.

From tweets to comprehensive documentation

While the Twitter format was great for daily consumption, we knew these guides needed a more permanent and accessible home. That's when Sadeq Dousti volunteered to help. He meticulously converted all those tweets into properly formatted markdown documents, which became the foundation of this collection.

With additional help from our reviewers – Dmitry Fomin, Bogdan Tsechoev, and Denis Morozov – we've refined, expanded, and organized these guides into a comprehensive resource.

What's included

The collection features dozens of guides organized into 7 main categories:

  • Performance & Optimization – Query tuning, indexing strategies, and statistics
  • Database Administration – Maintenance, backups, and configuration
  • Monitoring & Troubleshooting – System monitoring, lock analysis, and problem-solving
  • Schema Design – DDL operations, data types, and constraints
  • Development Tools – psql mastery, SQL techniques, and client tools
  • Advanced Topics – Internals, extensions, and replication
  • Miscellaneous – Various tips and antipatterns

Each guide is tagged with difficulty level (beginner, intermediate, or advanced) and includes estimated reading time.

Built for practitioners, by practitioners

These aren't theoretical exercises – they're solutions to problems we've encountered and solved in production environments. Whether you're dealing with:

  • Query performance issues
  • Zero-downtime schema changes
  • Replication lag troubleshooting
  • Index bloat problems
  • Transaction ID wraparound risks

You'll find practical, tested solutions that you can apply immediately.

Contributions

This is just the beginning. We see this as a public, collaborative effort; we're open to contributions! The Postgres ecosystem is vast and constantly evolving, and we plan to continue expanding this collection based on community feedback and emerging challenges.

We welcome all contributions that improve this library. Whether it's fixing typos, improving existing guides, or adding entirely new how-tos, your input is invaluable. The source files live in our GitLab repository: https://gitlab.com/postgres-ai/docs/-/tree/master/docs/postgres-howtos

Feel free to submit merge requests with:

  • Corrections and improvements to existing guides
  • New how-to articles based on your experience
  • Additional examples and use cases
  • Translations

Get started

Visit the Postgres how-to guides to start exploring. Whether you're a PostgreSQL beginner or a seasoned DBA, you'll find valuable insights and practical solutions.

We hope these guides help you solve real problems and make your PostgreSQL journey smoother. After all, that's what the #PostgresMarathon was all about – sharing knowledge to help the community tackle database challenges more effectively.

Happy PostgreSQL-ing! 🐘