PostgreSQL Strict Standard

Rules for production Postgres. Targets 16+ with notes for 17/18 features.

Version Targets

PostgreSQL 18 is GA (released Sept 2025). New deployments should target 18. Highlights worth designing around:

• Async I/O subsystem (AIO): sequential scans, bitmap heap scans, and VACUUM issue concurrent reads instead of blocking each one. Up to ~3x faster on bulk-read workloads. No code change required.
• Skip scan on B-tree indexes: multicolumn indexes can now be used when the leading column is not in the predicate, reducing the need for redundant index variants.
• Parallel GIN index builds: CREATE INDEX ... USING gin runs in parallel. Big win for JSONB and full-text builds on large tables.
• `uuidv7()` native: no extension required (see PG-26 below).
• Virtual generated columns are the default: stored columns require explicit STORED. Virtual columns compute on read, no write amplification.
• `OLD` and `NEW` in `RETURNING`: capture the row state before and after UPDATE/DELETE/MERGE in one statement.
• OAuth 2.0 authentication in libpq: easier SSO integration.
• Planner stats survive major version upgrades: post-upgrade clusters reach steady-state performance much faster, no immediate ANALYZE storm.

CRITICAL: Migration Safety

A migration is a contract with a running system. The wrong migration takes prod down.

PG-01: CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY on hot tables

-- BAD: takes ACCESS EXCLUSIVE lock for the duration of the build
CREATE INDEX events_user_id_idx ON events (user_id);

-- GOOD: short ACCESS EXCLUSIVE on metadata, no row lock during build
CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY events_user_id_idx ON events (user_id);

CONCURRENTLY cannot run inside a transaction block. Migration tools that wrap statements in BEGIN/COMMIT must opt out for these statements. Failed concurrent index builds leave an INVALID index, drop and retry.

PG-02: Add NOT NULL columns in two steps

-- BAD: rewrites the whole table while holding ACCESS EXCLUSIVE
ALTER TABLE users ADD COLUMN status text NOT NULL DEFAULT 'active';

-- GOOD on PG 11+ for defaults, but still problematic if you need NOT NULL on existing nulls
ALTER TABLE users ADD COLUMN status text DEFAULT 'active';
-- Backfill in batches in app code
UPDATE users SET status = 'active' WHERE status IS NULL AND id BETWEEN $1 AND $2;
ALTER TABLE users ALTER COLUMN status SET NOT NULL;

PG 11+ added fast non-volatile defaults. The lock duration for SET NOT NULL still scans the table, schedule it for a quiet window or use NOT VALID constraint pattern below.

PG-03: Add CHECK / FOREIGN KEY as NOT VALID, then VALIDATE

ALTER TABLE orders
  ADD CONSTRAINT orders_amount_positive CHECK (amount > 0) NOT VALID;
-- Validates only new rows, completes instantly

ALTER TABLE orders VALIDATE CONSTRAINT orders_amount_positive;
-- Scans the table without an ACCESS EXCLUSIVE lock

Same pattern for foreign keys.

PG-04: Set lock_timeout and statement_timeout in migrations

SET lock_timeout = '5s';
SET statement_timeout = '10min';

A migration that waits forever on a lock is worse than a migration that fails fast.

CRITICAL: Indexing

PG-05: Index every column used in WHERE, JOIN, or ORDER BY on hot queries

Use EXPLAIN (ANALYZE, BUFFERS) to verify plan. A Seq Scan on a million rows is not always wrong, but on a hot query it almost always is.

PG-06: Composite index column order: equality first, then range

-- Query: WHERE user_id = $1 AND created_at > $2 ORDER BY created_at DESC
CREATE INDEX events_user_created_idx ON events (user_id, created_at DESC);

Equality on the leading column lets Postgres use the index for the range and the sort.

PG-07: Partial indexes for skewed predicates

-- Most rows are processed, only a few are pending
CREATE INDEX jobs_pending_idx ON jobs (created_at) WHERE status = 'pending';

Smaller index, faster scans for the common query.

PG-08: GIN for JSONB / array / full text

-- For @>, ?, ?| queries on JSONB
CREATE INDEX docs_data_gin ON docs USING gin (data jsonb_path_ops);

-- For arrays: WHERE tags @> ARRAY['urgent']
CREATE INDEX items_tags_gin ON items USING gin (tags);

jsonb_path_ops is smaller and faster than the default opclass when you only need containment.

PG-09: HNSW (not IVFFlat) for new pgvector indexes

CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS vector;
CREATE INDEX docs_embedding_hnsw ON docs
  USING hnsw (embedding vector_l2_ops)
  WITH (m = 16, ef_construction = 64);

-- Per-query recall/speed tradeoff
SET hnsw.ef_search = 100;

HNSW is the default recommendation in pgvector 0.5+. IVFFlat needs retraining as data changes.

HIGH: Query Patterns

PG-10: Never SELECT * in application queries

Selects every column even when only a few are needed. Breaks when columns are added (extra bandwidth, broken row decoders). List columns explicitly.

PG-11: Parameterized queries always

// BAD: SQL injection
db.query(`SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = '${email}'`);

// GOOD: parameterized
db.query("SELECT id, name FROM users WHERE email = $1", [email]);

Every driver supports $1, $2, ... placeholders. Use them.

PG-12: LIMIT every unbounded query

-- BAD: a single misclick returns 50M rows
SELECT id, payload FROM events WHERE user_id = $1;

-- GOOD: paginate
SELECT id, payload FROM events WHERE user_id = $1 ORDER BY id LIMIT 100;

For pagination at scale, use keyset (WHERE id > $last_id), not OFFSET.

PG-13: MERGE for upserts (PG 15+, with RETURNING in 17+)

MERGE INTO users u
USING (VALUES ($1, $2)) AS s(email, name) ON u.email = s.email
WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE SET name = s.name
WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT (email, name) VALUES (s.email, s.name)
RETURNING u.id;  -- PG 17+

INSERT ... ON CONFLICT DO UPDATE still works and is fine for simple upserts.

PG-14: EXPLAIN (ANALYZE, BUFFERS) before declaring a query fast

EXPLAIN (ANALYZE, BUFFERS, FORMAT TEXT)
SELECT ... ;

BUFFERS shows how much you read from cache vs. disk. A query that is fast in dev with a hot cache can be slow in prod with a cold one.

HIGH: Transactions

PG-15: Default isolation level is READ COMMITTED, raise it deliberately

SERIALIZABLE can fail with 40001 serialization_failure. Application must retry.

PG-16: Lock rows you intend to update with FOR UPDATE

BEGIN;
SELECT balance FROM accounts WHERE id = $1 FOR UPDATE;
-- compute new balance
UPDATE accounts SET balance = $2 WHERE id = $1;
COMMIT;

Without FOR UPDATE, two concurrent transactions both read, both compute, last writer wins.

PG-17: Keep transactions short

Every open transaction holds locks and prevents VACUUM from cleaning rows newer than its snapshot. Long-running transactions cause table bloat. No HTTP calls, no user-facing waits inside a transaction.

HIGH: Connection Management

PG-18: PgBouncer in transaction pooling mode for most apps

Postgres connections are heavyweight (10-20 MB each, fork per backend). A serverless or busy app saturates the server without a pooler.

Transaction pooling forbids LISTEN/NOTIFY, session advisory locks, and certain SET calls in client code. Use SET LOCAL inside transactions instead.

PG-19: Set per-role timeouts

ALTER ROLE app_user SET statement_timeout = '30s';
ALTER ROLE app_user SET lock_timeout = '5s';
ALTER ROLE app_user SET idle_in_transaction_session_timeout = '60s';

A runaway query should never take down the database.

HIGH: Security

PG-20: scram-sha-256 for password auth, never md5

# postgresql.conf
password_encryption = scram-sha-256

# pg_hba.conf
hostssl all all 0.0.0.0/0 scram-sha-256

Rotate any md5-hashed passwords. They are downgrade-attackable.

PG-21: TLS required for non-loopback connections

# postgresql.conf
ssl = on
ssl_min_protocol_version = 'TLSv1.2'

Reject host (plain) lines in pg_hba.conf for anything but 127.0.0.1 / Unix sockets.

PG-22: Least-privilege roles, no app-as-superuser

CREATE ROLE app_readwrite;
GRANT CONNECT ON DATABASE mydb TO app_readwrite;
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA public TO app_readwrite;
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO app_readwrite;
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA public
  GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON TABLES TO app_readwrite;

CREATE ROLE app_user LOGIN PASSWORD '...' IN ROLE app_readwrite;

Migration role is separate and more privileged. Application role cannot DROP, ALTER, or CREATE.

PG-23: Row-Level Security for multi-tenant tables

ALTER TABLE projects ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;

CREATE POLICY projects_tenant_isolation ON projects
  USING (tenant_id = current_setting('app.tenant_id')::uuid);

-- Per request
SET LOCAL app.tenant_id = '...';

Defense in depth. Even an SQL injection that bypasses application checks cannot leak across tenants.

MEDIUM: Observability

PG-24: pg_stat_statements always enabled

shared_preload_libraries = 'pg_stat_statements'

SELECT query, calls, mean_exec_time, total_exec_time
FROM pg_stat_statements
ORDER BY total_exec_time DESC
LIMIT 20;

Reveals the slow queries actually hitting the database. Read this before adding any optimization.

PG-25: Track these baseline metrics

MEDIUM: Schema Design

PG-26: UUIDv7 for new PKs (PG 18 native, otherwise extension)

-- PG 18+
CREATE TABLE events (id uuid PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT uuidv7(), ...);

-- PG <18: use uuid-ossp or app-side generation
CREATE TABLE events (id uuid PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(), ...);

UUIDv7 is time-ordered, gives B-tree-friendly inserts and works across services without coordination.

PG-27: Use timestamptz, never timestamp

created_at timestamptz NOT NULL DEFAULT now()

timestamp without time zone discards offset and silently corrupts data when the server timezone changes.

PG-28: Partition large append-only tables

CREATE TABLE events (
    id bigserial,
    created_at timestamptz NOT NULL,
    payload jsonb
) PARTITION BY RANGE (created_at);

CREATE TABLE events_2026_01 PARTITION OF events
  FOR VALUES FROM ('2026-01-01') TO ('2026-02-01');

Drop a month by detaching a partition. VACUUM and indexes scale per-partition.

Migration Tooling Baseline

Required regardless of tool (sqlx, Atlas, Flyway, Prisma Migrate):

• One forward migration per file, no destructive DROP without confirmation
• File names sortable (0001_, 0002_, or timestamps)
• Migrations checked in, never edited after merge
• Tool runs on a dedicated migration role, not the app role
• CI runs migrations against a fresh DB on every PR

Vulnerability Checklist

• [ ] All connections use TLS (ssl = on)
• [ ] Password auth is scram-sha-256, no md5
• [ ] App role is not superuser, cannot DROP/ALTER
• [ ] pg_stat_statements enabled and reviewed
• [ ] lock_timeout and statement_timeout set per role
• [ ] Long transactions monitored and alerted
• [ ] Backups: PITR or daily full + WAL archive
• [ ] Restore tested at least quarterly
• [ ] Index-creating migrations use CONCURRENTLY
• [ ] Multi-tenant tables use Row-Level Security
• [ ] Connection pooler (PgBouncer) sits between app and Postgres