autovacuum_naptime

autovacuum_naptime — Time to sleep between autovacuum runs. Observed in PG9.0–19 Beta 3; its last measured boot default is 1 min in PG19 Beta 3, with sighup context. This is a beta-snapshot fact and can change before PostgreSQL 19 GA.

Note

Fact — official short description: “Time to sleep between autovacuum runs.”

Identity

Type , Valueinteger: Upstream pg_settings type
Context , Valuesighup: Takes effect after configuration reload
Unit , Values: Raw unit
Range , Value1 – 2147483: Raw limits in the last observed version
Enum values , Value—: — for non-enum types
Category , ValueVacuuming / Automatic Vacuuming: Upstream classification
Latest boot value , Value60: 1 min

Lifecycle

Fact	Value
First observed	PG9.0 (research boundary)
Present in	PG9.0–19 Beta 3
Removed in	No
Introduction commit	Not asserted: predates the PG9.0 research boundary
Commit date	—
Discussion	—

Default history

Measured PG9.0–19 Beta 3 boot defaults
Versions	Raw `boot_val`	Unit	Human value
PG9.0–19 Beta 3	`60`	`s`	1 min

How it works

Time to sleep between autovacuum runs. A configuration reload applies a new value; existing work already in flight is not retroactively changed.

The launcher aims to start work in each database once per interval; with N databases, launch attempts are spread at roughly naptime/N. It is not a fixed per-table polling period, and worker availability plus long-running jobs can add delay.

Monitor and change autovacuum_naptime together with autovacuum, autovacuum_max_workers, autovacuum_worker_slots. Validate on the relevant server role and real workload, then use its sighup context to choose session change, reload, or restart; a historical boot default is not the current effective value.

Tuning advice

Tip

Advice. These are workload-specific starting points and must be validated with measurements.

Workload	Guidance
OLTP	Tune autovacuum_naptime from table size, change rate, and maintenance SLA, using per-table thresholds for large/hot relations. Observe trigger intervals, dead tuples, and ANALYZE/VACUUM duration.
OLAP	Run explicit ANALYZE/VACUUM after bulk loads instead of waiting only for proportional triggers; plan freezing and visibility-map advancement separately for append-only partitions.
Small nodes	Start with upstream or the measured Pigsty matrix value. Fixed thresholds dominate on small tables; after changes, confirm worker and I/O headroom.

Pigsty

Values use the fixed 8-vCPU, 32-GiB, 100-GiB SSD fixture and render the current Pigsty templates for PG19 Beta 3; this does not assert current Pigsty support for that historical or beta release.

Template	Effective value	Versus upstream boot	Source expression
OLTP	`1min`	same as boot	`1min`
OLAP	`1min`	same as boot	`1min`
CRIT	`1min`	same as boot	`1min`
TINY	`1min`	same as boot	`1min`

Caution

Advice — pending human review. Fact from the current Pigsty template projection: OLTP: PG9.0–19 Beta 3 = 1min (dcs); OLAP: PG9.0–19 Beta 3 = 1min (dcs); CRIT: PG9.0–19 Beta 3 = 1min (dcs); TINY: PG9.0–19 Beta 3 = 1min (dcs). Advice, pending human review — Editorial interpretation, pending human maintainer review: the override appears intended to retain PostgreSQL’s one-minute database scheduling cadence explicitly; confirm it against the current Pigsty templates, hardware fixture, and operational guarantees before publication.

Common pitfalls

Changing the global value while a table storage parameter overrides it.
Treating reltuples and cumulative change statistics as exact real-time counts.
Blaming a threshold without checking long transactions, replication slots, and worker saturation.
Buying short-term quiet by deferring maintenance until wraparound failsafe activates.

autovacuum · autovacuum_max_workers · autovacuum_worker_slots · autovacuum_work_mem · track_counts · autovacuum_analyze_scale_factor