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PostgreSQL Indexing Strategies

Oct 15, 2023
databasebackend

Choosing an Index

Indexes trade write cost and storage for faster reads. The right index starts with the query shape, not the table shape.

Common Defaults

  • B-Tree works well for equality and range queries.
  • GIN is useful for arrays, JSONB, and full-text search.
  • GiST can support geometric and similarity queries.

Measure with EXPLAIN ANALYZE before and after adding an index.