VACUUMDB(1)

📦 version 16.15, in opensuse-leap 16.0

💅 VACUUMDB(1) — the glow-up page

okay bestie, welcome to the PostgreSQL 16.15 docs, and buckle up because this is the manual page for vacuumdb and honestly it's kind of a big deal ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

vacuumdb — garbage-collect and analyze a PostgreSQL database 🗑️✨ (yes, it's a cleaner AND a stats girlie, she contains multitudes)

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

vacuumdb [connection-option...] [option...]
         [ -t | --table table [( column [,...] )] ]...  [dbname]

vacuumdb [connection-option...] [option...]
         [ [ -n | --schema schema ] | [ -N | --exclude-schema schema ] ]...
         [dbname]

vacuumdb [connection-option...] [option...] -a | --all

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So vacuumdb is a utility for cleaning a PostgreSQL database. She tidies up. She takes out the trash. Main character energy, truly. 💅

And not only that — vacuumdb will also generate internal statistics used by the PostgreSQL query optimizer. Like, she cleans AND she does math. Obsessed. 🔥

Here's the tea though: vacuumdb is a wrapper around the SQL command VACUUM. There is no effective difference between vacuuming and analyzing databases via this utility and via other methods for accessing the server. Same vibes, different font. no cap. 💯

✨ OPTIONS ✨

vacuumdb accepts the following command-line arguments, and yes we're going through all of them, grab a snack 🍓:

  • -a, --all — vacuum all databases. every single one. go off queen 👑
  • --buffer-usage-limit size — sets the Buffer Access Strategy ring buffer size for this particular invocation of vacuumdb. That size is used to calculate how many shared buffers get reused as part of this strategy. See VACUUM(7). 🧚
  • [-d] dbname, [--dbname=]dbname — tells her the name of the database to be cleaned or analyzed, for when you're not using -a/--all. If you don't specify it, the database name is read from the environment variable PGDATABASE. If that's not set either, the user name specified for the connection gets used. Also — plot twist — dbname can be a connection string. If it is, connection string parameters will override any conflicting command line options. sneaky but iconic 🎀
  • --disable-page-skipping — disables skipping pages based on the contents of the visibility map. we look at everything now 🔍
  • -e, --echo — echoes the commands that vacuumdb generates and sends to the server. like a read-aloud study session 📖
  • -f, --full — performs "full" vacuuming. the deluxe treatment 💅
  • -F, --freeze — aggressively "freeze"s tuples. aggressive. we love a decisive queen ❄️
  • --force-index-cleanup — always remove index entries pointing to dead tuples. no survivors 💀
  • -j njobs, --jobs=njobs — executes the vacuum or analyze commands in parallel by running njobs commands simultaneously. This option may reduce the processing time but it also increases the load on the database server. multitasking queen but she IS eating CPU 🍽️

vacuumdb will open njobs connections to the database, so make sure your max_connections setting is high enough to accommodate all connections. fr fr, check it.

⚠️ heads up: using this mode together with the -f (FULL) option might cause deadlock failures if certain system catalogs are processed in parallel. 😭
  • --min-mxid-age mxid_age — only execute the vacuum or analyze commands on tables with a multixact ID age of at least mxid_age. This setting is useful for prioritizing tables to process to prevent multixact ID wraparound (see Section 25.1.5.1).

For the purposes of this option, the multixact ID age of a relation is the greatest of the ages of the main relation and its associated TOAST table, if one exists. Since the commands issued by vacuumdb will also process the TOAST table for the relation if necessary, it does not need to be considered separately. one less thing to worry about bestie 🫶

  • --min-xid-age xid_age — only execute the vacuum or analyze commands on tables with a transaction ID age of at least xid_age. This setting is useful for prioritizing tables to process to prevent transaction ID wraparound (see Section 25.1.5).

For the purposes of this option, the transaction ID age of a relation is the greatest of the ages of the main relation and its associated TOAST table, if one exists. Since the commands issued by vacuumdb will also process the TOAST table for the relation if necessary, it does not need to be considered separately. same deal, different ID 🌈

  • -n schema, --schema=schema — clean or analyze all tables in schema only. Multiple schemas can be vacuumed by writing multiple -n switches. stack 'em 🥞
  • -N schema, --exclude-schema=schema — do not clean or analyze any tables in schema. Multiple schemas can be excluded by writing multiple -N switches. blocking them, respectfully 🚫
  • --no-index-cleanup — do not remove index entries pointing to dead tuples. letting them linger, ig 🙈
  • --no-process-main — skips the main relation. not her problem today 💅
  • --no-process-toast — skips the TOAST table associated with the table to vacuum, if any. bye toast 🍞
  • --no-truncate — do not truncate empty pages at the end of the table. keep the empty pages, they're valid ✋
  • -P parallel_workers, --parallel=parallel_workers — specify the number of parallel workers for parallel vacuum. This allows the vacuum to leverage multiple CPUs to process indexes. See VACUUM(7). more cores more slay 🔥
  • -q, --quiet — do not display progress messages. silent mode, mysterious mode 🎧
  • --skip-locked — skip relations that cannot be immediately locked for processing. if you're not ready for her, she moves on ✌️
  • -t table [ (column [,...]) ], --table=table [ (column [,...]) ] — clean or analyze table only. Column names can be specified only in conjunction with the --analyze or --analyze-only options. Multiple tables can be vacuumed by writing multiple -t switches. be picky, it's your right 👑
💡 Tip: if you specify columns, you probably have to escape the parentheses from the shell. (see the examples below, i gotchu)
  • -v, --verbose — print detailed information during processing. she tells you EVERYTHING 🗣️
  • -V, --version — print the vacuumdb version and exit. identity check 🪞
  • -z, --analyze — also calculate statistics for use by the optimizer. stats on stats 📊
  • -Z, --analyze-only — only calculate statistics for use by the optimizer (no vacuum). strictly a numbers girlie 🔢
  • --analyze-in-stages — only calculate statistics for use by the optimizer (no vacuum), just like --analyze-only. Run three stages of analyze; the first stage uses the lowest possible statistics target (see default_statistics_target) to produce usable statistics faster, and subsequent stages build the full statistics. speedrun into full stats ⚡

This option is only useful to analyze a database that currently has no statistics or has wholly incorrect ones, such as if it is newly populated from a restored dump or by pg_upgrade. Be aware that running with this option in a database with existing statistics may cause the query optimizer choices to become transiently worse due to the low statistics targets of the early stages.

⚠️ that's a real warning, not a vibe check — transiently worse optimizer choices, fr fr 😭
  • -?, --help — show help about vacuumdb command line arguments, and exit. the built-in cheat sheet 🫶

vacuumdb also accepts the following command-line arguments for connection parameters 👇

  • -h host, --host=host — specifies the host name of the machine on which the server is running. If the value begins with a slash, it is used as the directory for the Unix domain socket. slash = socket path, noted 🧠
  • -p port, --port=port — specifies the TCP port or local Unix domain socket file extension on which the server is listening for connections. knock knock 🚪
  • -U username, --username=username — user name to connect as. who are you today 🪪
  • -w, --no-password — never issue a password prompt. If the server requires password authentication and a password is not available by other means such as a .pgpass file, the connection attempt will fail. This option can be useful in batch jobs and scripts where no user is present to enter a password. no interruptions, no drama 🚫
  • -W, --password — force vacuumdb to prompt for a password before connecting to a database.

This option is never essential, since vacuumdb will automatically prompt for a password if the server demands password authentication. However, vacuumdb will waste a connection attempt finding out that the server wants a password. In some cases it is worth typing -W to avoid the extra connection attempt. save yourself the round trip 💅

  • --maintenance-db=dbname — when -a/--all is used, connect to this database to gather the list of databases to vacuum. If not specified, the postgres database will be used, or if that does not exist, template1 will be used. This can be a connection string. If so, connection string parameters will override any conflicting command line options. Also, connection string parameters other than the database name itself will be re-used when connecting to other databases. recycling, we love to see it ♻️

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

  • PGDATABASE
  • PGHOST
  • PGPORT
  • PGUSER

— default connection parameters. the classic four 🎀

  • PG_COLOR — specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto and never. yes she can be colorful in her error messages, iconic 💖

This utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environment variables supported by libpq (see Section 34.15). iykyk 🧚

💜 DIAGNOSTICS 💜

In case of difficulty, see VACUUM(7) and psql(1) for discussions of potential problems and error messages. The database server must be running at the targeted host. Also, any default connection settings and environment variables used by the libpq front-end library will apply. so like, is it on? is it running? check that first bestie 🔍

🍓 NOTES 🍓

vacuumdb might need to connect several times to the PostgreSQL server, asking for a password each time. It is convenient to have a ~/.pgpass file in such cases. See Section 34.16 for more information. save yourself the typing 😭

👑 EXAMPLES 👑

To clean the database test:

$ vacuumdb test

To clean and analyze for the optimizer a database named bigdb:

$ vacuumdb --analyze bigdb

To clean a single table foo in a database named xyzzy, and analyze a single column bar of the table for the optimizer:

$ vacuumdb --analyze --verbose --table='foo(bar)' xyzzy

To clean all tables in the foo and bar schemas in a database named xyzzy:

$ vacuumdb --schema='foo' --schema='bar' xyzzy

see how the quotes wrap the parentheses? that's the escape-from-shell tip in action, you're welcome 🫶

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

VACUUM(7) — literally the whole point, go read it next 📖

okay that's the whole page, you ate that 💅✨ go vacuum something 🌈

later bestie — this was brought to you by PostgreSQL 16.15, dated 2026 🎀🦋💖

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