VACUUMDB(1)

📦 version 17.11, in opensuse-leap 16.0

VACUUMDB(1) — the PostgreSQL 17.11 girlie's guide to vacuuming ✨🧹

okay so before we even start: this is from the PostgreSQL 17.11 Documentation and it's the manual page for vacuumdb, bestie. buckle up 💖

🌸 NAME 🌸

vacuumdb — garbage-collect and analyze a PostgreSQL database 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

okay so there are like three whole shapes this command can take, and I need you to memorize all of them, no cap:

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

vacuumdb [connection-option...] [option...] [ -n | --schema schema ]...
         [dbname | -a | --all]

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

like, it's giving "three outfit options for the same event" 🎀 all valid, all iconic.

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so vacuumdb is a utility for cleaning a PostgreSQL database. literally the roomba of your database 🧹✨ and it will also generate internal statistics used by the PostgreSQL query optimizer, which is the main character energy we deserve 👑

vacuumdb is a wrapper around the SQL command VACUUM. and here's the thing — there is no effective difference between vacuuming and analyzing databases via this utility and via other methods for accessing the server. so don't stress, it's the same vibes either way 🫶

🦋 OPTIONS 🦋

vacuumdb accepts the following command-line arguments — and yes, we're going through all of them, I would never do you like that 🙈

  • -a, --all — Vacuum all databases. every single one. sweep the whole house 🧹
  • --buffer-usage-limit size — Specifies the Buffer Access Strategy ring buffer size for a given invocation of vacuumdb. this size is used to calculate the number of shared buffers which will be reused as part of this strategy. See VACUUM(7).
  • [-d] dbname, [--dbname=]dbname — Specifies the name of the database to be cleaned or analyzed, when -a/--all is not used. If this is not specified, the database name is read from the environment variable PGDATABASE. If that is not set either, the user name specified for the connection is used. and plot twist: the dbname can be a connection string 🫢 if so, connection string parameters will override any conflicting command line options. sneaky but valid.
  • --disable-page-skipping — Disable skipping pages based on the contents of the visibility map. no skipping for you, pages 📄
  • -e, --echo — Echo the commands that vacuumdb generates and sends to the server. she's narrating her own actions, love that for her 🗣️
  • -f, --full — Perform “full” vacuuming. the deluxe version 💅
  • -F, --freeze — Aggressively “freeze” tuples. aggressive is the keyword here, she's not playing around ❄️🔥
  • --force-index-cleanup — Always remove index entries pointing to dead tuples. bye dead entries, don't let the door hit you 👋
  • -j njobs, --jobs=njobs — Execute 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 that setting first.

Note that using this mode together with the -f (FULL) option might cause deadlock failures if certain system catalogs are processed in parallel. ⚠️ so like, be careful with that combo.

  • --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 24.1.5.1).

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. so you don't gotta double-check it, she's got it 🫶

  • --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 24.1.5).

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 as above 💜

  • -n schema, --schema=schema — Clean or analyze all tables in schema only. Multiple schemas can be vacuumed by writing multiple -n switches. stack 'em up 🥞
  • -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.
  • --no-process-main — Skip the main relation. she's sitting this one out 💅
  • --no-process-toast — Skip the TOAST table associated with the table to vacuum, if any. not the toast!! 🍞 (jk, it's fine, it's just a skip)
  • --no-truncate — Do not truncate empty pages at the end of the table.
  • -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). girlboss multithreading 💪
  • -q, --quiet — Do not display progress messages. silent era 🤫
  • --skip-locked — Skip relations that cannot be immediately locked for processing. if it's locked, we move on, no drama.
  • -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.
Tip 💡 If you specify columns, you probably have to escape the parentheses from the shell. (See examples below.)
  • -v, --verbose — Print detailed information during processing. she's telling you everything 🗣️✨
  • -V, --version — Print the vacuumdb version and exit. just the version, nothing else, bye 👋
  • -z, --analyze — Also calculate statistics for use by the optimizer. vacuum and stats, doing the most 📊
  • -Z, --analyze-only — Only calculate statistics for use by the optimizer (no vacuum). stats only, no cleaning. a little self-care moment.
  • --analyze-in-stages — Only calculate statistics for use by the optimizer (no vacuum), 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. three-act structure, we love a trilogy 🎬

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. ⚠️ so like — read that part twice, bestie.

  • -?, --help — Show help about vacuumdb command line arguments, and exit. the classic.

🔌 connection parameter arguments 🔌

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 directory, noted 📌
  • -p port, --port=port — Specifies the TCP port or local Unix domain socket file extension on which the server is listening for connections.
  • -U username, --username=username — User name to connect as. who am i 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. perfect for automation, no awkward "who's gonna type the password" moment 🤖
  • -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. so like, it's a vibe optimization ✨

  • --maintenance-db=dbname — When the -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. she recycles, we stan 🌱

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

  • PGDATABASE
  • PGHOST
  • PGPORT
  • PGUSER

Default connection parameters 💖

  • PG_COLOR — Specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto and never. (yes bestie, even the manpage knows color matters 🎨)

This utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environment variables supported by libpq (see Section 32.15).

💀 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, if the server isn't running… that's the problem 😭 start it.

🍓 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

(see, that's the parentheses-escaping tip in action with the single quotes 🎀)

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

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

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

VACUUM(7)

and that's the whole page, bestie 💜 go forth and vacuum responsibly — iykyk ✨🧹🎀

signed, sealed, delivered by the PostgreSQL 17.11 docs, dated 2026, and it's still VACUUMDB(1) at the end of the day 🫶💅

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