START_TRANSACTION(7pg17)

✨ NAME ✨

START_TRANSACTION — start a transaction block. That's the whole vibe: you're opening a transaction block, bestie. 💅

okay so welcome to the START_TRANSACTION(7pg17) page from the PostgreSQL 17.11 documentation — yes, the manual name is right there, no cap. Let's get into it. ✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

Here's the shape of it, exactly:

START TRANSACTION [ transaction_mode [, ...] ]

where transaction_mode is one of:

    ISOLATION LEVEL { SERIALIZABLE | REPEATABLE READ | READ COMMITTED | READ UNCOMMITTED }
    READ WRITE | READ ONLY
    [ NOT ] DEFERRABLE

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

This command begins a new transaction block. Periodt. 🫶

If the isolation level, read/write mode, or deferrable mode is specified, the new transaction has those characteristics — literally as if SET TRANSACTION was executed. And this? This is the same as the BEGIN command. No cap. ✨

🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

Bestie, I'm not gonna pretend the parameter meanings live here. They don't. Refer to SET TRANSACTION (SET_TRANSACTION(7)) for information on the meaning of the parameters to this statement. Go get the lore from that page. 💖

🦋 COMPATIBILITY 🦋

• In the standard, it is not necessary to issue START TRANSACTION to start a transaction block: any SQL command implicitly begins a block. Wild, right? 😭
• PostgreSQL's behavior can be seen as implicitly issuing a COMMIT after each command that does not follow START TRANSACTION (or BEGIN), and it is therefore often called “autocommit”. Other relational database systems might offer an autocommit feature as a convenience.
• The DEFERRABLE transaction_mode is a PostgreSQL language extension. iykyk.
• The SQL standard requires commas between successive transaction_modes, but for historical reasons PostgreSQL allows the commas to be omitted. History said "commas optional, bestie" 💀.
• See also the compatibility section of SET TRANSACTION (SET_TRANSACTION(7)). It's giving required reading. 📚

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• BEGIN(7)
• COMMIT(7)
• ROLLBACK(7)
• SAVEPOINT(7)
• SET TRANSACTION (SET_TRANSACTION(7))

That's the whole page, babe. 🫶 This little manual moment came from PostgreSQL 17.11, dated 2026, and the page is START_TRANSACTION(7). Slay responsibly. 💅✨