https://www.postgresscripts.com/tags/pg_wait_events/Recent content in Pg_wait_events on Postgres ScriptsHugo -- gohugo.ioenPostgresScripts.comMon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.postgresscripts.com/post/list-postgresql-wait-events-with-pg-wait-events/Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.postgresscripts.com/post/list-postgresql-wait-events-with-pg-wait-events/ <h2 id="list-postgresql-wait-events-with-the-pg_wait_events-view">List PostgreSQL Wait Events with the pg_wait_events View</h2> <p>PostgreSQL 17 added <code>pg_wait_events</code>, a system view that enumerates every wait event the running server can record. Prior to 17 the same information lived only in the documentation — no in-database way to confirm a wait name or attach a description to it. The view is read-only, three columns wide, and exactly the lookup table a monitoring dashboard wants alongside <code>pg_stat_activity</code>.</p> <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1012089347386563" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1012089347386563" data-ad-slot="7945792173" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <h2 id="purpose-and-overview">Purpose and Overview</h2> <p>Wait-event monitoring is one of the highest-signal PostgreSQL observability surfaces. When a backend is not actively running CPU work, PostgreSQL records why it is paused in two columns of <code>pg_stat_activity</code>: <code>wait_event_type</code> (the broad category) and <code>wait_event</code> (the specific reason). Tracking which waits dominate over time tells a DBA whether a workload is bound by lock contention, I/O latency, internal lightweight-lock contention, or client-side stalls — a sharper diagnostic frame than CPU utilization or query duration alone.</p>