https://www.postgresscripts.com/tags/wait-events/Recent content in Wait Events on Postgres ScriptsHugo -- gohugo.ioenPostgresScripts.comSun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.postgresscripts.com/post/monitor-postgresql-wait-events-pg-stat-activity/Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.postgresscripts.com/post/monitor-postgresql-wait-events-pg-stat-activity/ <h2 id="understanding-postgresql-wait-events-for-performance-analysis">Understanding PostgreSQL Wait Events for Performance Analysis</h2> <p>Every active PostgreSQL backend is either executing work or waiting. When a session waits, PostgreSQL records the reason in <code>pg_stat_activity</code> using two columns: <code>wait_event_type</code> and <code>wait_event</code>. Aggregating these across all sessions gives a clear picture of where your database is spending idle time — and what is holding it back.</p> <p>Common wait event types include <code>Lock</code> (heavyweight locks between transactions), <code>LWLock</code> (internal lightweight locks), <code>IO</code> (disk reads and writes), <code>IPC</code> (inter-process communication), and <code>Client</code> (waiting on application input). A cluster dominated by <code>IO</code> waits may need larger <code>shared_buffers</code>; a cluster dominated by <code>Lock</code> waits has contention between transactions that needs investigation at the query level.</p>