10 Essential PostgreSQL Tips to Boost Your Productivity

1. Common Table Expressions (CTEs)

CTEs are temporary result sets defined within a single SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE or CREATE VIEW statement. They can be referenced multiple times and can be recursive, which makes complex queries easier to read and maintain compared with derived tables.

2. Customizing the psql client with .psqlrc

Place a .psqlrc file in the user’s home directory to set default psql options. Common settings include: \\x auto – enable expanded output automatically for wide rows. \pset null '¤' – display NULL values with a visible placeholder. \timing on – show execution time for each query. \set PROMPT1 '%[3[33;1m%]%x%[3[0m%]%[1m%]%/%[0m%]%R%# ' – customize the prompt with colors and the current database.

Define frequently used commands with \set and invoke them by name.

3. Using pg_stat_statements for performance insight

Enable the extension with CREATE EXTENSION pg_stat_statements;. It records every executed query together with execution time, call count, and I/O statistics. Query the view pg_stat_statements to identify slow queries and missing indexes. The overhead is small (typically <1% CPU) and is outweighed by the tuning benefits.

4. Accelerating ETL with Foreign Data Wrappers (FDWs)

FDWs allow PostgreSQL to query external data sources as if they were local tables. Install the appropriate wrapper (e.g., postgres_fdw, mongo_fdw, redis_fdw) and create a foreign server and user mapping:

CREATE EXTENSION postgres_fdw;
CREATE SERVER remote_pg FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER postgres_fdw OPTIONS (host 'remote.host', dbname 'remotedb');
CREATE USER MAPPING FOR current_user SERVER remote_pg OPTIONS (user 'remote_user', password 'secret');
IMPORT FOREIGN SCHEMA public FROM SERVER remote_pg INTO local_schema;

This eliminates the need for bulk data movement in many micro‑service architectures.

5. Working with arrays and array_agg

PostgreSQL supports native array types. Use them to store multi‑valued attributes such as tags. array_agg(column) aggregates column values from multiple rows into a single array, which can then be converted to a delimited string with array_to_string:

SELECT user_id, array_to_string(array_agg(tag), ',') AS tags
FROM user_tags
GROUP BY user_id;

6. Materialized Views

A materialized view stores the result of a query physically. Refresh it with REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW [CONCURRENTLY] view_name;. In PostgreSQL 9.5, REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW CONCURRENTLY allows reads during refresh, reducing lock contention. Schedule refreshes via cron or pg_cron for reporting workloads.

7. Window Functions

Window functions compute values across a set of rows related to the current row without collapsing the result set. Common examples:

SELECT employee_id, salary,
       rank() OVER (ORDER BY salary DESC) AS salary_rank,
       sum(salary) OVER (PARTITION BY department_id) AS dept_total
FROM employees;

They enable ranking, running totals, moving averages, and period‑over‑period calculations.

8. Pivoting with the tablefunc module

Install the module with CREATE EXTENSION tablefunc;. Use crosstab to transform rows into columns. Example:

SELECT * FROM crosstab(
  'SELECT region, quarter, sales FROM quarterly_sales ORDER BY 1,2',
  'SELECT DISTINCT quarter FROM quarterly_sales ORDER BY 1'
) AS ct(region text, q1 int, q2 int, q3 int, q4 int);

PostgreSQL 9.5 improved error handling and column‑type inference for crosstab.

9. Extending spatial queries with PostGIS

PostGIS adds geometry and geography types plus GiST and SP‑GiST indexes for fast spatial operations. Install with CREATE EXTENSION postgis;. Example query using a spatial index:

SELECT name FROM parks
WHERE ST_Contains(geom, ST_MakePoint(:lon, :lat)::geography);
-- Ensure an index: CREATE INDEX ON parks USING GIST (geom);

PostGIS provides functions for buffering, intersection, distance, and raster handling, surpassing the built‑in earth_distance extension.

10. Binary JSON with JSONB

PostgreSQL 9.5 introduced the jsonb data type, storing JSON in a binary format that supports indexing and efficient containment queries. Create a GIN index for fast look‑ups:

CREATE INDEX idx_data ON documents USING GIN (payload jsonb);
SELECT * FROM documents WHERE payload @> '{"status":"active"}';

JSONB also improves pretty‑printing in psql output.