AutovacuumReload, no restartdefault on
autovacuum
Starts the autovacuum subprocess.
How you change it
Reload, no restart
Defaults and ranges on this page were read from pg_settings on live PostgreSQL 18.4. Treat older majors as needing their own check before you copy a value.
What this means
The master switch for the autovacuum daemon, which reclaims dead tuples and refreshes planner statistics automatically. Turning it off is almost always a mistake -- without it, tables bloat and transaction-id wraparound eventually threatens the whole cluster.
When it matters
Keep it on. Tune the per-table thresholds instead of disabling it.
| Default | on |
|---|---|
| Type | bool |
| Change scope | Reload, no restart |
| Category | Autovacuum |
Check the current value
SHOW autovacuum;Tradeoffs
- • Off leads to unbounded bloat and, eventually, wraparound-protection shutdowns.
- • Even with it 'off', emergency anti-wraparound vacuums still run to protect the cluster.
- • The right move for hot tables is more aggressive settings, not disabling autovacuum.