AutovacuumReload, no restartdefault 1 min
autovacuum_naptime
Time to sleep between autovacuum runs.
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
How long the autovacuum launcher sleeps between rounds of checking databases. Shorter naptimes make autovacuum more responsive on rapidly-changing tables; longer ones reduce background wakeups.
When it matters
Shorten on clusters with hot tables that accumulate dead rows quickly.
| Default | 1 min |
|---|---|
| Range | 1 – 2147483 |
| Type | integer |
| Change scope | Reload, no restart |
| Category | Autovacuum |
Check the current value
SHOW autovacuum_naptime;Tradeoffs
- • Too long: dead tuples and stale stats linger between rounds.
- • Very short naptimes add background overhead on clusters with many databases.
- • Responsiveness also depends on worker count and cost settings.