Query Optimizer

Query Optimizer

Optimize SQL queries for better performance through indexing, rewriting, and analysis.

Quick Start

Use EXPLAIN to analyze queries, add indexes on WHERE/JOIN columns, avoid SELECT *, limit results.

Instructions

Query Analysis with EXPLAIN

Basic EXPLAIN:

EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = 'user@example.com';

EXPLAIN ANALYZE (actual execution):

EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = 'user@example.com';

Key metrics to check:

• Seq Scan (bad) vs Index Scan (good)
• Rows: Estimated vs actual
• Cost: Lower is better
• Execution time

Common Performance Issues

1. Missing Indexes

Problem:

-- Seq Scan on users (cost=0.00..1234.56)
SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = 'user@example.com';

Solution:

CREATE INDEX idx_users_email ON users(email);
-- Now: Index Scan using idx_users_email

2. SELECT *

Problem:

SELECT * FROM posts;  -- Fetches all columns

Solution:

SELECT id, title, created_at FROM posts;  -- Only needed columns

3. N+1 Queries

Problem:

-- Fetches posts
SELECT * FROM posts;
-- Then for each post:
SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?;

Solution:

-- Single query with JOIN
SELECT posts.*, users.name 
FROM posts 
JOIN users ON posts.user_id = users.id;

4. No LIMIT

Problem:

SELECT * FROM posts ORDER BY created_at DESC;  -- Returns all rows

Solution:

SELECT * FROM posts ORDER BY created_at DESC LIMIT 20;

Indexing Strategies

Single column index:

CREATE INDEX idx_users_email ON users(email);

Composite index (order matters):

-- For: WHERE user_id = ? AND created_at > ?
CREATE INDEX idx_posts_user_created ON posts(user_id, created_at);

Covering index (includes all needed columns):

-- For: SELECT id, title FROM posts WHERE user_id = ?
CREATE INDEX idx_posts_user_id_title ON posts(user_id) INCLUDE (title);

Partial index (filtered):

CREATE INDEX idx_active_users ON users(email) WHERE is_active = true;

Index on expressions:

CREATE INDEX idx_users_lower_email ON users(LOWER(email));
-- For: WHERE LOWER(email) = 'user@example.com'

Query Rewriting

Use EXISTS instead of IN for large sets:

-- Slow
SELECT * FROM users WHERE id IN (SELECT user_id FROM posts);

-- Faster
SELECT * FROM users u WHERE EXISTS (
    SELECT 1 FROM posts p WHERE p.user_id = u.id
);

Use JOIN instead of subquery:

-- Slow
SELECT * FROM posts WHERE user_id IN (
    SELECT id FROM users WHERE is_active = true
);

-- Faster
SELECT p.* FROM posts p
JOIN users u ON p.user_id = u.id
WHERE u.is_active = true;

Avoid functions on indexed columns:

-- Bad: Can't use index
SELECT * FROM users WHERE YEAR(created_at) = 2024;

-- Good: Can use index
SELECT * FROM users 
WHERE created_at >= '2024-01-01' 
AND created_at  '2024-01-01';

-- Good: Filter first
SELECT * FROM posts p
WHERE p.created_at > '2024-01-01'
JOIN users u ON p.user_id = u.id;

Use appropriate JOIN type:

-- INNER JOIN: Only matching rows
SELECT * FROM posts p
INNER JOIN users u ON p.user_id = u.id;

-- LEFT JOIN: All posts, even without user
SELECT * FROM posts p
LEFT JOIN users u ON p.user_id = u.id;

Index JOIN columns:

CREATE INDEX idx_posts_user_id ON posts(user_id);
CREATE INDEX idx_users_id ON users(id);  -- Usually PK already indexed

Pagination Optimization

Offset pagination (slow for large offsets):

-- Slow for page 1000
SELECT * FROM posts 
ORDER BY created_at DESC 
LIMIT 20 OFFSET 20000;

Cursor pagination (faster):

-- First page
SELECT * FROM posts 
ORDER BY created_at DESC, id DESC 
LIMIT 20;

-- Next page (using last created_at and id)
SELECT * FROM posts 
WHERE (created_at, id)  '2024-01-01'
GROUP BY user_id;

Use HAVING for aggregate filters:

SELECT user_id, COUNT(*) as post_count
FROM posts 
GROUP BY user_id
HAVING COUNT(*) > 10;

Subquery Optimization

Correlated subqueries (slow):

-- Bad: Runs subquery for each row
SELECT * FROM users u
WHERE (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM posts WHERE user_id = u.id) > 10;

JOIN instead:

-- Good: Single query
SELECT u.* FROM users u
JOIN (
    SELECT user_id, COUNT(*) as post_count
    FROM posts
    GROUP BY user_id
    HAVING COUNT(*) > 10
) p ON u.id = p.user_id;

Caching Strategies

Materialized views:

CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW user_post_counts AS
SELECT user_id, COUNT(*) as post_count
FROM posts
GROUP BY user_id;

-- Refresh periodically
REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW user_post_counts;

Query result caching (application level):

# Cache expensive queries
@cache(ttl=300)
def get_popular_posts():
    return db.query("SELECT * FROM posts ORDER BY views DESC LIMIT 10")

Common Patterns

Full-text Search

PostgreSQL:

-- Add tsvector column
ALTER TABLE posts ADD COLUMN search_vector tsvector;

-- Update with trigger
CREATE INDEX idx_posts_search ON posts USING GIN(search_vector);

-- Search
SELECT * FROM posts 
WHERE search_vector @@ to_tsquery('postgresql & optimization');

Use dedicated search engine for complex needs:

• Elasticsearch
• Algolia
• Meilisearch

Batch Operations

Bulk insert:

-- Bad: Multiple inserts
INSERT INTO users (name) VALUES ('User 1');
INSERT INTO users (name) VALUES ('User 2');

-- Good: Single insert
INSERT INTO users (name) VALUES 
('User 1'),
('User 2'),
('User 3');

Bulk update:

-- Use CASE for conditional updates
UPDATE posts 
SET status = CASE 
    WHEN views > 1000 THEN 'popular'
    WHEN views > 100 THEN 'normal'
    ELSE 'new'
END;

Connection Pooling

# Use connection pool
from sqlalchemy import create_engine

engine = create_engine(
    'postgresql://user:pass@localhost/db',
    pool_size=20,
    max_overflow=10
)

Performance Monitoring

Check slow queries:

-- PostgreSQL: Enable slow query log
ALTER DATABASE mydb SET log_min_duration_statement = 1000;  -- 1 second

-- View pg_stat_statements
SELECT query, calls, total_time, mean_time
FROM pg_stat_statements
ORDER BY mean_time DESC
LIMIT 10;

Check index usage:

SELECT 
    schemaname,
    tablename,
    indexname,
    idx_scan,
    idx_tup_read,
    idx_tup_fetch
FROM pg_stat_user_indexes
WHERE idx_scan = 0  -- Unused indexes
ORDER BY pg_relation_size(indexrelid) DESC;

Check table statistics:

SELECT 
    schemaname,
    tablename,
    seq_scan,
    seq_tup_read,
    idx_scan,
    idx_tup_fetch
FROM pg_stat_user_tables
ORDER BY seq_scan DESC;

Best Practices

Always:

• Use EXPLAIN ANALYZE for slow queries
• Index foreign keys
• Index WHERE/JOIN columns
• Limit result sets
• Use prepared statements

Avoid:

• SELECT *
• Functions on indexed columns in WHERE
• Correlated subqueries
• Large OFFSET values
• Over-indexing

Monitor:

• Slow query log
• Index usage
• Table statistics
• Connection pool

Troubleshooting

Query still slow after indexing:

• Check if index is being used (EXPLAIN)
• Verify index column order for composite indexes
• Consider covering index
• Check for stale statistics (ANALYZE table)

Too many indexes:

• Remove unused indexes
• Combine similar indexes
• Monitor write performance

High memory usage:

• Reduce work_mem
• Optimize sort operations
• Use streaming instead of loading all data

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: armanzeroeight
• Source: armanzeroeight/fastagent-plugins
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.