Reading Postgres query plans without the stress

The goal is to answer one question: what is Postgres actually doing? Start with a baseline plan, then change one variable at a time.

The minimal checklist

• Is the query using indexes?
• Are rows being filtered early?
• Do we see huge sort or hash nodes?

EXPLAIN (ANALYZE, BUFFERS)
SELECT * FROM events WHERE workspace_id = $1 ORDER BY created_at DESC LIMIT 50;

A small habit

Write the query, capture the plan, then save the plan next to the code. Future you will thank you.