↑↓ select↵ open⌫ change scopeOpen full search

PG.CENTER connects PostgreSQL documentation, reference, and ecosystem knowledge. Maintained by Pigsty.

Wiki / Configuration Parameters

max_wal_size

Maximum size to let the WAL grow during automatic checkpoints. This is a soft limit; WAL size can exceed max_wal_size under special circumstances, such as heavy load, a failing archive_command or archive_library, or a high wal_keep_size setting. If this value is specified without units, it is taken as megabytes. The default is 1 GB. Increasing this parameter can increase the amount of time needed for crash recovery. This parameter can only be set in the postgresql.conf file or on the server command line.

English manual coverage begins with PostgreSQL 7.4. Source history and runtime observations have their own recorded version boundaries.

Reading PG 18·Select a recorded version

boot val
1024
category
Write-Ahead Log / Checkpoints
context
sighup
documented
true
enumvals
Unknown
extra desc
Unknown
lang
en
max val
2147483647
metadata version
18
min val
2
name
max_wal_size
short desc
Sets the WAL size that triggers a checkpoint.
source
pg-settings-source-snapshot
unit
MB
vartype
integer

Definition PG 18

Maximum size to let the WAL grow during automatic checkpoints. This is a soft limit; WAL size can exceed max_wal_size under special circumstances, such as heavy load, a failing archive_command or archive_library, or a high wal_keep_size setting. If this value is specified without units, it is taken as megabytes. The default is 1 GB. Increasing this parameter can increase the amount of time needed for crash recovery. This parameter can only be set in the postgresql.conf file or on the server command line.

Compare versions

Source references

Full definition and evidence JSON

Definition sources

center · PostgreSQL 18 · wiki-repair-20261023:f75ba950e7fb695e185ab5c2220427fdf041b3e0d44c4d6631f3f0a9c487e150

Text language: en · wiki-repair-20261023:f75ba950e7fb695e185ab5c2220427fdf041b3e0d44c4d6631f3f0a9c487e150