Golden Signals Overview
Golden Signals provide a high-level health check for any Postgres database. In pgpulse, we focus on the four signals that most directly impact user experience and system stability.
Understanding these signals helps you distinguish between a temporary "blip" and a systemic problem that requires intervention.
| Signal | What it means | What to check next |
|---|---|---|
| CPU & Load | Processing demand vs. capacity | Slow queries, missing indexes |
| Memory | Data caching efficiency | Buffer cache hit ratio, swap usage |
| Connections | Concurrency and limits | Connection pooling, leaking clients |
| IO & Disk | Physical storage performance | Sequential scans, autovacuum lag |
Why these four?
Postgres is a complex system, but most performance issues manifest in one of these areas. By monitoring these "Golden Signals", pgpulse can often pinpoint the root cause of a slowdown before you even start digging into logs.