Auto Indexing

Stop Guessing Which

Postgres Index to Create

Slow queries, production regressions, and manual index tuning still eat engineering time because most teams do not know which index will actually help, when it is safe to apply, or how to validate the outcome. SelfHost is planning to analyze your live workload, recommend the right indexes with expected impact, and let your team approve safe changes before performance issues turn into incidents.

Workload-aware recommendations
Approval-first rollout with safety checks
Measured before-and-after performance impact
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SelfHost
Team SelfHost April 16, 2026

30s

GitLab reported query plans taking up to 30 seconds because a functional index was missing; with the index, execution dropped to a few milliseconds

Top 25

AWS native database insights default to top-25 SQL visibility, which is useful for diagnostics but incomplete for full workload tuning

Recommend only

Most PostgreSQL and MySQL advisor products still stop at surfacing DDL recommendations instead of owning safe execution

What a missing index actually costs

The same query. The same data. The only difference is a correctly-placed index.

Sequential scan - no index
Index scan - with SelfHost
Without managed indexing 2,800ms avg

Full sequential scan across every row - grows worse as your table grows

With SelfHost index 140ms avg ▼ 20x faster

Direct index lookup - query time stays flat regardless of table size

What teams are actually fighting against

Most tools help you inspect. Very few help you decide and act safely.

Today

Existing Tools

  • Manual DBA tuning: Slow, fragmented, and hard to trust without deep provider knowledge
  • ORM and schema defaults: Cover the obvious indexes but miss the workload-specific ones that actually slow production
  • Cloud advisors and monitoring tools: surface missing-index recommendations, but usually leave validation, rollout, and rollback to your team
  • Result: Teams keep shipping slow queries because acting on index advice feels riskier than leaving it alone
Tomorrow

After SelfHost

  • Continuous workload analysis across live query patterns
  • Clear recommendation of which index to create and why it matters
  • Approval-first rollout with safety checks before apply
  • Before-and-after measurement so teams can verify impact with confidence
  • Result: A safer, faster loop from slow query to measurable fix

How SelfHost is planning to solve this

Three layers. Every recommendation must be safe, measurable, and explainable.

Layer 1 of 3

Workload-Aware Detection

Always on. No configuration needed.

  • Observe real slow queries and repeated access patterns across the workload, not just schema definitions
  • Detect where missing or duplicate index candidates are affecting production performance
  • Prioritize recommendations by likely impact, not just theoretical usefulness
Live workload contextQuery-pattern awarePrioritized by expected gain

What all is included

The full capability set, end to end.

Missing index detection
Duplicate index detection
Unused index review
Workload-aware prioritization
Approval workflow
Safety checks before apply
Before-and-after measurement
Regression detection
Index cleanup suggestions
Audit trail
Multi-database visibility
Ongoing lifecycle monitoring

Additional capabilities:

Write-overhead awarenessStorage tradeoff visibilityProduction-safe rollout guidanceReviewable change historyOngoing re-evaluation as workloads change
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Does this angle feel strong enough to pay for?

Which part is strongest: knowing which index to create, approval-first safety, or lifecycle validation after rollout?

25 votes so far

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