PostgreSQL invalid indexes from failed CONCURRENTLY builds
Parent: Resumable index builds · Published reference · snapshot 2026-10-30
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Source-anchored research for PostgreSQL invalid indexes from failed CONCURRENTLY builds. Run status: COMPLETED.
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Definitions
- Inspect pg_index.indisvalid for query eligibility and indisready for INSERT/UPDATE maintenance; indisready=false means writes ignore the index, so invalid does not imply one universal maintenance state. (low confidence) [source]
Problems, failure modes and limitations
- Deadlocks or uniqueness errors during concurrent scanning can leave invalid indexes that queries cannot use; pganalyze independently documents failed or aborted concurrent builds as a typical cause. (high confidence) [source]
- A unique concurrent build starts enforcing uniqueness during its second scan; failure there can leave uniqueness enforcement active even though queries cannot use the index. (medium confidence) [source]
- Blind retries can fail with relation already exists; IF NOT EXISTS only checks name existence and cannot establish that the existing index is usable or matches the intended definition. (medium confidence) [source]
- A running concurrent build is initially invalid too; indisvalid=false alone cannot establish that creation has failed. (medium confidence) [source]
Comparisons and alternatives
- Concurrent creation uses multiple transactions; cancellation after catalog creation can leave an INVALID index, unlike an aborted ordinary build. (medium confidence) [source]
Facts and statements
- Invalid artifacts can occupy disk and incur write maintenance despite providing no query acceleration; dbi demonstrates a sequential scan and subsequent index growth. (high confidence) [source]
- Drop and recreate a failed index, or use REINDEX INDEX CONCURRENTLY; the latter is the REINDEX form that can concurrently rebuild an invalid index. (medium confidence) [source]
- After failed concurrent reindexing, an INVALID _ccnew artifact represents the unfinished replacement; drop it and retry. An INVALID _ccold artifact is the old index left after successful rebuilding; drop it. Numeric suffixes may follow these names. (low confidence) [source]
Children
- PostgreSQL pg_index validity and readiness (frontier)
- Failed concurrent unique index enforcement (frontier)
- Concurrent REINDEX artifact recovery (frontier)
Frontier under this node: Concurrent REINDEX artifact recovery, Failed concurrent unique index enforcement, PostgreSQL pg_index validity and readiness