TimescaleDB Memory Tuning: shared_buffers, work_mem, and Chunk Sizing

TimescaleDB Memory Tuning: shared_buffers, work_mem, and Chunk Sizing PostgreSQL memory tuning advice is everywhere: set shared_buffers to 25% of RAM, bump work_mem , set effective_cache_size to 75%. That advice is fine for vanilla PostgreSQL. For TimescaleDB, it is incomplete. The chunk-based architecture introduces a constraint that generic PostgreSQL tuning guides never mention: the relationship between chunk sizes and buffer cache capacity. If your active chunks do not fit in shared_buffers , every other tuning parameter is fighting an uphill battle. This guide covers the four memory settings that matter for TimescaleDB and the chunk sizing math that ties them together. shared_buffers and the Chunk Size Constraint shared_buffers is PostgreSQL's dedicated buffer cache -- the shared memory region where table and index pages are cached to avoid disk reads. The standard 25% of system RAM recommendation (4 GB on a 16 GB server) holds for TimescaleDB, but you need to add a constraint: yo