---
layout: default
title: Limitations
nav_order: 7
---

# Limitations

## Supported PK types

The zone map tracks the first **two** PK columns. Supported types:

| Type | Zone map support |
|------|-----------------|
| int2, int4, int8 | Full |
| timestamp, timestamptz | Full |
| date | Full |
| uuid | Lossy (first 8 bytes; UUIDs sharing a prefix may not be pruned) |
| text, varchar | Lossy, requires `COLLATE "C"` (byte order must equal sort order) |

Non-C collation text/varchar columns are not tracked. The table still works
but queries on those columns will not benefit from scan pruning.

---

## Online compact/merge restrictions

`sorted_heap_compact_online` and `sorted_heap_merge_online` are **not
supported** for tables with UUID, text, or varchar primary keys. The lossy
int64 hash representation causes collisions during change replay.

Use the offline variants (`sorted_heap_compact`, `sorted_heap_merge`) instead.
See [Online Compact/Merge for Lossy PK Types](spec-online-lossy-pk) for the
future lossless replay-key contract.

---

## UPDATE behavior

UPDATE does not re-sort tuples. After many updates, the physical order may
drift from PK order. Run `sorted_heap_compact` or `sorted_heap_merge`
periodically on write-heavy tables.

### Eager vs lazy mode

By default (eager mode), every UPDATE that widens a zone map entry flushes the
meta page to disk. This keeps scan pruning accurate but adds per-UPDATE WAL
overhead (~46% of heap throughput for small-column updates).

Set `sorted_heap.lazy_update = on` to skip per-UPDATE zone map maintenance.
The first UPDATE invalidates the zone map on disk; the planner falls back to
Index Scan. Compact or merge restores zone map pruning. INSERT always uses
eager maintenance regardless of this setting.

The mode is never activated automatically -- choose it based on your workload.
See the README "UPDATE modes" section for a decision guide.

---

## Zone map validity

- After compact or rebuild, the zone map is marked **valid** and scan pruning
  is active.
- Single-row INSERTs into pages already covered by the zone map update it
  in place (pruning stays active).
- INSERTs into pages beyond zone map coverage invalidate the flag. VACUUM
  with `sorted_heap.vacuum_rebuild_zonemap = on` (default) automatically
  rebuilds it.

---

## Block range pruning

`heap_setscanlimits()` supports only **contiguous** block ranges. For
non-contiguous distributions (e.g., after many random inserts without
compaction), the scan reads intervening pages but skips tuple processing
on pages outside the bounds.

## Zone maps are not index-only scans

Zone maps store page-level min/max metadata. They let `SortedHeapScan` skip
heap pages, but they do not store row values or tuple identities and cannot
return rows without fetching heap tuples. Any future heap-fetch-avoiding path
needs either a metadata-only proof contract or a covering value-bearing sidecar.

See [Zone-Map-Only Fast Paths](spec-zone-map-only-fast-paths) for the design
boundary.

---

## `sorted_hnsw` ordered-scan contract

The current planner-integrated `sorted_hnsw` path is intentionally narrow:

- it targets base-relation `ORDER BY embedding <=> query LIMIT k`
- it is not used when there is no `LIMIT`
- it is not used when `LIMIT > sorted_hnsw.ef_search`
- it is not used when extra base-table quals or parameterization would make
  the current Phase 1 scan under-return candidates

For filtered retrieval flows, materialize/filter first or use the GraphRAG
helper/wrapper API instead of treating `sorted_hnsw` as a general filtered ANN
index.

---

## Locking

| Operation | Lock level |
|-----------|-----------|
| `sorted_heap_compact` | AccessExclusiveLock (blocks all access) |
| `sorted_heap_merge` | AccessExclusiveLock |
| `sorted_heap_compact_online` | ShareUpdateExclusiveLock during copy; brief AccessExclusiveLock for swap |
| `sorted_heap_merge_online` | Same as compact\_online |
| `sorted_heap_compact_partitions` | Calls `sorted_heap_compact` leaf-by-leaf |
| `sorted_heap_merge_partitions` | Calls `sorted_heap_merge` leaf-by-leaf |

Only one online compact/merge can run on a table at a time. A second
concurrent attempt will fail.

Partition parent helpers are operational wrappers, not global transactions:
they preflight unsupported leaves and sorted_heap leaves without primary keys,
then process concrete leaves one at a time. They reduce temporary disk-space
requirements from "whole logical table" to "current leaf rewrite", but an
individual leaf still needs rewrite headroom. If a later leaf fails, earlier
leaves are not rolled back by the helper.

Use `sorted_heap_partition_maintenance_plan(parent, operation)` before large
runs to list all blockers and estimate the current leaf rewrite headroom. The
estimate is intentionally conservative and relation-size based. The plan also
reports each leaf tablespace so operators can connect the estimate to external
tablespace/free-space monitoring; PostgreSQL does not provide a portable
SQL-level free-byte metric.

The manual smoke `make test-partition-lock` verifies the expected lock
behavior with two sessions and `lock_timeout`.

See [Huge-Table Compaction Operating Model](spec-huge-table-compaction) for the
detailed rewrite/free-space contract.

---

## Data migration

- **pg_dump / pg_restore:** the zone map needs a compact after restore to
  re-enable scan pruning.
- **pg_upgrade 16 to 18 and 17 to 18:** tested and verified. Data files
  (including zone map) are copied as-is.

Post-restore checklist:

```sql
-- Discover tables/leaves needing post-restore maintenance:
SELECT *
FROM sorted_heap_restore_plan();

-- Concrete sorted_heap table:
SELECT sorted_heap_compact('events'::regclass);

-- Partitioned parent with sorted_heap leaves:
SELECT *
FROM sorted_heap_compact_partitions('events_parent'::regclass);

-- Inspect storage state after maintenance:
SELECT *
FROM sorted_heap_partition_status('events_parent'::regclass);
```

For `sorted_hnsw`, rebuild the index/sidecar after restore. It stores physical
heap TIDs, and `pg_restore` rewrites tuples with new TIDs.

---

## ALTER TABLE

Most ALTER TABLE operations work correctly:

| Operation | Zone map impact |
|-----------|----------------|
| ADD COLUMN | No impact |
| DROP COLUMN (non-PK) | No impact |
| RENAME COLUMN | No impact (including PK columns) |
| ALTER TYPE (non-PK) | Table rewrite; compact restores zone map |
| DROP PRIMARY KEY | Disables pruning; re-add PK + compact to restore |
