📖 PostgreSQL Internals Mastery Volume I is Live

I'm excited to announce that PostgreSQL Internals Mastery Volume I is now available. This is the first of a six-volume series that represents years of hands-on experience working with PostgreSQL at scale, distilled into a comprehensive guide for database professionals who need to truly understand how PostgreSQL works under the hood.

Why This Series Exists

PostgreSQL is powerful, but many engineers use it without understanding its internals. You can write queries that work, but do you understand why they're slow? You can tune parameters, but do you know what they actually control? This knowledge gap is what inspired me to write this series.

PostgreSQL Internals Mastery fills that gap by teaching you the systems-level concepts that matter for production work.

Ideal Readers

This book is written for database professionals who need to understand PostgreSQL at an architectural level:

Database Administrators (intermediate to advanced) responsible for PostgreSQL performance, reliability, and optimization
Platform Engineers designing and managing PostgreSQL infrastructure at scale
Senior Backend Developers who need to understand how their application code interacts with PostgreSQL internals
Solutions Architects making architectural decisions involving PostgreSQL deployments
Site Reliability Engineers troubleshooting PostgreSQL performance and availability issues

Prerequisites

To get the most from this book, you should have:

Working knowledge of SQL and relational database concepts
Basic PostgreSQL administration experience (installation, configuration, basic queries)
Familiarity with command-line tools and system administration
Understanding of operating system concepts (processes, memory management, file systems)

What You'll Learn

By the end of Volume 1, you'll understand:

How PostgreSQL's architecture differs from other database systems
Why PostgreSQL uses processes instead of threads and what that means for your applications
How memory is allocated and managed, and how to tune it effectively
How data is physically stored on disk and why that matters for performance
How PostgreSQL implements MVCC and why transactions behave the way they do
How the write-ahead log works and its critical role in durability and recovery

This knowledge transforms how you work with PostgreSQL—from guessing and hoping to understanding and knowing.

About This Volume

This is Volume I: Foundations & Core Concepts of the PostgreSQL Internals Mastery series. It establishes the foundation: architecture, memory management, process models, storage, transactions, and write-ahead logging—everything you need to understand how PostgreSQL works at a systems level.

The complete series includes:

Volume I: Foundations & Core Concepts (Available now)
Volume II: Concurrency & Maintenance
Volume III: Query Execution & Optimization
Volume IV: Indexes & Advanced Topics
Volume V: Case Studies & Real Scenarios

Each volume is self-contained but designed to build on previous knowledge. You can read them independently if you're already familiar with foundational concepts, but starting with Volume 1 ensures you have the complete mental model.

How to Use This Book

This book is designed to be read sequentially. Each chapter builds on concepts introduced in previous chapters:

Chapter 1 establishes PostgreSQL's overall architecture
Chapters 2-3 dive into memory and process models
Chapters 4-6 explore storage, transactions, and durability

While you can jump to specific chapters if you're already familiar with earlier concepts, I recommend at least skimming previous chapters to ensure you understand the terminology and context.

Companion Resources

This book is part of a larger ecosystem:

IQToolkit Analyzer - Open-source PostgreSQL performance analysis tool that helps you apply concepts from this book to real systems
YouTube Series - "IqToolkit: Database Intelligence" video tutorials covering Database Architecture, Management, and Performance Tuning
GitHub Repository - Example scripts, SQL samples, and additional resources

Book Details

PostgreSQL Versions: This volume covers PostgreSQL 18. The core architectural concepts remain consistent across recent PostgreSQL versions (14-18), though specific behaviors and performance characteristics may vary.

Format: Published on Leanpub, meaning you'll receive free updates as content is refined and clarifications are added based on reader feedback.

Conventions: Code and commands appear in monospace font. Bold text highlights important concepts. Diagrams illustrate architectural concepts visually. Expect plain language that keeps the essential invariants and trade-offs visible—simplicity without over-simplification.

Get Your Copy

PostgreSQL Internals Mastery Volume I is available now on Leanpub. Whether you're preparing for a critical production deployment, optimizing an existing system, or simply want to level up your PostgreSQL expertise, this book is designed to be your foundation.

Volume I focuses on the fundamentals you need before diving into advanced topics. Get this volume, build a solid mental model of how PostgreSQL works, and you'll make better decisions across your entire infrastructure.

👉 Read PostgreSQL Internals Mastery on Leanpub

Feedback & Updates

Found an error? Have a suggestion? Want to discuss a concept?

Email: gio@iqtoolkit.ai
Twitter/X: https://x.com/iqtoolkit
GitHub Issues: https://github.com/iqtoolkit/iqtoolkit-analyzer/issues
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@iqtoolkit

This book is published on Leanpub, which means you'll receive free updates as content is refined based on reader feedback.

This series is the culmination of my experience building database tools and working with teams across the industry. I hope it helps you master PostgreSQL the same way I have.

Happy reading! 📚

Tags: #PostgreSQL #DatabaseInternals #Performance #EngineersRead #DatabaseMastery #IQToolkit #Volume1