---
id: 'pg_repack'
title: 'pg_repack: Physical storage optimization and maintenance'
description: 'A tool to remove bloat from tables and indexes and optimize physical data order and physical storage'
---

[pg_repack](https://github.com/reorg/pg_repack) is a Postgres extension to remove bloat from tables and indexes, and optionally restore the physical order of clustered indexes. Unlike CLUSTER and VACUUM FULL, pg_repack runs "online" and does not hold a exclusive locks on the processed tables that could prevent ongoing database operations. pg_repack's efficiency is comparable to using CLUSTER directly.

pg_repack provides the following methods to optimize physical storage:

- Online CLUSTER: ordering table data by cluster index in a non-blocking way
- Ordering table data by specified columns
- Online VACUUM FULL: packing rows only in a non-blocking way
- Rebuild or relocate only the indexes of a table

pg_repack has 2 components, the database extension and a client-side CLI to control it.

## Requirements

- A target table must have a PRIMARY KEY, or a UNIQUE total index on a NOT NULL column.
- Performing a full-table repack requires free disk space about twice as large as the target table and its indexes.

pg_repack requires the Postgres superuser role by default. That role is not available to users on the Supabase platform. To avoid that requirement, use the `-k` or `--no-superuser-check` flags on every `pg_repack` CLI command.

The first version of pg_repack with full support for non-superuser repacking is 1.5.2. You can check the version installed on your Supabase instance using

```sql
select default_version
from pg_available_extensions
where name = 'pg_repack';
```

If pg_repack is not present, or the version is < 1.5.2, [upgrade to the latest version](/docs/guides/platform/upgrading) of Supabase to gain access.

## Usage

### Enable the extension

Get started with pg_repack by enabling the extension in the Supabase Dashboard.

<Tabs
  scrollable
  size="small"
  type="underlined"
  defaultActiveId="dashboard"
  queryGroup="database-method"
>
<TabPanel id="dashboard" label="Dashboard">

1. Go to the [Database](/dashboard/project/_/database/tables) page in the Dashboard.
2. Click on **Extensions** in the sidebar.
3. Search for "pg_repack" and enable the extension.

</TabPanel>
<TabPanel id="sql" label="SQL">

{/* prettier-ignore */}
```sql
-- Example: enable the "pg_repack" extension
create extension pg_repack with schema extensions;
```

</TabPanel>
</Tabs>

### Install the CLI

Select an option from the pg_repack docs to [install the client CLI](https://reorg.github.io/pg_repack/#download).

### Syntax

All pg_repack commands should include the `-k` flag to skip the client-side superuser check.

{/* prettier-ignore */}
```sh
pg_repack -k [OPTION]... [DBNAME]
```

## Example

Perform an online `VACUUM FULL` on the tables `public.foo` and `public.bar` in the database `postgres`:

{/* prettier-ignore */}
```sh
pg_repack -k -h db.<PROJECT_REF>.supabase.co -p 5432 -U postgres -d postgres --no-order --table public.foo --table public.bar
```

See the [official pg_repack documentation](https://reorg.github.io/pg_repack/) for the full list of options.

## Limitations

- pg_repack cannot reorganize temporary tables.
- pg_repack cannot cluster tables by GiST indexes.
- You cannot perform DDL commands of the target tables except VACUUM or ANALYZE while pg_repack is working.
  pg_repack holds an ACCESS SHARE lock on the target table to enforce this restriction.

## Resources

- [Official pg_repack documentation](https://reorg.github.io/pg_repack/)
