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Database

PostgreSQL database connection and pool configuration.

Collation guidance:

Choose the database collation before the first Identity Scribe startup and keep it identical across production, standby, and restore environments. Multilingual deployments should use stable Unicode ordering. ASCII-only, performance-focused deployments can use byte-wise ordering when that matches the directory data and operator expectations.

Changing collation after data exists requires a database rebuild and full resync; do not switch it in place.

Connection pool architecture

Identity Scribe uses three separate connection pools to isolate different workloads:

  • Batch pool - Used by: Transcription tasks (main workload) - Size: Configured via max-pool-size (default: concurrency + 5, max: concurrency * 1.5) - Each transcription task uses one connection for its lifetime

  • System pool - Used by: System-level operations (commit coordination, migrations, maintenance, entry preparation) - Size: Configurable via system-pool-size (optional) - Default: max(transcribeCount + 4, concurrency / 4), clamped between 2 and max-pool-size / 2 - Scales with both number of transcribes and concurrency level - Isolates system operations from transcription tasks

  • Channel pool - Used by: LDAP channel services (IdentityHub, LDAP channels) - Size: Configurable via channel-pool-size (optional) - Default: concurrency, minimum 2 - Can experience heavy LDAP traffic with multiple channels - Isolates channel operations from batch and commit workloads

Total maximum connections (when all pools are fully utilized): = Batch Pool + System Pool + Channel Pool = max-pool-size + system-pool-size + channel-pool-size

Example with default settings (concurrency = 16, 2 transcribes):

  • Batch Pool: 16 + 5 = 21 connections (default max-pool-size)
  • System Pool: max(2 + 4, 16/4) = max(6, 4) = 6 connections
  • Channel Pool: 16 connections
  • Total Maximum: 21 + 6 + 16 = 43 connections

Example with max-pool-size explicitly set to 50 (concurrency = 16, 2 transcribes):

  • Batch Pool: 50 connections
  • System Pool: max(2 + 4, 16/4) = 6 connections (capped at 50/2 = 25)
  • Channel Pool: 16 connections
  • Total Maximum: 50 + 6 + 16 = 72 connections

Tuning guidelines:

  • Monitor pool metrics: Track scribe_db_connections_active, scribe_db_connections_pending,

and scribe_db_pool_pressure

  • Signs of under-sizing: If pending connections are consistently non-zero or pool pressure

stays above 0.8, consider increasing pool size

  • Signs of over-sizing: If active connections remain far below the configured total while

PostgreSQL connection headroom is scarce, consider reducing pool size

  • High concurrency workloads: Many more tasks can be queued than

concurrency, but each task still uses one connection. Monitor actual connection utilization rather than task count.

Connection Pools

Three pools for different workloads

PostgreSQL max_connections: 100
Batch 4
  • Ingest
  • Index builds
  • Maintenance
System 4
  • Startup
  • Health checks
  • Background tasks
Channel 16
  • REST queries
  • GraphQL
  • LDAP search
Total: 4 + 4 + 16 = 24 connections

database.auto-create-query-stats-extension

Section titled “database.auto-create-query-stats-extension”

Auto-create the pg_stat_statements extension at startup so the observe Queries tabs (Slow Log / Stats) and the /observe/stats/queries endpoint have data.

Requires both:

  • 'pg_stat_statements' in PostgreSQL's shared_preload_libraries (a server restart), and
  • a database role permitted to install extensions.

When the library is not preloaded, creation is skipped with an actionable log line — query statistics simply stay unavailable and startup is never blocked.

Values: true | false | auto. "auto" enables it in development and disables it everywhere else,

so dev and staging can opt in while production stays untouched until you have assessed the impact.

Default: auto

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_AUTO_CREATE_QUERY_STATS_EXTENSION > config

auto-create-query-stats-extension = auto
PropertyValue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_AUTO_CREATE_QUERY_STATS_EXTENSION (optional)
database.auto-create-query-stats-extension = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_AUTO_CREATE_QUERY_STATS_EXTENSION}

Size of the channel connection pool. This pool handles LDAP channel operations (IdentityHub, LDAP channels).

Default: concurrency

Minimum: 2

Channels can experience heavy LDAP traffic, especially with multiple active channels. Increase for high-throughput read-heavy workloads.

Example: With concurrency = 16:

Default = 16 connections

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_CHANNEL_POOL_SIZE > config

PropertyValue
Defaultconcurrency
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_CHANNEL_POOL_SIZE (optional)
database.channel-pool-size = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_CHANNEL_POOL_SIZE}

Connection Hints (channel query defaults)

Session-level hints applied to channel queries (REST, LDAP, GraphQL, gRPC). All keys are unset by default (PostgreSQL defaults apply). Channels can override these defaults in their own connection-hints section.

These hints control PostgreSQL session parameters for query execution. They are applied when opening a connection and restored when the query completes.

Lock acquisition timeout.

PostgreSQL will abort any statement that waits longer than this for a lock. Format: HOCON duration (e.g., 5s, 30s, 1m)

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_LOCK_TIMEOUT > config

PropertyValue
Defaultnull
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_LOCK_TIMEOUT (optional)
database.connection-hints.lock-timeout = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_LOCK_TIMEOUT}

Advanced PostgreSQL execution settings applied to every query connection. Shape: typed object (changed in v3.0). Change these only when Kenoxa support asks for them. Omitted keys fall back to the recommended default for the current PostgreSQL version.

These values are applied automatically on all query connections. Setting them server-level in postgresql.conf avoids per-connection overhead; the keys here are exposed for targeted overrides only.

database.connection-hints.session-flags.cursor-tuple-fraction

Section titled “database.connection-hints.session-flags.cursor-tuple-fraction”

Fast-start bias for cursor execution.

PropertyValue
Default0.01
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_CURSOR_TUPLE_FRACTION (optional)
database.connection-hints.session-flags.cursor-tuple-fraction = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_CURSOR_TUPLE_FRACTION}

database.connection-hints.session-flags.effective-io-concurrency

Section titled “database.connection-hints.session-flags.effective-io-concurrency”

Effective I/O concurrency. Accepts ssd (=128), hdd (=2), or a raw integer.

PropertyValue
Default"ssd"
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_EFFECTIVE_IO_CONCURRENCY (optional)
database.connection-hints.session-flags.effective-io-concurrency = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_EFFECTIVE_IO_CONCURRENCY}

database.connection-hints.session-flags.hash-mem-multiplier

Section titled “database.connection-hints.session-flags.hash-mem-multiplier”

Pinned to PostgreSQL 17 default to prevent excessive memory use on cursor and sort workloads. Higher values can cause hash operations to spill to disk, degrading performance.

PropertyValue
Default2.0
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_HASH_MEM_MULTIPLIER (optional)
database.connection-hints.session-flags.hash-mem-multiplier = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_HASH_MEM_MULTIPLIER}

database.connection-hints.session-flags.jit

Section titled “database.connection-hints.session-flags.jit”

PG JIT compilation.

PropertyValue
Defaultfalse
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_JIT (optional)
database.connection-hints.session-flags.jit = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_JIT}

database.connection-hints.session-flags.partitionwise-aggregate

Section titled “database.connection-hints.session-flags.partitionwise-aggregate”

Partition-wise aggregate planning.

PropertyValue
Defaulttrue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_PARTITIONWISE_AGGREGATE (optional)
database.connection-hints.session-flags.partitionwise-aggregate = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_PARTITIONWISE_AGGREGATE}

database.connection-hints.session-flags.partitionwise-join

Section titled “database.connection-hints.session-flags.partitionwise-join”

Partition-wise join planning.

PropertyValue
Defaulttrue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_PARTITIONWISE_JOIN (optional)
database.connection-hints.session-flags.partitionwise-join = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_PARTITIONWISE_JOIN}

database.connection-hints.session-flags.plan-cache-mode

Section titled “database.connection-hints.session-flags.plan-cache-mode”

Prepared-statement planning mode. Change only when Kenoxa support asks for it. Values: auto, force_custom_plan, force_generic_plan.

PropertyValue
Default"force_generic_plan"
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_PLAN_CACHE_MODE (optional)
database.connection-hints.session-flags.plan-cache-mode = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_PLAN_CACHE_MODE}

database.connection-hints.session-flags.random-page-cost

Section titled “database.connection-hints.session-flags.random-page-cost”

Random page cost. Accepts ssd (=1.1), hdd (=4.0), or a raw number.

PropertyValue
Default"ssd"
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_RANDOM_PAGE_COST (optional)
database.connection-hints.session-flags.random-page-cost = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_RANDOM_PAGE_COST}

database.connection-hints.session-flags.work-mem

Section titled “database.connection-hints.session-flags.work-mem”

PostgreSQL memory size for sort/hash operations.

Units: B, kB, MB, GB, TB.

PropertyValue
Default16MB
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_WORK_MEM (optional)
database.connection-hints.session-flags.work-mem = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SESSION_FLAGS_WORK_MEM}

database.connection-hints.statement-timeout

Section titled “database.connection-hints.statement-timeout”

Statement execution timeout (prevents runaway queries). PostgreSQL will abort any statement that takes longer than this duration. Format: HOCON duration (e.g., 30s, 1m, 500ms)

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_STATEMENT_TIMEOUT > config

PropertyValue
Defaultnull
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_STATEMENT_TIMEOUT (optional)
database.connection-hints.statement-timeout = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_STATEMENT_TIMEOUT}

database.continuation.eligibility.allow-conservative-estimates

Section titled “database.continuation.eligibility.allow-conservative-estimates”

Allows conservative estimates for predicates without exact row-count support.

PropertyValue
Defaulttrue
database.continuation.eligibility.allow-conservative-estimates = true

database.continuation.eligibility.require-selective-predicate

Section titled “database.continuation.eligibility.require-selective-predicate”

Requires at least one selective predicate before continuation safeguards can engage.

PropertyValue
Defaulttrue
database.continuation.eligibility.require-selective-predicate = true

Enables additional safety limits for selected paginated queries. When enabled, selected paginated queries keep per-query work within the configured limits while preserving normal cursor and size-limit semantics.

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_ENABLED > config

PropertyValue
Defaulttrue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_ENABLED (optional)
database.continuation.enabled = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_ENABLED}

Sets safety limits for qualifying paginated queries. These values do not change public page-size semantics.

database.continuation.window.absolute-scan-cap

Section titled “database.continuation.window.absolute-scan-cap”

Absolute safety cap for qualifying paginated queries. Keep this at or above max-candidates. The default allows a bounded cushion above the per-window maximum for guarded paginated reads that need it.

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_WINDOW_ABSOLUTE_SCAN_CAP > config

PropertyValue
Default12288
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_WINDOW_ABSOLUTE_SCAN_CAP (optional)
database.continuation.window.absolute-scan-cap = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_WINDOW_ABSOLUTE_SCAN_CAP}

database.continuation.window.max-candidates

Section titled “database.continuation.window.max-candidates”

Maximum safety limit for qualifying paginated queries. The default is 32 times the minimum safety limit.

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_WINDOW_MAX_CANDIDATES > config

PropertyValue
Default8192
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_WINDOW_MAX_CANDIDATES (optional)
database.continuation.window.max-candidates = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_WINDOW_MAX_CANDIDATES}

database.continuation.window.min-candidates

Section titled “database.continuation.window.min-candidates”

Minimum safety limit for qualifying paginated queries. The effective limit also honors the requested page size.

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_WINDOW_MIN_CANDIDATES > config

PropertyValue
Default256
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_WINDOW_MIN_CANDIDATES (optional)
database.continuation.window.min-candidates = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_WINDOW_MIN_CANDIDATES}

database.continuation.window.min-limit-multiple

Section titled “database.continuation.window.min-limit-multiple”

Minimum safety-limit multiplier relative to the requested page size.

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_WINDOW_MIN_LIMIT_MULTIPLE > config

PropertyValue
Default16
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_WINDOW_MIN_LIMIT_MULTIPLE (optional)
database.continuation.window.min-limit-multiple = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_WINDOW_MIN_LIMIT_MULTIPLE}

database.continuation.window.safety-factor

Section titled “database.continuation.window.safety-factor”

Safety factor used when setting limits for eligible queries.

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_WINDOW_SAFETY_FACTOR > config

PropertyValue
Default2.0
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_WINDOW_SAFETY_FACTOR (optional)
database.continuation.window.safety-factor = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_CONTINUATION_WINDOW_SAFETY_FACTOR}

database.filter-selectivity.churn-budget-ratio

Section titled “database.filter-selectivity.churn-budget-ratio”

Fraction of rows modified since the last statistics refresh that also triggers a background refresh, regardless of age. A value of 0.01 means that 1 % row churn is enough to mark the cached statistics as stale.

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_FILTER_SELECTIVITY_CHURN_BUDGET_RATIO > config

PropertyValue
Default0.01
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_FILTER_SELECTIVITY_CHURN_BUDGET_RATIO (optional)
database.filter-selectivity.churn-budget-ratio = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_FILTER_SELECTIVITY_CHURN_BUDGET_RATIO}

database.filter-selectivity.plan-mode-enabled

Section titled “database.filter-selectivity.plan-mode-enabled”

Whether the server may switch individual queries to an alternative query-planning mode when it predicts the standard mode would be slow for heavily skewed data distributions. Applies per query; all other queries are unaffected. Disable to turn the optimisation off without restarting.

Default: true

See also: database.plan-mode-learning — complementary self-tuning that optimises queries based on observed latency.

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_FILTER_SELECTIVITY_PLAN_MODE_ENABLED > config

PropertyValue
Defaulttrue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_FILTER_SELECTIVITY_PLAN_MODE_ENABLED (optional)
database.filter-selectivity.plan-mode-enabled = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_FILTER_SELECTIVITY_PLAN_MODE_ENABLED}

database.filter-selectivity.plan-mode-pin-margin

Section titled “database.filter-selectivity.plan-mode-pin-margin”

How strongly a query must be predicted to benefit before the alternative planning mode is applied. Must be >= 1.0; higher values restrict the optimisation to the most heavily skewed queries. Increase if the optimisation engages for queries that do not benefit from it.

Default: 2.0

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_FILTER_SELECTIVITY_PLAN_MODE_PIN_MARGIN > config

PropertyValue
Default2.0
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_FILTER_SELECTIVITY_PLAN_MODE_PIN_MARGIN (optional)
database.filter-selectivity.plan-mode-pin-margin = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_FILTER_SELECTIVITY_PLAN_MODE_PIN_MARGIN}

database.filter-selectivity.refresh-timeout

Section titled “database.filter-selectivity.refresh-timeout”

Maximum time allowed for a background statistics query. If the query does not complete within this budget the server uses conservative handling for that request and retries on the next query.

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_FILTER_SELECTIVITY_REFRESH_TIMEOUT > config

PropertyValue
Default10ms
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_FILTER_SELECTIVITY_REFRESH_TIMEOUT (optional)
database.filter-selectivity.refresh-timeout = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_FILTER_SELECTIVITY_REFRESH_TIMEOUT}

database.filter-selectivity.stale-age-horizon

Section titled “database.filter-selectivity.stale-age-horizon”

Age after which cached attribute statistics are considered stale and refreshed in the background. Stale statistics are still served immediately while the refresh runs asynchronously.

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_FILTER_SELECTIVITY_STALE_AGE_HORIZON > config

PropertyValue
Default24h
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_FILTER_SELECTIVITY_STALE_AGE_HORIZON (optional)
database.filter-selectivity.stale-age-horizon = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_FILTER_SELECTIVITY_STALE_AGE_HORIZON}

Maintenance scheduling for tasks like vacuuming, re-indexing, etc.

Define a cron expression (unix cron format) to run the maintenance task at a specific time Default not set, eg no cron window

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_CRON > config

cron = '0 5 * * *' # 5am daily

PropertyValue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_CRON (optional)
database.maintenance.cron = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_CRON}

If enabled, maintenance tasks will be scheduled Defaults to enabled unless readonly is set to true

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_ENABLED > config

PropertyValue
Defaulttrue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_ENABLED (optional)
database.maintenance.enabled = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_ENABLED}

Used after interval, to check if system is idle enough to run maintenance Only a well-known set of threshold metrics is supported (no labels/selectors):

  • scribe_ingest_tasks_active
  • scribe_ingest_task_pressure
  • scribe_ingest_queue_pressure
  • scribe_db_connections_active
  • scribe_ldap_connections_active
  • scribe_query_permit_pressure

Arbitrary metric names are NOT supported. These values are queried directly from internal metrics (not Prometheus).

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_HARD_THRESHOLDS > config

The default threshold is computed from the total configured database pool size. It is more permissive than the soft threshold, so delayed maintenance can still run under moderate load.

PropertyValue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_HARD_THRESHOLDS (optional)
database.maintenance.hard-thresholds = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_HARD_THRESHOLDS}

Runs based on system load metrics, at least every 36 hours The default value for interval is 36 hours, if no interval or cron is set

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_INTERVAL > config

PropertyValue
Default36 hours
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_INTERVAL (optional)
database.maintenance.interval = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_INTERVAL}

Used after half of interval, to check if system is idle enough to run maintenance Only a well-known set of threshold metrics is supported (no labels/selectors):

  • scribe_ingest_tasks_active
  • scribe_ingest_task_pressure
  • scribe_ingest_queue_pressure
  • scribe_db_connections_active
  • scribe_ldap_connections_active
  • scribe_query_permit_pressure

Arbitrary metric names are NOT supported. These values are queried directly from internal metrics (not Prometheus).

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_SOFT_THRESHOLDS > config

The default threshold is computed from the total configured database pool size. Lower active-connection counts are treated as idle enough to run the early maintenance pass.

PropertyValue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_SOFT_THRESHOLDS (optional)
database.maintenance.soft-thresholds = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_SOFT_THRESHOLDS}

database.maintenance.statistics-target-ratio

Section titled “database.maintenance.statistics-target-ratio”

Ratio applied to the directory size estimate to dynamically compute the PostgreSQL statistics target before each maintenance refresh. Computation: target = max(100, min(10000, ceil(estimated_entries * ratio))) Set to 0 or leave absent to disable the dynamic target (skip SET entirely).

Default: 0.00005 (5e-5), which yields targets of ~100–1,000 for directories

with 2M–20M entries.

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_STATISTICS_TARGET_RATIO > config

The maintenance task also keeps supporting range-summary statistics at the computed level. Stable statistics reduce estimate drift between maintenance windows and keep range and contains searches consistent.

PropertyValue
Default0.00005
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_STATISTICS_TARGET_RATIO (optional)
database.maintenance.statistics-target-ratio = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_MAINTENANCE_STATISTICS_TARGET_RATIO}

Maximum size of the batch connection pool. This pool is used by transcription tasks - each task uses one connection for its lifetime.

Default: concurrency + 5

Minimum: 5

Maximum: concurrency * 1.5 (rounded up) When setting this value, remember that the total connection count includes:

  • This batch pool (max-pool-size)
  • System pool (configurable via system-pool-size, default: max(transcribeCount + 4, concurrency / 4))
  • Channel pool (configurable via channel-pool-size, default: concurrency)

Example: With max-pool-size = 50, concurrency = 16, and 2 transcribes:

Total max connections = 50 (batch) + 6 (system) + 16 (channel) = 72 connections

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_MAX_POOL_SIZE > config

PropertyValue
Defaultconcurrency + 5
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_MAX_POOL_SIZE (optional)
database.max-pool-size = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_MAX_POOL_SIZE}

What to do when transcribe types are found in the database but not in the current config. Orphaned types have data in the entries table but no matching entry in the transcribes configuration block. Values: warn — (default) log a startup warning listing the orphaned types; continue normally. error — abort startup with an error message; requires cleanup or re-addition of the type. ignore — silently skip the check; preserves the pre-3.x behavior.

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_ORPHANED_TRANSCRIBES_BEHAVIOR > config

PropertyValue
Default"warn"
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_ORPHANED_TRANSCRIBES_BEHAVIOR (optional)
database.orphaned-transcribes-behavior = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_ORPHANED_TRANSCRIBES_BEHAVIOR}

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PASSWORD > config

PropertyValue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PASSWORD (optional)
database.password = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PASSWORD}

Self-tuning query planning for slow queries. The server observes slow queries in live traffic, verifies in the background whether an alternative planning mode is consistently faster for them, and adopts it where the improvement is confirmed. Adopted decisions are persisted across restarts and re-validated periodically. See also: filter-selectivity plan-mode-enabled / plan-mode-pin-margin — predictive counterpart that optimises queries before they ever run slow.

database.plan-mode-learning.confirm-cooldown

Section titled “database.plan-mode-learning.confirm-cooldown”

How long verification for a query pattern remains suspended after confirm-failure-threshold consecutive failures. Lower for faster recovery once a database issue is resolved.

Default: 5m

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_CONFIRM_COOLDOWN > config

PropertyValue
Default5m
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_CONFIRM_COOLDOWN (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.confirm-cooldown = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_CONFIRM_COOLDOWN}

database.plan-mode-learning.confirm-divergent-epochs

Section titled “database.plan-mode-learning.confirm-divergent-epochs”

Number of times a potential improvement must be re-confirmed under refreshed database statistics before a query pattern advances toward adoption. At least 2 is required to suppress false positives from transient conditions.

Default: 2

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_CONFIRM_DIVERGENT_EPOCHS > config

PropertyValue
Default2
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_CONFIRM_DIVERGENT_EPOCHS (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.confirm-divergent-epochs = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_CONFIRM_DIVERGENT_EPOCHS}

database.plan-mode-learning.confirm-failure-threshold

Section titled “database.plan-mode-learning.confirm-failure-threshold”

Number of consecutive verification failures after which verification for a query pattern is suspended for confirm-cooldown. Prevents repeated checks against a struggling database.

Default: 5

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_CONFIRM_FAILURE_THRESHOLD > config

PropertyValue
Default5
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_CONFIRM_FAILURE_THRESHOLD (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.confirm-failure-threshold = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_CONFIRM_FAILURE_THRESHOLD}

database.plan-mode-learning.confirm-max-concurrent

Section titled “database.plan-mode-learning.confirm-max-concurrent”

Maximum number of background verification checks that may run simultaneously. Checks beyond this cap are deferred to a later opportunity. Decrease to limit load on small or shared database servers.

Default: 2

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_CONFIRM_MAX_CONCURRENT > config

PropertyValue
Default2
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_CONFIRM_MAX_CONCURRENT (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.confirm-max-concurrent = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_CONFIRM_MAX_CONCURRENT}

database.plan-mode-learning.confirm-timeout

Section titled “database.plan-mode-learning.confirm-timeout”

Maximum time allowed for a single background verification check. Checks that do not complete within this budget are abandoned and retried later. Raise only if verification regularly times out on large or heavily loaded databases.

Default: 5s

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_CONFIRM_TIMEOUT > config

PropertyValue
Default5s
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_CONFIRM_TIMEOUT (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.confirm-timeout = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_CONFIRM_TIMEOUT}

Whether self-tuning query planning is active. When false, no background verification queries run and no learned planning decisions are applied.

Default: true

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_ENABLED > config

PropertyValue
Defaulttrue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_ENABLED (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.enabled = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_ENABLED}

database.plan-mode-learning.flush-interval

Section titled “database.plan-mode-learning.flush-interval”

How often learned planning state is saved. Shorter intervals reduce the amount of recent learning lost on a crash; longer intervals reduce write load. State is always saved on graceful shutdown.

Default: 5m

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_FLUSH_INTERVAL > config

PropertyValue
Default5m
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_FLUSH_INTERVAL (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.flush-interval = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_FLUSH_INTERVAL}

database.plan-mode-learning.pin-min-improvement

Section titled “database.plan-mode-learning.pin-min-improvement”

Minimum relative latency improvement the alternative planning mode must demonstrate before it is adopted for a query pattern. A value of 0.20 requires at least 20% improvement. Raise to adopt only clear wins.

Default: 0.20

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PIN_MIN_IMPROVEMENT > config

PropertyValue
Default0.20
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PIN_MIN_IMPROVEMENT (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.pin-min-improvement = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PIN_MIN_IMPROVEMENT}

database.plan-mode-learning.pin-min-samples

Section titled “database.plan-mode-learning.pin-min-samples”

Minimum number of measured executions an evaluation round must contain before it counts toward pin-stable-cycles. Prevents premature adoption on sparse traffic.

Default: 20

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PIN_MIN_SAMPLES > config

PropertyValue
Default20
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PIN_MIN_SAMPLES (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.pin-min-samples = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PIN_MIN_SAMPLES}

database.plan-mode-learning.pin-revalidate-executions

Section titled “database.plan-mode-learning.pin-revalidate-executions”

Number of executions after which an adopted planning decision is re-validated, regardless of pin-revalidate-interval.

Default: 100000

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PIN_REVALIDATE_EXECUTIONS > config

PropertyValue
Default100000
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PIN_REVALIDATE_EXECUTIONS (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.pin-revalidate-executions = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PIN_REVALIDATE_EXECUTIONS}

database.plan-mode-learning.pin-revalidate-interval

Section titled “database.plan-mode-learning.pin-revalidate-interval”

How long an adopted planning decision is trusted before it is re-validated in the background (whichever of this interval or pin-revalidate-executions is reached first).

Default: 7d

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PIN_REVALIDATE_INTERVAL > config

PropertyValue
Default7d
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PIN_REVALIDATE_INTERVAL (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.pin-revalidate-interval = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PIN_REVALIDATE_INTERVAL}

database.plan-mode-learning.pin-stable-cycles

Section titled “database.plan-mode-learning.pin-stable-cycles”

Number of consecutive evaluation rounds the improvement must hold before it is adopted. Each round must also meet pin-min-improvement and pin-min-samples. Raise to make adoption more conservative.

Default: 5

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PIN_STABLE_CYCLES > config

PropertyValue
Default5
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PIN_STABLE_CYCLES (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.pin-stable-cycles = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PIN_STABLE_CYCLES}

database.plan-mode-learning.probation-max-cycles

Section titled “database.plan-mode-learning.probation-max-cycles”

Maximum number of evaluation rounds a query pattern may be evaluated without reaching a stable result. Patterns that reach this cap are set aside and only re-considered after an extended cooldown.

Default: 10

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PROBATION_MAX_CYCLES > config

PropertyValue
Default10
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PROBATION_MAX_CYCLES (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.probation-max-cycles = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PROBATION_MAX_CYCLES}

database.plan-mode-learning.probation-max-samples

Section titled “database.plan-mode-learning.probation-max-samples”

Maximum total measured executions accumulated across all evaluation rounds before evaluation of a query pattern is stopped (same extended cooldown as probation-max-cycles). Prevents indefinite measurement of infrequent query patterns.

Default: 200

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PROBATION_MAX_SAMPLES > config

PropertyValue
Default200
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PROBATION_MAX_SAMPLES (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.probation-max-samples = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_PROBATION_MAX_SAMPLES}

Maximum number of distinct query patterns tracked in memory. When the cap is reached, the least recently seen pattern is evicted; its learned state is saved first. Increase only if you serve many distinct slow query patterns.

Default: 1024

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_SHAPE_LRU_CAP > config

PropertyValue
Default1024
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_SHAPE_LRU_CAP (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.shape-lru-cap = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_SHAPE_LRU_CAP}

Minimum query latency before a query becomes a candidate for planning optimisation. Queries faster than this threshold are never examined. Raise to focus the optimisation on only the slowest queries.

Default: 500ms

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_SLOW_FLOOR > config

PropertyValue
Default500ms
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_SLOW_FLOOR (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.slow-floor = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_SLOW_FLOOR}

database.plan-mode-learning.variance-demote-threshold

Section titled “database.plan-mode-learning.variance-demote-threshold”

How much latency variability is tolerated for an adopted planning decision before it is re-evaluated. Lower values re-evaluate sooner when query latency becomes unstable; higher values keep adopted decisions in place through noisier conditions.

Default: 0.30

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_VARIANCE_DEMOTE_THRESHOLD > config

PropertyValue
Default0.30
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_VARIANCE_DEMOTE_THRESHOLD (optional)
database.plan-mode-learning.variance-demote-threshold = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_PLAN_MODE_LEARNING_VARIANCE_DEMOTE_THRESHOLD}

Prepared Statement Caching (advanced tuning)

Controls server-side prepared statements and per-connection caching. These improve performance by reusing query plans across executions. Memory footprint: poolSize * prepared-statement-cache-size

Example: 35 connections * 8 MiB = ~280 MiB

prepare-threshold: executions before server-side prepare (1 = immediate) prepared-statement-cache-queries: max cached statements per connection prepared-statement-cache-size: memory limit per connection (HOCON memory size syntax)

PropertyValue
Default1
database.prepare-threshold = 1

PropertyValue
Default256
database.prepared-statement-cache-queries = 256

PropertyValue
Default8 MiB
database.prepared-statement-cache-size = 8 MiB

Advanced query behavior

Controls advanced query execution behavior. Distinct from connection-hints.session-flags above — these settings affect search behavior, not connection settings.

Tiebreaker for sort orderings on long-value single-valued attributes. When very long values share the same indexed prefix, the tiebreaker controls how those ties are resolved.

  • deterministic (default): order tied values by uoid only. RFC 2891 §2 compliant

(server may return a deterministic order; spec is silent on tied-bucket alphabetical ordering). Fastest option for large directories.

  • alphabetical: order tied values by full alphabetical value, then uoid. Adds a

small amount of per-result work. Use when byte-exact alphabetical ordering on long-value attributes (>=200 chars, e.g. description) is required. Multi-valued sort orderings are unaffected by this setting.

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_QUERY_SORT_LONG_VALUE_TIEBREAKER > config

PropertyValue
Default"deterministic"
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_QUERY_SORT_LONG_VALUE_TIEBREAKER (optional)
database.query.sort.long-value-tiebreaker = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_QUERY_SORT_LONG_VALUE_TIEBREAKER}

Query Connection Limiter

Timeout for HTTP/GraphQL queries when the system is busy. When all connections are in use, HTTP and GraphQL queries wait up to this duration before returning 503 Service Unavailable with a Retry-After header. LDAP queries block up to their query time limit instead.

Default: 5 seconds

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_QUERY_HTTP_ACQUISITION_TIMEOUT > config

PropertyValue
Default5s
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_QUERY_HTTP_ACQUISITION_TIMEOUT (optional)
database.query-http-acquisition-timeout = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_QUERY_HTTP_ACQUISITION_TIMEOUT}

Retry policy for acquiring database connections. Unset fields inherit from the root retry block.

Initial delay between retries while waiting for database connections

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_RETRY_INITIAL_DELAY > config

PropertyValue
Default100 milliseconds
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_RETRY_INITIAL_DELAY (optional)
database.retry.initial-delay = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_RETRY_INITIAL_DELAY}

Randomized jitter added to each delay to avoid thundering herds

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_RETRY_JITTER > config

PropertyValue
Default25 milliseconds
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_RETRY_JITTER (optional)
database.retry.jitter = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_RETRY_JITTER}

Set to >0 to cap retries by attempt count instead of duration (0 = unlimited)

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_RETRY_MAX_ATTEMPTS > config

PropertyValue
Default0
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_RETRY_MAX_ATTEMPTS (optional)
database.retry.max-attempts = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_RETRY_MAX_ATTEMPTS}

Maximum delay between retries

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_RETRY_MAX_DELAY > config

PropertyValue
Default5 seconds
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_RETRY_MAX_DELAY (optional)
database.retry.max-delay = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_RETRY_MAX_DELAY}

Maximum time spent retrying before surfacing a timeout (leave unset to retry indefinitely)

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_RETRY_MAX_DURATION > config

PropertyValue
Defaultnull
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_RETRY_MAX_DURATION (optional)
database.retry.max-duration = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_RETRY_MAX_DURATION}

database.sort-index-backfill.max-concurrent

Section titled “database.sort-index-backfill.max-concurrent”

Sortable coverage preparation.

Controls how many sortable attribute coverage tasks are prepared in parallel at startup. Backfill runs transparently in the background; the service remains fully operational during the backfill window. Cursor pagination on affected attributes remains correct and may be slower until backfill completes.

Default: auto-scaled from the system connection pool size using max(1, min(4, system-pool-size - 2)).

This reserves at least 2 system pool connections for maintenance, health checks, and DDL. On tiny deployments where system-pool-size < 3, the auto-scaled default is 1. Ceiling: 4 (values above 4 are clamped at startup with a WARN). Explicitly configured values above system-pool-size - 2 are also clamped with a WARN. Increase to 4 on high-spec systems to shorten the backfill window. Decrease to 1 to reduce backfill read pressure on the database during initial sync.

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_SORT_INDEX_BACKFILL_MAX_CONCURRENT > config > auto-scaled default

Override: sort-index-backfill.max-concurrent = <1..4> (defaults to auto-scale formula above)

PropertyValue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SORT_INDEX_BACKFILL_MAX_CONCURRENT (optional)
database.sort-index-backfill.max-concurrent = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SORT_INDEX_BACKFILL_MAX_CONCURRENT}

database.sort-index-backfill.readiness-timeout

Section titled “database.sort-index-backfill.readiness-timeout”

Readiness verification timeout.

Bounds the final readiness check after a sortable coverage backfill attempt. Backfill batches keep the shorter maintenance statement timeout; this longer bound is for large partitions where readiness verification can legitimately take longer. If verification times out, the sort index remains out of query planning, health details report it as degraded, and the background worker retries with backoff.

Default: 10 minutes

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_SORT_INDEX_BACKFILL_READINESS_TIMEOUT > config > 10m

PropertyValue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SORT_INDEX_BACKFILL_READINESS_TIMEOUT (optional)
database.sort-index-backfill.readiness-timeout = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SORT_INDEX_BACKFILL_READINESS_TIMEOUT}

defaults to the root ssl configuration

The location of the root certificate for authenticating the server. File containing the root certificate when validating server (mode = "verify-ca" or "verify-full"). Default will be the file "root.crt" in "$HOME/.postgresql" (*nix) or "%APPDATA%\postgresql" (windows).

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_SSL_CA > config > ssl.ca

PropertyValue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SSL_CA (optional)
database.ssl.ca = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SSL_CA}

The location of the client's SSL certificate File containing the SSL Certificate. Default will be the file "postgresql.crt" in "$HOME/.postgresql" (*nix) or "%APPDATA%\postgresql" (windows).

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_SSL_CERT > config > ssl.cert

PropertyValue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SSL_CERT (optional)
database.ssl.cert = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SSL_CERT}

Must be set to 'true' to enable SSL for the database

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_SSL_ENABLED > config

PropertyValue
Defaultfalse
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SSL_ENABLED (optional)
database.ssl.enabled = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SSL_ENABLED}

The location of the client's PKCS#8 SSL key. File containing the SSL Key. Default will be the file "postgresql.pk8" in "$HOME/.postgresql" (*nix) or "%APPDATA%\postgresql" (windows).

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_SSL_KEY > config > ssl.key

PropertyValue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SSL_KEY (optional)
database.ssl.key = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SSL_KEY}

The password for the client's ssl key.

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_SSL_PASSWORD > config > ssl.password

PropertyValue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SSL_PASSWORD (optional)
database.ssl.password = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SSL_PASSWORD}

Size of the system connection pool. This pool handles commit coordination, migrations, maintenance, and entry preparation.

Default: max(transcribeCount + 4, concurrency / 4)

Minimum: 2

Maximum: max-pool-size / 2 The default scales with both the number of configured transcribes and concurrency level to handle workloads where multiple transcribes perform system operations simultaneously.

Example: With 4 transcribes and concurrency = 16:

Default = max(4 + 4, 16/4) = max(8, 4) = 8 connections

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_SYSTEM_POOL_SIZE > config

PropertyValue
Defaultmax(transcribeCount + 4, concurrency / 4)
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_SYSTEM_POOL_SIZE (optional)
database.system-pool-size = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_SYSTEM_POOL_SIZE}

https://www.prisma.io/dataguide/postgresql/short-guides/connection-uris https://jdbc.postgresql.org/documentation/use/#connecting-to-the-database Multiple servers can be specified, separated by a comma, eg "postgres://server1,server2" Options can be set in the URL or as separate properties

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_URL > config

url = "postgres:"${user.name}

PropertyValue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_URL (optional)
database.url = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_URL}

Priority: SCRIBE_DATABASE_USER > config

user = ${user.name}

PropertyValue
OverrideSCRIBE_DATABASE_USER (optional)
database.user = ${?SCRIBE_DATABASE_USER}