--- title: All Your GUCs in a Row: hot_standby_feedback | daily.dev description: A deep dive into PostgreSQL's `hot_standby_feedback` GUC parameter, explaining how it prevents query cancellations on standbys by reporting the oldest needed... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-hot-standby-feedback-ytrxmrssk twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: All Your GUCs in a Row: hot_standby_feedback | daily.dev og:description: A deep dive into PostgreSQL's `hot_standby_feedback` GUC parameter, explaining how it prevents query cancellations on standbys by reporting the oldest needed... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-hot-standby-feedback-ytrxmrssk og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ytrXmRssK.png og:image:alt: All Your GUCs in a Row: hot_standby_feedback og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # All Your GUCs in a Row: hot_standby_feedback **[Planet PostgreSQL](https://daily.dev/sources/planet-postgresql)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A deep dive into PostgreSQL's `hot_standby_feedback` GUC parameter, explaining how it prevents query cancellations on standbys by reporting the oldest needed transaction ID to the primary, which then holds vacuum back. The tradeoff is primary table bloat instead of standby query cancellations. Key clarifications: it only prevents cleanup conflicts, not lock or drop conflicts; it offers no protection while the standby is disconnected; and a forgotten open transaction on the standby can bloat the primary indefinitely. The alternative lever is `max_standby_streaming_delay`, which allows standby lag instead of bloat. Safe usage requires monitoring `backend_xmin` in `pg_stat_replication`, watching long-running queries on the standby, and enforcing a `statement_timeout` on the standby. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. 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