Type: integer
Default: 0 (0ms)
Min: 0 (0ms)
Max: 2147483647 (2147483647ms)
Unit: milliseconds (ms)
Context: user
Restart: false

Abort any statement that takes more than the specified amount of time. If log_min_error_statement is set to ERROR or lower, the statement that timed out will also be logged. If this value is specified without units, it is taken as milliseconds. A value of zero (the default) disables the timeout.

The timeout is measured from the time a command arrives at the server until it is completed by the server. If multiple SQL statements appear in a single simple-Query message, the timeout is applied to each statement separately. (PostgreSQL versions before 13 usually treated the timeout as applying to the whole query string.) In extended query protocol, the timeout starts running when any query-related message (Parse, Bind, Execute, Describe) arrives, and it is canceled by completion of an Execute or Sync message.

Setting statement_timeout in postgresql.conf is not recommended because it would affect all sessions.

Recommendations

Defaults to 0, meaning no timeout. For most web applications, it's a good idea to set a default timeout, such as 60s to prevent runaway queries from bogging the server. If set, though, you need to remember to set (at the ROLE or session level) a higher statement_timeout for expected long-running maintenance or batch operations.

Comments