Architecture
Request Coalescing: Stop Cache Stampedes with Singleflight
How request coalescing collapses concurrent cache misses into a single database query, protecting your backend from catastrophic cache stampedes.
Topic
Performance
A collection of essays to explore, one idea at a time.
Essays
Newest first
Backend
Stop Running EXPLAIN ANALYZE Without BUFFERS
Execution time in PostgreSQL query plans can be deeply misleading. Here is why buffer metrics reveal the true I/O footprint of your queries.
Backend Architecture
Mastering Singleflight: Stop Cache Stampedes Safely
Learn how request coalescing with Go's singleflight stops cache stampedes, plus practical fixes for context cancellation and pointer data races.
B-Tree
Why UUIDv7 Is Replacing UUIDv4 for Database Keys
Learn how UUIDv7 solves B-tree index fragmentation and buffer pool churn caused by UUIDv4, delivering sequential write performance with distributed uniqueness.
Architecture
Stop Guessing Connection Pool Size: Fix DB Bottlenecks
Learn why oversized database connection pools ruin performance, and how to calculate the optimal pool size for high-throughput microservices.
Backend
Stop Cache Stampede: Protect Your DB from Thundering Herd
Learn how to prevent cache stampedes and the thundering herd problem using mutex locks, stale-while-revalidate, and XFetch to safeguard your database.
API Design
Stop Offset Pagination: Switch to Cursor Pagination
Learn why OFFSET pagination causes slow database queries and data drift, and how to implement fast, scalable cursor-based pagination in your REST APIs.
Backend
Stop Querying DB in Loops: Fix the N+1 Query Disaster
Learn how N+1 queries ruin database performance and how to solve them effectively using JOINs, prefetching, and DataLoader in TypeScript and SQL.
Architecture
Stop Using UUIDv4 as Primary Keys: Switch to UUIDv7
UUIDv4 primary keys cause B-Tree index fragmentation and kill database write performance. Discover why time-sorted UUIDv7 and ULID are better solutions.