[{"_1":2,"_3":-5,"_4":-5},"loaderData",{"_5":6,"_7":8},"actionData","errors","root",{"_505":506},"routes/blog.author.$slug",{"_9":10,"_11":12,"_13":14,"_5":15},"author",{"_25":53,"_54":55},"blogs",[24],"pagination",{"_16":17,"_18":19,"_20":19,"_21":17,"_22":23},"https://planetscale.com","page",1,"hasPrev",false,"hasNext","totalPages","url","https://planetscale.com/blog/author/brett",{"_25":26,"_27":28,"_29":30,"_31":-7,"_32":33,"_34":35,"_36":37,"_38":39,"_40":41,"_42":43,"_44":45},"slug","see-what-your-database-is-doing-right-now","body",[86,87,88,89,90,91,92,93,94,95,96,97,98,99,100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122,123,124],"body_text","Much of database debugging eventually turns into carefully inspecting what each connection is doing.In Postgres, this means watching pg_stat_activity in a loop.In Vitess, it means watching SHOW FULL PROCESSLIST the same way.\nTools like Query Insights are useful for exploring the recent history of queries. They can tell you what was slow, what's consuming resources, and where to spend tuning effort.\nBut during an active incident, the questions are more immediate.What's happening this second?Did the last thing I changed fix it?\nManual monitoring\nHere's a manual version of this workflow in Postgres:SELECT pid, state, wait_event_type, wait_event,\n now() - xact_start AS tx_age,\n pg_blocking_pids(pid) AS blocked_by,\n left(query, 60) AS query\nFROM pg_stat_activity\nWHERE state <> 'idle'\nORDER BY tx_age DESC;\n\nRun it over and over again in a terminal and it's a pretty effective view of the database.\nIt's also a rough interface.\nYou're scanning rows as they move around, trying to reconstruct what's blocking progress, and hunting for the one detail that actually matters for the fix.\nThe worst version of this problem is when you can't connect at all because the database has exhausted all of its connections. You can't fix what you can't connect to.\nThat workflow shaped the design of Connections, a new feature of the pscale CLI available today for PlanetScale Postgres and Vitess (MySQL) databases.\nSimpler debugging with Connections\nHere's that same debugging flow using the new pscale branch connections top functionality with a Postgres database, instead of pasting that pg_stat_activity query in a loop and comparing output:pscale branch connections top \n\nConnections opens an interactive live view that refreshes about once a second and sorts the sessions most likely to matter toward the top. There are keyboard shortcuts to navigate the list of connections and inspect each one in more detail.\nColumns in the list include the Process ID (PID), status, number of blocked queries, why they're waiting, and more.\n\nSay your writes are backing up and the app is timing out. In this example, an idle transaction from checkout-api is holding up three other writes. Open the row, and the blocker tree shows the queue behind it:\n\nFrom there you can decide whether the right fix is to cancel a query or terminate the connection. You no longer need to remember the syntax of pg_stat_activity, retrace the blocker chain by hand or copy and paste PIDs around.\nKeep enough history to see the pattern\nAnother problem with running that query in a loop is that the interesting moment flies by. Connections keeps a recent rolling history, so you can pause, step forward and backward with [ and ], and see how the state has changed.\nYou can also capture a session to a file. You can record everything you see in Connections by pressing C. This includes the recent history already buffered in memory and keeps appending from there. Perfect for handing off logs to agents to assist with debugging.\nThat also makes it easier to write a postmortem, share what happened with a teammate, or replay the same view later instead of describing it from memory.\nAvailable even when connections are exhausted\nThe stress of debugging an active incident is worse when you can't even connect to the database yourself.\nConnections uses a reserved administrative connection, so the inspection path still works when regular application connections are exhausted.\nManaged databases should remove the need to SSH into a box, not remove your ability to debug an incident.\nYou can still get in, see what is running, and act from there.\nFor Postgres and Vitess\nThe PlanetScale CLI's new Connections feature also works with Vitess databases (MySQL).In this case, the live view is the PlanetScale version of watching SHOW FULL PROCESSLIST, with the ability to cancel the current query or terminate the connection from this unified interface.\nThe main difference is scope.Vitess connections are shown for one keyspace (and one shard) at a time.If a branch has multiple keyspaces, or a sharded keyspace, pass --keyspace and --shard to choose the tablet:pscale branch connections top --keyspace --shard \n\nThe same live monitoring, pause, history, capture, and replay workflow applies.The actions are MySQL-specific: canceling a query runs KILL QUERY, and terminating a connection runs KILL.See the Inspect live Vitess connections guide for the full command behavior.\nTry it today\nConnections is available for PlanetScale Postgres and Vitess. Update to the latest version of pscale and run:pscale branch connections top \n\nSee the CLI reference, the Inspect live Postgres connections guide, and the Inspect live Vitess connections guide for more details.\nTry it next time you need to troubleshoot active database connections.","aside","toc",[57,58,59,60,61],"title","See what your database is doing right now with Connections","authors",[52],"categories",[51],"excerpt","Connections lets you monitor and manage all active connections to Postgres and Vitess databases. See active sessions, identify locking patterns, and keep debugging even when normal application connections are exhausted.","createdAt","2026-06-15","meta",{"_46":47,"_48":41,"_49":50,"_34":35},"canonical","https://planetscale.com/blog/see-what-your-database-is-doing-right-now","description","image","/assets/see-what-your-database-is-doing-right-now-social-B8T8hdB0.png","product",{"_25":53,"_54":55,"_56":-7},"brett","name","Brett Warminski","x",{"_62":83,"_64":84,"_66":67,"_34":85},{"_62":75,"_64":76,"_66":67,"_34":77},{"_62":72,"_64":73,"_66":67,"_34":74},{"_62":69,"_64":70,"_66":67,"_34":71},{"_62":63,"_64":65,"_66":67,"_34":68},"children",[],"id","try-it-today","level",2,"Try it today",[],"for-postgres-and-vitess","For Postgres and Vitess",[],"available-even-when-connections-are-exhausted","Available even when connections are exhausted",[78],"simpler-debugging-with-connections","Simpler debugging with Connections",{"_62":79,"_64":80,"_66":81,"_34":82},[],"keep-enough-history-to-see-the-pattern",3,"Keep enough history to see the pattern",[],"manual-monitoring","Manual monitoring",["SingleFetchClassInstance",489],["SingleFetchClassInstance",478],["SingleFetchClassInstance",472],["SingleFetchClassInstance",464],["SingleFetchClassInstance",460],["SingleFetchClassInstance",455],["SingleFetchClassInstance",451],["SingleFetchClassInstance",447],["SingleFetchClassInstance",443],["SingleFetchClassInstance",439],["SingleFetchClassInstance",423],["SingleFetchClassInstance",415],["SingleFetchClassInstance",400],["SingleFetchClassInstance",397],["SingleFetchClassInstance",393],["SingleFetchClassInstance",389],["SingleFetchClassInstance",370],["SingleFetchClassInstance",360],["SingleFetchClassInstance",329],["SingleFetchClassInstance",319],["SingleFetchClassInstance",310],["SingleFetchClassInstance",295],["SingleFetchClassInstance",285],["SingleFetchClassInstance",281],["SingleFetchClassInstance",273],["SingleFetchClassInstance",269],["SingleFetchClassInstance",265],["SingleFetchClassInstance",261],["SingleFetchClassInstance",257],["SingleFetchClassInstance",249],["SingleFetchClassInstance",238],["SingleFetchClassInstance",220],["SingleFetchClassInstance",216],["SingleFetchClassInstance",193],["SingleFetchClassInstance",184],["SingleFetchClassInstance",168],["SingleFetchClassInstance",160],["SingleFetchClassInstance",133],["SingleFetchClassInstance",125],{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":130,"_62":131},"$$mdtype","Tag","p","attributes",{},[132],"Try it next time you need to troubleshoot active database connections.",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":134,"_62":135},{},[136,137,138,139,140,141,142],"See the ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",155],", the ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",150],", and the ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",143]," for more details.",{"_126":127,"_54":144,"_129":145,"_62":146},"a",{"_148":149},[147],"Inspect live Vitess connections guide","href","/docs/vitess/monitoring/connections",{"_126":127,"_54":144,"_129":151,"_62":152},{"_148":154},[153],"Inspect live Postgres connections guide","/docs/postgres/monitoring/connections",{"_126":127,"_54":144,"_129":156,"_62":157},{"_148":159},[158],"CLI reference","/docs/cli/connections",{"_126":127,"_54":161,"_129":162,"_62":163},"CodeBlock",{"_164":165,"_166":167},[],"html","

pscale branch connections top <database> <branch>\n

","language","bash",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":169,"_62":170},{},[171,172,173],"Connections is available for PlanetScale Postgres and Vitess. Update to the latest version of ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",174]," and run:",{"_126":127,"_54":144,"_129":175,"_62":176},{"_148":183},[177],["SingleFetchClassInstance",178],{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":180,"_62":181},"code",{},[182],"pscale","/docs/cli/planetscale-environment-setup",{"_126":127,"_54":185,"_129":186,"_62":187},"h2",{"_64":65},[188],["SingleFetchClassInstance",189],{"_126":127,"_54":144,"_129":190,"_62":191},{"_148":192},[68],"#try-it-today",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":194,"_62":195},{},[196,197,198,199,200,201,202,197,136,203,204],"The same live monitoring, pause, history, capture, and replay workflow applies."," ","The actions are MySQL-specific: canceling a query runs ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",212],", and terminating a connection runs ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",208],".",["SingleFetchClassInstance",205]," for the full command behavior.",{"_126":127,"_54":144,"_129":206,"_62":207},{"_148":149},[147],{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":209,"_62":210},{},[211],"KILL",{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":213,"_62":214},{},[215],"KILL QUERY",{"_126":127,"_54":161,"_129":217,"_62":218},{"_164":219,"_166":167},[],"

pscale branch connections top <database> <branch> --keyspace <keyspace> --shard <shard>\n

",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":221,"_62":222},{},[223,197,224,197,225,226,227,228,229],"The main difference is scope.","Vitess connections are shown for one keyspace (and one shard) at a time.","If a branch has multiple keyspaces, or a sharded keyspace, pass ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",234]," and ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",230]," to choose the tablet:",{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":231,"_62":232},{},[233],"--shard",{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":235,"_62":236},{},[237],"--keyspace",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":239,"_62":240},{},[241,197,242,243,244],"The PlanetScale CLI's new Connections feature also works with Vitess databases (MySQL).","In this case, the live view is the PlanetScale version of watching ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",245],", with the ability to cancel the current query or terminate the connection from this unified interface.",{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":246,"_62":247},{},[248],"SHOW FULL PROCESSLIST",{"_126":127,"_54":185,"_129":250,"_62":251},{"_64":70},[252],["SingleFetchClassInstance",253],{"_126":127,"_54":144,"_129":254,"_62":255},{"_148":256},[71],"#for-postgres-and-vitess",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":258,"_62":259},{},[260],"You can still get in, see what is running, and act from there.",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":262,"_62":263},{},[264],"Managed databases should remove the need to SSH into a box, not remove your ability to debug an incident.",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":266,"_62":267},{},[268],"Connections uses a reserved administrative connection, so the inspection path still works when regular application connections are exhausted.",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":270,"_62":271},{},[272],"The stress of debugging an active incident is worse when you can't even connect to the database yourself.",{"_126":127,"_54":185,"_129":274,"_62":275},{"_64":73},[276],["SingleFetchClassInstance",277],{"_126":127,"_54":144,"_129":278,"_62":279},{"_148":280},[74],"#available-even-when-connections-are-exhausted",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":282,"_62":283},{},[284],"That also makes it easier to write a postmortem, share what happened with a teammate, or replay the same view later instead of describing it from memory.",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":286,"_62":287},{},[288,289,290],"You can also capture a session to a file. You can record everything you see in Connections by pressing ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",291],". This includes the recent history already buffered in memory and keeps appending from there. Perfect for handing off logs to agents to assist with debugging.",{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":292,"_62":293},{},[294],"C",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":296,"_62":297},{},[298,299,227,300,301],"Another problem with running that query in a loop is that the interesting moment flies by. Connections keeps a recent rolling history, so you can pause, step forward and backward with ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",306],["SingleFetchClassInstance",302],", and see how the state has changed.",{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":303,"_62":304},{},[305],"]",{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":307,"_62":308},{},[309],"[",{"_126":127,"_54":311,"_129":312,"_62":313},"h3",{"_64":80},[314],["SingleFetchClassInstance",315],{"_126":127,"_54":144,"_129":316,"_62":317},{"_148":318},[82],"#keep-enough-history-to-see-the-pattern",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":320,"_62":321},{},[322,323,324],"From there you can decide whether the right fix is to cancel a query or terminate the connection. You no longer need to remember the syntax of ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",325],", retrace the blocker chain by hand or copy and paste PIDs around.",{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":326,"_62":327},{},[328],"pg_stat_activity",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":330,"_62":331},{},[332],["SingleFetchClassInstance",333],{"_126":127,"_54":334,"_129":335,"_62":336},"picture",{},[337,338],["SingleFetchClassInstance",353],["SingleFetchClassInstance",339],{"_126":127,"_54":340,"_129":341,"_62":342},"img",{"_343":344,"_345":346,"_347":348,"_349":350,"_351":352},[],"alt","The blocker tree: one idle checkout-api transaction holding up the refund, payment, and cancel updates queued behind it","height",1418,"loading","lazy","src","https://planetscale-images.imgix.net/assets/live-connections-blockers-Dc1L2c1b.png?auto=compress%2Cformat","width",2355,{"_126":127,"_54":354,"_129":355,"_62":356},"source",{"_357":350,"_358":359},[],"srcSet","media","(prefers-color-scheme: light), (prefers-color-scheme: no-preference)",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":361,"_62":362},{},[363,364,365],"Say your writes are backing up and the app is timing out. In this example, an idle transaction from ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",366]," is holding up three other writes. Open the row, and the blocker tree shows the queue behind it:",{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":367,"_62":368},{},[369],"checkout-api",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":371,"_62":372},{},[373],["SingleFetchClassInstance",374],{"_126":127,"_54":334,"_129":375,"_62":376},{},[377,378],["SingleFetchClassInstance",386],["SingleFetchClassInstance",379],{"_126":127,"_54":340,"_129":380,"_62":381},{"_343":382,"_345":383,"_347":348,"_349":384,"_351":385},[],"The pscale branch connections top view, with a stuck checkout transaction at the top",1409,"https://planetscale-images.imgix.net/assets/live-connections-top-DLKSy3CO.png?auto=compress%2Cformat",2333,{"_126":127,"_54":354,"_129":387,"_62":388},{"_357":384,"_358":359},[],{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":390,"_62":391},{},[392],"Columns in the list include the Process ID (PID), status, number of blocked queries, why they're waiting, and more.",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":394,"_62":395},{},[396],"Connections opens an interactive live view that refreshes about once a second and sorts the sessions most likely to matter toward the top. There are keyboard shortcuts to navigate the list of connections and inspect each one in more detail.",{"_126":127,"_54":161,"_129":398,"_62":399},{"_164":165,"_166":167},[],{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":401,"_62":402},{},[403,404,405,406,407],"Here's that same debugging flow using the new ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",411]," functionality with a Postgres database, instead of pasting that ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",408]," query in a loop and comparing output:",{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":409,"_62":410},{},[328],{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":412,"_62":413},{},[414],"pscale branch connections top",{"_126":127,"_54":185,"_129":416,"_62":417},{"_64":76},[418],["SingleFetchClassInstance",419],{"_126":127,"_54":144,"_129":420,"_62":421},{"_148":422},[77],"#simpler-debugging-with-connections",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":424,"_62":425},{},[426,427,428,429,430],"That workflow shaped the design of ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",434],", a new feature of the ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",431]," CLI available today for PlanetScale Postgres and Vitess (MySQL) databases.",{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":432,"_62":433},{},[182],{"_126":127,"_54":435,"_129":436,"_62":437},"strong",{},[438],"Connections",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":440,"_62":441},{},[442],"The worst version of this problem is when you can't connect at all because the database has exhausted all of its connections. You can't fix what you can't connect to.",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":444,"_62":445},{},[446],"You're scanning rows as they move around, trying to reconstruct what's blocking progress, and hunting for the one detail that actually matters for the fix.",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":448,"_62":449},{},[450],"It's also a rough interface.",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":452,"_62":453},{},[454],"Run it over and over again in a terminal and it's a pretty effective view of the database.",{"_126":127,"_54":161,"_129":456,"_62":457},{"_164":458,"_166":459},[],"

SELECT pid, state, wait_event_type, wait_event,\n       now() - xact_start AS tx_age,\n       pg_blocking_pids(pid) AS blocked_by,\n       left(query, 60) AS query\nFROM pg_stat_activity\nWHERE state <> 'idle'\nORDER BY tx_age DESC;\n

","sql",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":461,"_62":462},{},[463],"Here's a manual version of this workflow in Postgres:",{"_126":127,"_54":185,"_129":465,"_62":466},{"_64":84},[467],["SingleFetchClassInstance",468],{"_126":127,"_54":144,"_129":469,"_62":470},{"_148":471},[85],"#manual-monitoring",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":473,"_62":474},{},[475,197,476,197,477],"But during an active incident, the questions are more immediate.","What's happening this second?","Did the last thing I changed fix it?",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":479,"_62":480},{},[481,482,483],"Tools like ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",484]," are useful for exploring the recent history of queries. They can tell you what was slow, what's consuming resources, and where to spend tuning effort.",{"_126":127,"_54":144,"_129":485,"_62":486},{"_148":488},[487],"Query Insights","/docs/postgres/monitoring/query-insights",{"_126":127,"_54":128,"_129":490,"_62":491},{},[492,197,493,494,495,197,496,497,498],"Much of database debugging eventually turns into carefully inspecting what each connection is doing.","In Postgres, this means watching ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",502]," in a loop.","In Vitess, it means watching ",["SingleFetchClassInstance",499]," the same way.",{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":500,"_62":501},{},[248],{"_126":127,"_54":179,"_129":503,"_62":504},{},[328],"current",{"_507":19,"_508":509,"_510":19},"development","env",{"_511":512,"_513":514,"_515":516,"_517":518,"_519":520},"userSignedIn","IMAGE_CDN","https://planetscale-images.imgix.net","IMAGE_CDN_ENABLED","true","INTERNAL_API","https://api.planetscale.com","RELEASE","3f1e32962aa0ad55dbf1bebb4931737e2fd822c4","SENTRY_DSN","https://bd81903b44804e22a06bdc0c1a91b303@o499952.ingest.us.sentry.io/4504531942572032"]

Posts by Brett Warminski

See what your database is doing right now with Connections