Set up automatic chunk compression policies in TimescaleDB with add_compression_policy
domain: docs.timescale.com · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
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Verified steps
Enable compression on the hypertable with ALTER TABLE <hypertable> SET (timescaledb.compress, timescaledb.compress_segmentby = '<col>', timescaledb.compress_orderby = '<time_col> DESC')
Add a policy with SELECT add_compression_policy('<hypertable>', compress_after => INTERVAL '<n days>') to compress chunks automatically once their data ages past the threshold
Use compress_created_before instead of compress_after when chunk creation time (not data time) should drive compression — the two are mutually exclusive
Verify the scheduled job via timescaledb_information.jobs and check per-chunk compression status in timescaledb_information.chunks
For integer-based (non-timestamp) hypertables, register an integer_now_func before using an integer compress_after interval
Known gotchas
compress_after is calculated relative to now() against the chunk's data time range, not its wall-clock creation time — use compress_created_before if you specifically need creation-time-based compression
add_compression_policy requires compression to already be enabled on the hypertable (or continuous aggregate) via ALTER TABLE / ALTER MATERIALIZED VIEW first, or it errors
As of TimescaleDB 2.18, add_compression_policy is the older API name superseded by add_columnstore_policy for newer 'hypercore' usage — it remains fully supported, but check current docs for the preferred function name on very new versions
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