# What's new in EXPLAIN

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/postgres-fm-5565051/what-s-new-in-explain
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/postgres-fm-5565051/what-s-new-in-explain.md
Podcast: [Postgres FM](https://stenobird.com/podcast/postgres-fm-5565051)
Published: 2025-11-21T14:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://share.transistor.fm/s/1c1a3d09
Audio file: https://media.transistor.fm/1c1a3d09/820813ab.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/postgres-fm-5565051/episodes/what-s-new-in-explain
Duration seconds: 2713

## Resource

Nik and Michael discuss the various changes to EXPLAIN that arrived in Postgres 18. Here are some links to things they mentioned: EXPLAIN (official docs) https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-explain.html Using EXPLAIN (official docs) https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/using-explain.html EXPLAIN glossary (pgMustard site) https://www.pgmustard.com/docs/explain Postgres 18 release notes https://www.postgresql.org/docs/release/18.0/ Enable BUFFERS with EXPLAIN ANALYZE by default (commit) https://git.postgresql.org/gitweb/?p=postgresql.git;a=commit;h=c2a4078eb Our (first) BUFFERS by default episode https://postgres.fm/episodes/buffers-by-default Show index search count in EXPLAIN ANALYZE (commit) https://git.postgresql.org/gitweb/?p=postgresql.git;a=commitdiff;h=0fbceae841cb5a31b13d3f284ac8fdd19822eceb Our episode on Skip scan with Peter Geoghegan https://postgres.fm/episodes/skip-scan What do the new Index Searches lines in EXPLAIN mean? https://www.pgmustard.com/blog/what-do-index-searches-in-explain-mean pg_stat_plans presentation by Lukas Fittl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26coQV3f-wk Improve EXPLAIN's display of window functions (commit) https://git.postgresql.org/gitweb/?p=postgresql.git;a=commit;h=8b1b34254 Show Parallel Bitmap Heap Scan worker stats in EXPLAIN ANALYZE (commit) https://git.postgresql.org/gitweb/?p=postgresql.git;a=commit;h=5a1e6df3b Add information about WAL buffers being full (commit) https://git.postgresql.org/gitweb/?p=postgresql.git;a=commit;h=320545bfc ~~~ What did you like or not like? What should we discuss next time? Let us know via a YouTube comment, on social media, or by commenting on our Google doc ! ~~~ Postgres FM is produced by: Michael Christofides, founder of pgMustard Nikolay Samokhvalov, founder of Postgres.ai With c…

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## Transcript

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