Postgres Full-Text Search Cheat Sheet

Last Updated: November 21, 2025

Focus Areas

Focus
Store precomputed `tsvector` columns
Use `ts_rank` to order results by relevance


         CREATE INDEX idx_search ON docs USING GIN(tsvector_col)

Index text via GIN


         SELECT * FROM docs WHERE to_tsvector('english', body) @@ to_tsquery('fast')

Filter by full-text match


         ALTER TABLE docs ADD COLUMN tsvector_col tsvector GENERATED ALWAYS AS ... STORED

Add generated column

Combine indexes, dictionaries, and ranking to serve relevant results.

💡 Pro Tip: Keep `tsvector` columns updated via triggers or generated columns.