analyzing-schema-change-storage-risk

Estimates storage requirements for CockroachDB online schema change backfills using SHOW RANGES WITH DETAILS, KEYS, INDEXES. Use before CREATE INDEX, ADD COLUMN with INDEX/UNIQUE, ALTER PRIMARY KEY, CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW, CREATE TABLE AS, REFRESH, or SET LOCALITY on tables with large per-index footprints, to avoid mid-backfill disk exhaustion.

Version

2.0

Compatibility

Requires SQL access. SHOW RANGES WITH DETAILS computes span_stats on demand and is expensive on tables with many ranges; target specific tables. Mirrors official guidance at https://www.cockroachlabs.com/docs/stable/online-schema-changes#estimate-your-storage-capacity-before-performing-online-schema-changes.