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supabase/apps
Miranda LimonczenkoandClaude Opus 5 edf50668aa docs(database): split RLS tuning into its own guide (#49016)
Stacked on #49015, which is stacked on #49011. Review those first.

## Problem

The Row Level Security guide spent 225 lines and 5 benchmark tables on
performance, 29% of the page. The `RLS Performance and Best Practices`
troubleshooting entry already covers the same six tips with the same
numbers, from the same source. Neither page tells you how to check
whether RLS is your bottleneck in the first place.

Four of the six tips are not tuning advice. Indexes, `select`-wrapping,
role scoping, and `security definer` safety change whether a policy is
correct and safe, not just fast.

## Solution

- Add `guides/database/postgres/row-level-security-performance`. It
carries the client-filter rule, the join-rewrite rule, all 5 benchmark
tables merged into one, and a new `Diagnose whether RLS is the
bottleneck` section: toggle RLS off to confirm it's the cost, then read
the plan under an impersonated role. That diagnostic exists in the
troubleshooting entry and has never been in the guide.
- Keep every rule that affects correctness on the RLS guide, grouped
under `Write policies that scale`. These are also the four the
`build-docs-002-rls-guide` eval grades, and an agent reads the guide
top-down.
- Repoint the Grafana IO troubleshooting entry at the new page.
- Rewrite `More resources` as `Related content`. Every link now says
what it is and when to use it. Adds `Advanced pgTAP testing`, the
deepest RLS testing content in the docs, which nothing here linked.
Drops discussion 14576: locked, mislabeled here as "RLS Guide and Best
Practices" when it is "RLS **Performance** and Best Practices", and
superseded by the troubleshooting entry and this new page.

**Ownership rule** so the two pages don't drift: the RLS guide owns the
rule and the correct form. The performance page owns the measurement and
the optimizer explanation. If a sentence on the performance page tells
you what to write, it belongs on the guide.

Scoped out of this PR: `More resources` was assigned to the restructure
PR in the plan, but the 14576 link is what this PR supersedes, so
leaving it would ship a stale pointer.

## Manual testing

1. Open the [RLS performance
guide](https://docs-git-docs-rls-performance-split-supabase.vercel.app/docs/guides/database/postgres/row-level-security-performance)
on the preview. It appears in the left nav under Database, Access and
security, directly below Row Level Security.
2. Select the three rule links in its intro. Each lands on the matching
section of the RLS guide.
3. Open the [Row Level Security
guide](https://docs-git-docs-rls-performance-split-supabase.vercel.app/docs/guides/database/postgres/row-level-security)
and go to `Write policies that scale`. It holds indexes,
`select`-wrapping, and role scoping, with one link out to the
performance page.
4. Open the [Grafana IO troubleshooting
entry](https://docs-git-docs-rls-performance-split-supabase.vercel.app/docs/guides/troubleshooting/interpreting-supabase-grafana-io-charts-MUynDR)
and select the RLS performance guide link. It lands on the new page.

<!-- This is an auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai
-->

## Summary by CodeRabbit

* **Documentation**
* Added a dedicated guide for diagnosing and improving PostgreSQL Row
Level Security performance.
* Expanded guidance on indexing, query filters, role targeting, function
usage, and avoiding costly policy joins.
* Updated the Row Level Security guide with streamlined, scalable policy
recommendations and links to related resources.
* Added the new performance guide to the Database documentation
navigation.
* Updated troubleshooting guidance to reference the dedicated
performance guide.

<!-- end of auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai -->

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-08-19 10:41:08 -07:00
..