# RDS Performance Tuning Checklist (July 2026)

## Evidence first

- [ ] Performance Insights (or CloudWatch Database Insights) on
- [ ] Top SQL + wait events for peak window
- [ ] CloudWatch: CPU, FreeableMemory, DatabaseConnections, DiskQueueDepth

## Storage / pool

- [ ] gp3 baseline; raise IOPS/throughput before io2 unless justified
- [ ] RDS Proxy (or PgBouncer) for Lambda/K8s connection storms
- [ ] No MySQL query cache plans (removed in 8.0)

## Scale / cache

- [ ] Fix indexes/N+1 before adding replicas
- [ ] ElastiCache for hot reads; stampede controls (jitter / single-flight)
- [ ] Replica lag SLO documented for read-your-writes paths

## Counter-case

Aurora I/O model differs — do not copy EBS IOPS math blindly.