I’ve worked with developers who manage growing applications and frequently run into MySQL performance issues. As traffic increases, database queries that were once fine can suddenly start slowing things down.
The typical workflow for identifying and fixing slow queries usually looks like this:
1. Enable MySQL slow query logging.
2. Manually check the logs or use an APM tool like New Relic.
3. Use EXPLAIN to analyze query plans.
4. Try indexing, caching, or rewriting queries.
5. Monitor and repeat.
It works - but it’s manual and can take time.
Plus, reading EXPLAIN output isn’t always straightforward, especially if you’re not a database expert.
Another downside:
This approach mostly focuses on slow queries but often ignores frequent queries that may be fast individually but consume a lot of resources when executed thousands of times per second. Over time, these can have a big impact too.
What We Did Differently
To make this easier, we built a tool Releem that:
- Automatically detects missing, duplicate, or redundant indexes
- Highlights both slow and frequently executed queries
- Suggests specific ways to optimize queries
- Measures performance before and after changes
Here’s a short video showing how it works:
How Do You Handle Slow Queries?
I’m curious - how do you currently deal with slow MySQL queries in your projects?
Do you rely on logs, APM tools, query tuning, or something else?
Would love to hear your thoughts or tips.
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