Skip to content

How to reset Postgres SERIAL number

When testing a table with a SERIAL field, this number will grow even if you remove all items in the table (like you’d do during testing), so you might insert a value and its id is 15 for example.

To restart the sequence from 1, run the SQL query:

ALTER SEQUENCE TABLENAME_id_seq RESTART

Replace TABLENAME with your table name, like:

ALTER SEQUENCE users_id_seq RESTART

Using TablePlus you have the option to reset the sequence when you truncate a table to remove its content.


I wrote 21 books to help you become a better developer:

  • HTML Handbook
  • Next.js Pages Router Handbook
  • Alpine.js Handbook
  • HTMX Handbook
  • TypeScript Handbook
  • React Handbook
  • SQL Handbook
  • Git Cheat Sheet
  • Laravel Handbook
  • Express Handbook
  • Swift Handbook
  • Go Handbook
  • PHP Handbook
  • Python Handbook
  • Linux Commands Handbook
  • C Handbook
  • JavaScript Handbook
  • Svelte Handbook
  • CSS Handbook
  • Node.js Handbook
  • Vue Handbook
...download them all now!

Related posts that talk about database: