diff --git a/Dockerfile-17 b/Dockerfile-17
index b79dd3787c..755d9e4bea 100644
--- a/Dockerfile-17
+++ b/Dockerfile-17
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ RUN sed -i \
 # Remove timescaledb and plv8 references (not in pg17)
 RUN sed -i 's/ timescaledb,//g;' "/etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf" && \
     sed -i 's/db_user_namespace = off/#db_user_namespace = off/g;' "/etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf" && \
+    sed -i 's/^#summarize_wal = off/summarize_wal = on/' "/etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf" && \
     sed -i 's/ timescaledb,//g; s/ plv8,//g' "/etc/postgresql-custom/supautils.conf"
 
 # Include schema migrations
diff --git a/Dockerfile-orioledb-17 b/Dockerfile-orioledb-17
index baf24e0ed3..407470816a 100644
--- a/Dockerfile-orioledb-17
+++ b/Dockerfile-orioledb-17
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ RUN sed -i \
 # Remove timescaledb, plv8, postgis, pgrouting references (not available in orioledb build)
 RUN sed -i 's/ timescaledb,//g;' "/etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf" && \
     sed -i 's/db_user_namespace = off/#db_user_namespace = off/g;' "/etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf" && \
+    sed -i 's/^#summarize_wal = off/summarize_wal = on/' "/etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf" && \
     sed -i 's/ timescaledb,//g; s/ plv8,//g; s/ postgis,//g; s/ pgrouting,//g' "/etc/postgresql-custom/supautils.conf"
 
 # OrioleDB configuration
diff --git a/ansible/files/postgresql_config/postgresql.conf.j2 b/ansible/files/postgresql_config/postgresql.conf.j2
index 37e50623e0..ce37c8d9e7 100644
--- a/ansible/files/postgresql_config/postgresql.conf.j2
+++ b/ansible/files/postgresql_config/postgresql.conf.j2
@@ -230,6 +230,8 @@ output_plugin_libraries = 'pgoutput, test_decoding, wal2json'	# allowlist of log
 #wal_writer_delay = 200ms		# 1-10000 milliseconds
 #wal_writer_flush_after = 1MB		# measured in pages, 0 disables
 #wal_skip_threshold = 2MB
+#summarize_wal = off		# PG17+ only; enabled at build time for 17 and up
+#wal_summary_keep_time = '10d'	# when to remove old summary files; 0 = never
 
 #commit_delay = 0			# range 0-100000, in microseconds
 #commit_siblings = 5			# range 1-1000
diff --git a/ansible/tasks/stage2-setup-postgres.yml b/ansible/tasks/stage2-setup-postgres.yml
index 9c75e81dc7..367cb6f68e 100644
--- a/ansible/tasks/stage2-setup-postgres.yml
+++ b/ansible/tasks/stage2-setup-postgres.yml
@@ -26,6 +26,12 @@
             regexp: 'db_user_namespace\ =\ off'
             replace: '#db_user_namespace\ =\ off'
 
+        - name: Enable summarize_wal in postgresql.conf if orioledb-17 or 17 build
+          ansible.builtin.replace:
+            path: '/etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf'
+            regexp: '^#summarize_wal = off'
+            replace: 'summarize_wal = on'
+
     - name: Execute things when is_psql_oriole and stage2
       when: stage2 and is_psql_oriole
       become: true
diff --git a/nix/tests/expected/z_17_wal_summarize.out b/nix/tests/expected/z_17_wal_summarize.out
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..80faf63270
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/tests/expected/z_17_wal_summarize.out
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+SELECT (SELECT setting FROM pg_settings WHERE name = 'summarize_wal') = 'on' AS summarize_wal_default_ok;
+ summarize_wal_default_ok 
+--------------------------
+ t
+(1 row)
+
diff --git a/nix/tests/expected/z_orioledb-17_wal_summarize.out b/nix/tests/expected/z_orioledb-17_wal_summarize.out
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..80faf63270
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/tests/expected/z_orioledb-17_wal_summarize.out
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+SELECT (SELECT setting FROM pg_settings WHERE name = 'summarize_wal') = 'on' AS summarize_wal_default_ok;
+ summarize_wal_default_ok 
+--------------------------
+ t
+(1 row)
+
diff --git a/nix/tests/sql/z_17_wal_summarize.sql b/nix/tests/sql/z_17_wal_summarize.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..eec068e11e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/tests/sql/z_17_wal_summarize.sql
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+SELECT (SELECT setting FROM pg_settings WHERE name = 'summarize_wal') = 'on' AS summarize_wal_default_ok;
diff --git a/nix/tests/sql/z_orioledb-17_wal_summarize.sql b/nix/tests/sql/z_orioledb-17_wal_summarize.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..eec068e11e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/tests/sql/z_orioledb-17_wal_summarize.sql
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+SELECT (SELECT setting FROM pg_settings WHERE name = 'summarize_wal') = 'on' AS summarize_wal_default_ok;
diff --git a/nix/tools/run-server.sh.in b/nix/tools/run-server.sh.in
index 041304abd8..a38565d295 100644
--- a/nix/tools/run-server.sh.in
+++ b/nix/tools/run-server.sh.in
@@ -247,6 +247,11 @@ session_preload_libraries = 'supautils'" \
 -e "s|include_dir = '/etc/postgresql-custom/conf.d'|include_dir = '$DATDIR/conf.d'|" \
 "$PSQL_CONF_FILE" > "$DATDIR/postgresql.conf"
 
+# summarize_wal is PostgreSQL 17+; PG15 refuses to start on an unknown GUC
+if [ "$VERSION" != "15" ]; then
+    perl -pi -e 's/^#summarize_wal = off/summarize_wal = on/' "$DATDIR/postgresql.conf"
+fi
+
 # Function to configure OrioleDB specific settings
 orioledb_config_items() {
     if [[ "$1" = "orioledb-17" && "$CURRENT_SYSTEM" != "aarch64-darwin" ]]; then