diff --git a/documentation/architecture/query-engine.md b/documentation/architecture/query-engine.md
index 260d35b61..9478d0704 100644
--- a/documentation/architecture/query-engine.md
+++ b/documentation/architecture/query-engine.md
@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ to process data in table page frames for better CPU use.
   thread. Other queries, like those involving `GROUP BY` and `SAMPLE BY`, execute a pipeline with some  single-threaded stages and some multi-threaded stages to avoid slow downs when groups are unbalanced.
 
 - **Worker pools:** QuestDB allows to configure different pools for specialized functions, like
-parsing incoming data, applying WAL file changes, handling PostgreSQL-Wire protocol, or responding to HTTP connections. By default, most tasks are handled by a shared worker pool.
+parsing incoming data, applying WAL file changes, handling PostgreSQL-Wire protocol, or responding to HTTP connections. By default, work is spread across three shared pools: network I/O, query
+execution, and writes. See [shared workers](/docs/configuration/shared-workers/).
 
 - **Query plan caching:**
   The system caches query plans for reuse within the same connection. (Query results are not
diff --git a/documentation/configuration/shared-workers.md b/documentation/configuration/shared-workers.md
index e585b5765..a188ad020 100644
--- a/documentation/configuration/shared-workers.md
+++ b/documentation/configuration/shared-workers.md
@@ -26,6 +26,30 @@ server, each pool gets 62 threads. Adjust these values when you need to shift
 CPU capacity toward a specific workload, for example reducing the network pool
 and increasing the query pool on a read-heavy system.
 
+The pools run at different thread priorities so the server stays responsive
+under load: the network pool is one step above normal, the query pool is at
+normal, and the write pool is one step below.
+
+## Settings inherited from the legacy shared pool
+
+Before the split into three pools, QuestDB ran a single shared pool configured
+through the `shared.worker.*` keys. Those keys still work and act as the
+defaults for all three pools.
+
+:::note
+
+`shared.worker.count` sets the default size of **each** pool, not a total to be
+divided between them. On a configuration carried over from a single-pool
+release, `shared.worker.count=8` yields 8 network threads, 8 query threads and
+8 write threads, so 24 in total. Set `shared.network.worker.count`,
+`shared.query.worker.count` and `shared.write.worker.count` explicitly when you
+need to cap the total.
+
+:::
+
+The remaining `shared.worker.*` settings below have no per-pool equivalent:
+they apply to all three pools at once.
+
 ## shared.network.worker.affinity
 
 - **Default**: none
@@ -63,6 +87,16 @@ operations such as filters and group-by. Increasing this value raises query
 parallelism at the expense of CPU resources available to network I/O and
 writes.
 
+## shared.worker.count
+
+- **Default**: see table above
+- **Reloadable**: no
+
+Default number of worker threads for each of the three pools. Overridden per
+pool by `shared.network.worker.count`, `shared.query.worker.count` and
+`shared.write.worker.count`. Kept for compatibility with single-pool
+configurations.
+
 ## shared.worker.haltOnError
 
 - **Default**: `false`
@@ -72,6 +106,39 @@ When enabled, a worker thread stops if it encounters an unexpected error.
 Intended for debugging. In production, leave this disabled so that transient
 errors do not reduce the size of a thread pool.
 
+## shared.worker.nap.threshold
+
+- **Default**: `7000`
+- **Reloadable**: no
+
+Number of idle cycles after which a worker thread yields to other threads with
+a short pause. Applies to all three pools.
+
+## shared.worker.sleep.threshold
+
+- **Default**: `10000`
+- **Reloadable**: no
+
+Number of idle cycles after which a worker thread goes to sleep, waking on
+`shared.worker.sleep.timeout`. Lower values reduce idle CPU use at the cost of
+a slower response to the next task. Applies to all three pools.
+
+## shared.worker.sleep.timeout
+
+- **Default**: `10`
+- **Reloadable**: no
+
+Time in milliseconds a sleeping worker thread waits before checking for work
+again. Applies to all three pools.
+
+## shared.worker.yield.threshold
+
+- **Default**: `10`
+- **Reloadable**: no
+
+Number of idle cycles after which a worker thread yields its CPU time slice.
+Applies to all three pools.
+
 ## shared.write.worker.affinity
 
 - **Default**: none
diff --git a/documentation/getting-started/capacity-planning.md b/documentation/getting-started/capacity-planning.md
index 3548de46b..4b36b0306 100644
--- a/documentation/getting-started/capacity-planning.md
+++ b/documentation/getting-started/capacity-planning.md
@@ -188,7 +188,10 @@ for other database processes to use.
 
 ### CPU cores
 
-By default, QuestDB tries to use all available CPU cores.
+By default, QuestDB tries to use all available CPU cores. Work is spread across
+three pools, sized independently: network I/O, query execution, and writes. Each
+one defaults to roughly the core count, so the total thread count is the sum of
+the three rather than a single pool of that size.
 [The guide on shared worker configuration](/docs/configuration/shared-workers/)
 explains how to change the default settings. Assuming that the disk is not
 bottlenecked on IOPS, the throughput of read-only queries scales proportionally