In one technique, a definition of a materialized view is identified. Based on the definition, multiple candidate partitioning schemes are identified. A query is generated that indicates one or more of the candidate partitioning schemes. The query is then executed, where executing the query results in one or more partition counts, each corresponding to a different candidate partitioning scheme of the one or more candidate partitioning schemes. Based on the one or more partition counts, a candidate partitioning scheme is selected from among the plurality of candidate partitioning schemes. The materialized view is automatically partitioned based on the candidate partitioning scheme.