pgpm

pgpm — a Postgres Package Manager

A modern CLI for modular PostgreSQL development.

pgpm is a focused command-line tool for PostgreSQL database migrations and package management. It provides the core functionality for managing database schemas, migrations, and module dependencies.

✨ Features

• 📦 Postgres Module System — Reusable, composable database packages with dependency management, per-module plans, and versioned releases
• 🔄 Deterministic Migration Engine — Version-controlled, plan-driven deployments with rollback support and idempotent execution enforced by dependency and validation safeguards.
• 📊 Recursive Module Resolution — Recursively resolves database package dependencies (just like npm) from plan files or SQL headers, producing a reproducible cross-module migration graph.
• 🏷️ Tag-Aware Versioning - Deploy to @tags, resolve tags to changes, and reference tags across modules for coordinated releases
• 🐘 Portable Postgres Development — Rely on standard SQL migrations for a workflow that runs anywhere Postgres does.
• 🚀 Turnkey Module-First Workspaces — pgpm init delivers a ready-to-code Postgres workspace with CI/CD, Docker, end-to-end testing, and modern TS tooling.

🚀 Quick Start

Install & Setup

# Install pgpm globally
npm install -g pgpm

# Start local Postgres (via Docker) and export env vars
pgpm docker start
eval "$(pgpm env)"

Tip: Already running Postgres? Skip the Docker step and just export your PG* vars.

Create a Workspace and Install a Package

# 1. Create a workspace
pgpm init workspace
cd my-app

# 2. Create your first module
pgpm init
cd packages/your-module

# 3. Install a package 
pgpm install @pgpm/faker

# 4. Deploy everything
pgpm deploy --createdb --database mydb1
psql -d mydb1 -c "SELECT faker.city('MI');"
>  Ann Arbor

🛠️ Commands

Here are some useful commands for reference:

Getting Started

• pgpm init - Initialize a new module
• pgpm init workspace - Initialize a new workspace
• pgpm init --template <path> - Initialize using a full template path (e.g., pnpm/module)
• pgpm init -w - Create a workspace first, then create the module inside it

Development Setup

• pgpm docker start - Start PostgreSQL container (via Docker)
• pgpm docker stop - Stop PostgreSQL container
• pgpm env - Print PostgreSQL environment variables for shell export

Database Operations

• pgpm deploy - Deploy database changes and migrations
• pgpm verify - Verify database state matches expected migrations
• pgpm revert - Safely revert database changes

Migration Management

• pgpm migrate - Comprehensive migration management
• pgpm migrate init - Initialize migration tracking
• pgpm migrate status - Check migration status
• pgpm migrate list - List all changes
• pgpm migrate deps - Show change dependencies

Module Management

• pgpm install - Install database modules as dependencies
• pgpm upgrade-modules - Upgrade installed modules to latest versions
• pgpm extension - Interactively manage module dependencies
• pgpm tag - Version your changes with tags

Packaging and Distribution

• pgpm plan - Generate deployment plans for your modules
• pgpm package - Package your module for distribution

Testing

• pgpm test-packages - Run integration tests on all modules in a workspace

Utilities

• pgpm add - Add a new database change
• pgpm remove - Remove a database change
• pgpm export - Export migrations from existing databases
• pgpm clear - Clear database state
• pgpm kill - Clean up database connections
• pgpm analyze - Analyze database structure
• pgpm rename - Rename database changes
• pgpm admin-users - Manage admin users
• pgpm cache clean - Clear cached template repos used by pgpm init
• pgpm update - Install the latest pgpm version from npm

💡 Common Workflows

Starting a New Project and Adding a Change

# 1. Create workspace
pgpm init workspace
cd my-app

# 2. Create your first module
pgpm init
cd packages/new-module

# 3. Add some SQL migrations to sql/ directory
pgpm add some_change

# 4. Deploy to database
pgpm deploy --createdb

🧰 Templates, Caching, and Updates

• pgpm init now scaffolds workspaces/modules from https://github.com/constructive-io/pgpm-boilerplates.git using create-gen-app with a one-week cache (stored under ~/.pgpm/cache/repos). Override with --repo, --from-branch, and --template, or use a local template path.
• Run pgpm cache clean to wipe the cached boilerplates if you need a fresh pull.
• The CLI performs a lightweight npm version check at most once per week (skipped in CI or when PGPM_SKIP_UPDATE_CHECK is set). Use pgpm update to upgrade to the latest release.

Working with Existing Projects

# 1. Navigate to your module
cd packages/your-module

# 2. Install a package 
pgpm install @pgpm/faker

# 3. Deploy all installed modules
pgpm deploy --createdb --database mydb1
psql -d mydb1 -c "SELECT faker.city('MI');"
>  Ann Arbor

Testing a pgpm module in a workspace

# 1. Install workspace dependencies
pnpm install

# 2. Enter the packages/<yourmodule>
cd packages/yourmodule

# 3. Test the module in watch mode
pnpm test:watch

Database Operations

pgpm deploy

Deploy your database changes and migrations.

# Deploy to selected database
pgpm deploy

# Create database if it doesn't exist
pgpm deploy --createdb

# Deploy specific package to a tag
pgpm deploy --package mypackage --to @v1.0.0

# Fast deployment without transactions
pgpm deploy --fast --no-tx

pgpm verify

Verify your database state matches expected migrations.

# Verify current state
pgpm verify

# Verify specific package
pgpm verify --package mypackage

pgpm revert

Safely revert database changes.

# Revert latest changes
pgpm revert

# Revert to specific tag
pgpm revert --to @v1.0.0

Migration Management

pgpm migrate

Comprehensive migration management.

# Initialize migration tracking
pgpm migrate init

# Check migration status
pgpm migrate status

# List all changes
pgpm migrate list

# Show change dependencies
pgpm migrate deps

Module Management

pgpm install

Install pgpm modules as dependencies.

# Install single package
pgpm install @pgpm/base32

# Install multiple packages
pgpm install @pgpm/base32 @pgpm/faker

pgpm upgrade-modules

Upgrade installed pgpm modules to their latest versions from npm.

# Interactive selection of modules to upgrade
pgpm upgrade-modules

# Upgrade all installed modules without prompting
pgpm upgrade-modules --all

# Preview available upgrades without making changes
pgpm upgrade-modules --dry-run

# Upgrade specific modules
pgpm upgrade-modules --modules @pgpm/base32,@pgpm/faker

# Upgrade modules across all packages in the workspace
pgpm upgrade-modules --workspace --all

Options:

• --all - Upgrade all modules without prompting
• --dry-run - Show what would be upgraded without making changes
• --modules <names> - Comma-separated list of specific modules to upgrade
• --workspace - Upgrade modules across all packages in the workspace
• --cwd <directory> - Working directory (default: current directory)

pgpm extension

Interactively manage module dependencies.

pgpm extension

pgpm tag

Version your changes with tags.

# Tag latest change
pgpm tag v1.0.0

# Tag with comment
pgpm tag v1.0.0 --comment "Initial release"

# Tag specific change
pgpm tag v1.1.0 --package mypackage --changeName my-change

Packaging and Distribution

pgpm plan

Generate deployment plans for your modules.

pgpm plan

pgpm package

Package your module for distribution.

# Package with defaults
pgpm package

# Package without deployment plan
pgpm package --no-plan

Utilities

pgpm dump

Dump a postgres database to a sql file.

# dump to default timestamped file
pgpm dump --database mydb

# interactive mode (prompts for database)
pgpm dump

# dump to specific file
pgpm dump --database mydb --out ./backup.sql

# dump from a specific working directory
pgpm dump --database mydb --cwd ./packages/my-module

# dump with pruning 
# useful for creating test fixtures or development snapshots
pgpm dump --database mydb --database-id <uuid>

pgpm export

Export migrations from existing databases.

pgpm export

pgpm kill

Clean up database connections and optionally drop databases.

# Kill connections and drop databases
pgpm kill

# Only kill connections
pgpm kill --no-drop

Testing

pgpm test-packages

Run integration tests on all modules in a workspace. Creates a temporary database for each module, deploys, and optionally runs verify/revert/deploy cycles.

# Test all modules in workspace (deploy only)
pgpm test-packages

# Run full deploy/verify/revert/deploy cycle
pgpm test-packages --full-cycle

# Continue testing all packages even after failures
pgpm test-packages --continue-on-fail

# Exclude specific modules
pgpm test-packages --exclude my-module,another-module

# Combine options
pgpm test-packages --full-cycle --continue-on-fail --exclude legacy-module

Options:

• --full-cycle - Run full deploy/verify/revert/deploy cycle (default: deploy only)
• --continue-on-fail - Continue testing all packages even after failures (default: stop on first failure)
• --exclude <modules> - Comma-separated module names to exclude
• --cwd <directory> - Working directory (default: current directory)

Notes:

• Discovers modules from workspace pgpm.json configuration
• Creates isolated test databases (test_<module_name>) for each module
• Automatically cleans up test databases after each test
• Uses internal APIs for deploy/verify/revert operations

⚙️ Configuration

Environment Variables

pgpm uses standard PostgreSQL environment variables (PGHOST, PGPORT, PGDATABASE, PGUSER, PGPASSWORD).

Quick setup (recommended):

eval "$(pgpm env)"

Manual setup (if you prefer):

export PGHOST=localhost
export PGPORT=5432
export PGDATABASE=myapp
export PGUSER=postgres
export PGPASSWORD=password

Supabase local development:

eval "$(pgpm env --supabase)"

Getting Help

Command Help

# Global help
pgpm --help

# Command-specific help
pgpm deploy --help
pgpm tag -h

Common Options

Most commands support these global options:

• --help, -h - Show help information
• --version, -v - Show version information
• --cwd <dir> - Set working directory

AI Agent Skills

Install the pgpm skill for AI coding agents (Devin, Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot):

npx skills add https://github.com/constructive-io/constructive --skill pgpm

For the full Constructive platform skills (security, blueprints, codegen, billing, etc.):

npx skills add constructive-io/constructive-skills

Education and Tutorials

• 🚀 Quickstart: Getting Up and Running Get started with modular databases in minutes. Install prerequisites and deploy your first module.

• 📦 Modular PostgreSQL Development with Database Packages Learn to organize PostgreSQL projects with pgpm workspaces and reusable database modules.

• ✏️ Authoring Database Changes Master the workflow for adding, organizing, and managing database changes with pgpm.

• 🧪 End-to-End PostgreSQL Testing with TypeScript Master end-to-end PostgreSQL testing with ephemeral databases, RLS testing, and CI/CD automation.

• ⚡ Supabase Testing Use TypeScript-first tools to test Supabase projects with realistic RLS, policies, and auth contexts.

• 💧 Drizzle ORM Testing Run full-stack tests with Drizzle ORM, including database setup, teardown, and RLS enforcement.

• 🔧 Troubleshooting Common issues and solutions for pgpm, PostgreSQL, and testing.

Related Constructive Tooling

📦 Package Management

• pgpm: 🖥️ PostgreSQL Package Manager for modular Postgres development. Works with database workspaces, scaffolding, migrations, seeding, and installing database packages.

🧪 Testing

• pgsql-test: 📊 Isolated testing environments with per-test transaction rollbacks—ideal for integration tests, complex migrations, and RLS simulation.
• pgsql-seed: 🌱 PostgreSQL seeding utilities for CSV, JSON, SQL data loading, and pgpm deployment.
• supabase-test: 🧪 Supabase-native test harness preconfigured for the local Supabase stack—per-test rollbacks, JWT/role context helpers, and CI/GitHub Actions ready.
• graphile-test: 🔐 Authentication mocking for Graphile-focused test helpers and emulating row-level security contexts.
• pg-query-context: 🔒 Session context injection to add session-local context (e.g., SET LOCAL) into queries—ideal for setting role, jwt.claims, and other session settings.

🧠 Parsing & AST

• pgsql-parser: 🔄 SQL conversion engine that interprets and converts PostgreSQL syntax.
• libpg-query-node: 🌉 Node.js bindings for libpg_query, converting SQL into parse trees.
• pg-proto-parser: 📦 Protobuf parser for parsing PostgreSQL Protocol Buffers definitions to generate TypeScript interfaces, utility functions, and JSON mappings for enums.
• @pgsql/enums: 🏷️ TypeScript enums for PostgreSQL AST for safe and ergonomic parsing logic.
• @pgsql/types: 📝 Type definitions for PostgreSQL AST nodes in TypeScript.
• @pgsql/utils: 🛠️ AST utilities for constructing and transforming PostgreSQL syntax trees.

📚 Documentation & Skills

• constructive-skills: 📖 Platform documentation and AI agent skills — feature catalog, blueprint reference, SDK guides (i18n, billing, limits, events, uploads, security, entities, search, AI), and deployment guides.

Install skills for AI coding agents:

# All platform skills (security, blueprints, codegen, billing, etc.)
npx skills add constructive-io/constructive-skills

# Individual repo skills (pgpm, testing, CLI, search, etc.)
npx skills add https://github.com/constructive-io/constructive --skill pgpm
npx skills add https://github.com/constructive-io/constructive --skill constructive-testing

Credits

🛠 Built by the Constructive team — creators of modular Postgres tooling for secure, composable backends. If you like our work, contribute on GitHub.

Disclaimer

AS DESCRIBED IN THE LICENSES, THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", AT YOUR OWN RISK, AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.

No developer or entity involved in creating this software will be liable for any claims or damages whatsoever associated with your use, inability to use, or your interaction with other users of the code, including any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive or consequential damages, or loss of profits, cryptocurrencies, tokens, or anything else of value.