Install PostgreSQL extensions

Add extensions to your YugabyteDB installation

If an extension is not pre-bundled, you need to install it manually before you can enable it using the CREATE EXTENSION statement. You can install only extensions that are supported by YugabyteDB.

Currently, in a multi-node setup, you need to install the extension on every node in the cluster.

In a read replica setup, install extensions on the primary instance, not on the read replica. Once installed, the extension replicates to the read replica.

You cannot install new extensions in YugabyteDB Managed. If you need a database extension that is not pre-bundled with YugabyteDB added to a YugabyteDB Managed cluster, contact Yugabyte Support with the names of the cluster and extension, or reach out on Slack.

Install an extension

Typically, extensions need three types of files:

  • Shared library files (<name>.so)
  • SQL files (<name>--<version>.sql)
  • Control files (<name>.control)

To install an extension, you need to copy these files into the respective directories of your YugabyteDB installation.

Shared library files go in the pkglibdir directory, while SQL and control files go in the extension subdirectory of the libdir directory.

You can obtain the installation files for the target extension in two ways:

  • Build the extension from scratch following the extension's build instructions.
  • Copy the files from an existing PostgreSQL installation.

After copying the files, restart the cluster (or the respective node in a multi-node install).

Locate installation directories using pg_config

To find the directories where you install the extension files on your local installation, use the YugabyteDB pg_config executable.

First, alias it to yb_pg_config by replacing <yugabyte-path> with the path to your YugabyteDB installation as follows:

alias yb_pg_config=/<yugabyte-path>/postgres/bin/pg_config

List existing shared libraries with:

ls "$(yb_pg_config --pkglibdir)"

List SQL and control files for already-installed extensions with:

ls "$(yb_pg_config --sharedir)"/extension/

Copy extensions from PostgreSQL

The easiest way to install an extension is to copy the files from an existing PostgreSQL installation.

Ideally, use the same version of the PostgreSQL extension as that used by YugabyteDB. To see the version of PostgreSQL used in your YugabyteDB installation, enter the following ysqlsh command:

./bin/ysqlsh --version

psql (PostgreSQL) 11.2-YB-2.11.2.0-b0

If you already have PostgreSQL (use version 11.2 for best YSQL compatibility) with the extension installed, you can find the extension's files as follows:

ls "$(pg_config --pkglibdir)" | grep <name>

ls "$(pg_config --sharedir)"/extension/ | grep <name>

If you have multiple PostgreSQL versions installed, make sure you're selecting the correct pg_config. On an Ubuntu 18.04 environment with multiple PostgreSQL versions installed:

pg_config --version

PostgreSQL 13.0 (Ubuntu 13.0-1.pgdg18.04+1)

/usr/lib/postgresql/11/bin/pg_config --version

PostgreSQL 11.9 (Ubuntu 11.9-1.pgdg18.04+1)

In this case, you should be using /usr/lib/postgresql/11/bin/pg_config.

On CentOS, the correct path is /usr/pgsql-11/bin/pg_config.