Install and Connect to PostgreSQL on Mac

Nil Seri
3 min readNov 17, 2021

Install PostgreSQL.app and use DBeaver as a GUI

Photo by Matthew Spiteri on Unsplash

There are different options here to install and use PostgreSQL but I chose to use PostgreSQL.app since it seems (from the explanation below) that you do not have to deal with starting or stopping services; you just open or close the app.

Postgres.app is a simple, native macOS app that runs in the menubar without the need of an installer. Open the app, and you have a PostgreSQL server ready and awaiting new connections. Close the app, and the server shuts down.

You can also follow instructions from here but I will be sharing what I did according to the instructions with screenshots.

I downloaded the app and opened it:

I clicked “Initialize” button (the second one was my username so I blurred it 😊):

If you would like to continue from terminal afterwards, you should double click one.

A terminal opens, waiting for your commands (I double clicked “template” randomly):

Another option is direct use from terminal by running the command below for the configuration:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/paths.d &&
echo /Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin | sudo tee /etc/paths.d/postgresapp

When we list to see what is under “bin” directory:

I use iTerm and I had to exit and reopen it again to be able to run “psql” from command line:

As a GUI, I will be using DBeaver Community Edition:

I had also used it with Cassandra and you can read my post here:

After choosing “PostgreSQL” from the menu above, a “Connection Settings” window appears. I left the settings as is and clicked “Test Connection” button.

I clicked “Finish” and the connection setting now appears on the “Database Navigator” tab (remember there were “postgres, username and template1” in Postgres.app screenshot — the default one was “postgres”).

You can now create a new schema by right clicking “Schemas” or directly create a table with a right click on “Tables”.

References:
https://www.postgresql.org/download/macosx/
https://postgresapp.com/

Happy Coding!

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Nil Seri

I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code | coding 👩🏻‍💻 | coffee ☕️ | jazz 🎷 | anime 🐲 | books 📚 | drawing 🎨