Packages

Pigsty uses package aliases to simplify extension installation and management.

Package Alias Mechanism

Extensions have different names at different layers:

Use a package alias to specify an extension without its RPM or DEB package name:

pg_extensions: [ pgvector, postgis, timescaledb ]  # Use package aliases

Pigsty converts each alias to the correct package names for the operating system and PostgreSQL version.

Note: When using CREATE EXTENSION, you use the extension name (e.g., vector), not the package alias (pgvector).

Category Aliases

Pigsty organizes all extensions into 16 categories. Use category aliases to install extensions from a category together:

# Use generic category aliases (auto-adapt to current PG version)
pg_extensions: [ pgsql-gis, pgsql-rag, pgsql-fts ]

# Or use version-specific category aliases
pg_extensions: [ pg18-gis, pg18-rag, pg18-fts ]

Category aliases expand to package groups in each platform’s package_map. They do not include every extension in a category or guarantee support for every PostgreSQL version. See alias mappings and the availability matrix for members and version support.

Check dependencies and compatibility for the versions in use. For example, the current pg_mooncake depends on pg_duckdb; both must be installed and preloaded.

Category List

Browse Extension Catalog

Use the Pigsty Extension Catalog to find these details for all available extensions:

• Extension name, description, version
• Supported PostgreSQL versions
• Supported OS distributions
• Installation methods, preloading requirements
• License, source repository