Getting Started

Installation

Pick your operating system or preferred installation method:

Linux

Download the package for your distro from the releases page.

Debian / Ubuntu

sudo dpkg -i pgxcli_*_linux_amd64.deb

Fedora / RHEL

sudo rpm -i pgxcli_*_linux_amd64.rpm

Alpine

sudo apk add --allow-untrusted pgxcli_*_linux_amd64.apk

Arch Linux You can install from the AUR:

yay -S pgxcli

Or manually install the downloaded package:

sudo pacman -U pgxcli_*_linux_amd64.pkg.tar.zst

Archive (tar.gz)

tar -xzf pgxcli_*_linux_amd64.tar.gz
sudo mv pgxcli /usr/local/bin/

Mac

Grab the latest .tar.gz for your architecture from the releases page.

Manual Installation

# For Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3)
tar -xzf pgxcli_0.3.0_darwin_arm64.tar.gz
sudo mv pgxcli /usr/local/bin/

# For Intel Mac
tar -xzf pgxcli_0.3.0_darwin_amd64.tar.gz
sudo mv pgxcli /usr/local/bin/

Windows

Installer (MSI) — recommended

Download the .msi from the releases page and run it. pgxcli will be added to your PATH automatically.

Archive (zip)

Grab the .zip from the releases page, extract it, and place pgxcli.exe anywhere on your PATH.

Go Install

Make sure you have Go 1.26.4+.

go install github.com/balajz/pgxcli@latest

Docker

You can run pgxcli directly using Docker from GitHub Container Registry or Docker Hub:

GitHub Container Registry (GHCR)

docker run -it --rm ghcr.io/balajz/pgxcli:v0.3.0 postgres://user:pass@host:5432/db

Docker Hub

docker run -it --rm balajz/pgxcli:v0.3.0 postgres://user:pass@host:5432/db

Source Code

Make sure you have Go 1.26.4+.

git clone https://github.com/balajz/pgxcli.git
cd pgxcli
make build

The binary lands in bin/app. Move it wherever you like (e.g., /usr/local/bin/pgxcli).

---

Quick Start

Connect to a database:

pgxcli mydb myuser

That's it. You'll get a REPL with syntax highlighting, autocompletion, and history — ready to go.

tip

On first run, pgxcli creates a config file at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pgxcli/config.toml when XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set, otherwise in the OS-standard user config directory. You can customize your prompt, theme, pager, and more. See Configuration.

Try a Query

SELECT version();

Results render in a clean table with execution time. If the output is long, pgxcli pages it automatically.

Exit

Type \q.

---

Next Steps

• Connecting — all the ways to connect (flags, URI, interactive form)
• Configuration — customize your prompt, theme, and behavior
• Special Commands — backslash commands reference
• CLI Flags — every flag, documented