pgweb

Abstract

pgweb makes PostgreSQL administration more accessible and to make the overall usage easier. pgweb is a web-based database browser for PostgreSQL, written in Go with zero-dependency binaries. pgweb was created as an attempt to build very simple and portable application to work with local or remote PostgreSQL databases. This project is open-sourced and maintained a GitHub repository.

Development

Database URL

The database URL used for development is provided through a a system environment variable(COMPOSE_PGWEB_DATABASE_URL). The format of the URL is the typical postgres URL

postgres://pgweb@{HOST.DOMAIN.TLD}:5432/postgres?connect_timeout=30&sslmode=disable

• pgsql: username - this is the default username that should be setup in postgres
• HOST.DOMAIN.TLD: host - this is the fully-qualified domain name of the postgres server
• postgres: database - the default database to connect into
• connect_timeout=30&sslmode=disable: parameter_list - the connection parameters to use.

Variables

compose.yml needs to have some variables set, to-do document.

Notes

• 2024-02-26: FF to fix build error.

Bookmarks and Saved Queries

pgweb supports saved database connection bookmarks via .toml files mounted at /mnt/volumes/configmaps/bookmarks/. The service script automatically enables bookmarks when this directory exists.

Bookmark File Format

Create one .toml file per bookmark in /mnt/volumes/configmaps/bookmarks/:

# /mnt/volumes/configmaps/bookmarks/mydb.toml
[bookmark]
url      = "postgres://user:password@host:5432/dbname"
# Optional: pre-load a query when this bookmark is selected
# query = "SELECT * FROM users LIMIT 10;"

Or using individual fields:

[bookmark]
host     = "postgres-host"
port     = 5432
user     = "pgweb"
password = "secret"
database = "mydb"
sslmode  = "disable"

Kubernetes ConfigMap Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: pgweb-bookmarks
data:
  production.toml: |
    [bookmark]
    host     = "postgres"
    port     = 5432
    user     = "pgweb"
    database = "app"
    sslmode  = "require"

Mount at /mnt/volumes/configmaps/bookmarks in your pod spec.

Saved Queries

pgweb does not provide server-side persistent query storage. The query field in a bookmark .toml file pre-populates the query editor when the bookmark connection is opened, providing a workflow for commonly used queries. Query history is stored in the browser's local storage.