Get Started

Here’s a simple tutorial to experience the core capabilities of PIG package manager.

Quick Start 

curl -fsSL https://repo.pigsty.io/pig | bash   # Install PIG from Cloudflare
pig repo set                                   # Configure Linux, Pigsty + PGDG repos (overwrite mode!)
pig install -v 18 -y pg18 pg_duckdb vector     # Install PG 18 core, pg_duckdb, pgvector extensions...

Installation

Install pig with a single command:

curl -fsSL https://repo.pigsty.io/pig | bash     # Install from Cloudflare
curl -fsSL https://repo.pigsty.cc/pig | bash     # Install from China CDN mirror

The PIG binary is approximately 4 MB and will automatically install the latest available version using rpm or dpkg on Linux:

[INFO] kernel = Linux
[INFO] machine = x86_64
[INFO] package = rpm
[INFO] pkg_url = https://repo.pigsty.io/pkg/pig/v1.0.0/pig-1.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm
[INFO] download = /tmp/pig-1.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm
[INFO] downloading pig v1.0.0
curl -fSL https://repo.pigsty.io/pkg/pig/v1.0.0/pig-1.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm -o /tmp/pig-1.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm
######################################################################## 100.0%
[INFO] md5sum = 85d75c16dfd3ce935d9d889fae345430
[INFO] installing: rpm -ivh /tmp/pig-1.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm
Verifying...                          ################################# [100%]
Preparing...                          ################################# [100%]
Updating / installing...
   1:pig-1.0.0-1                      ################################# [100%]
[INFO] pig v1.0.0 installed successfully
check https://pgext.cloud for details

Environment Check

PIG is a Go binary, installed by default at /usr/bin/pig. Use pig version to display version information:

$ pig version

pig version 1.0.0 linux/amd64
build: HEAD 35f3aac 2026-01-18T00:00:00Z

Use pig status to display the current environment status, OS code, PostgreSQL installation, repository accessibility and latency.

$ pig status

# [Configuration] ================================
Pig Version      : 1.0.0
Pig Config       : /root/.pig/config.yml
Log Level        : info
Log Path         : stderr

# [OS Environment] ===============================
OS Distro Code   : el10
OS OSArch        : amd64
OS Package Type  : rpm
OS Vendor ID     : rocky
OS Version       : 10
OS Version Full  : 10.0
OS Version Code  : el10

# [PG Environment] ===============================
No PostgreSQL installation found

No active PostgreSQL found in PATH:
- /root/.local/bin
- /root/bin
- /usr/local/sbin
- /usr/local/bin
- /usr/sbin
- /usr/bin

# [Pigsty Environment] ===========================
Inventory Path   : Not Found
Pigsty Home      : Not Found

# [Network Conditions] ===========================
pigsty.cc  ping ok: 612 ms
pigsty.io  ping ok: 1222 ms
google.com request error
Internet Access   :  true
Pigsty Repo       :  pigsty.io
Inferred Region   :  china
Latest Pigsty Ver :  v3.6.1

List Extensions

Use pig ext list to display the built-in PostgreSQL extension catalog.

$ pig ext list
Name                            Status              Version     Cate   Flags   License       Repo     PGVer  Package                    Description
----                            ------              -------     ----   ------  -------       ------   -----  ------------               ---------------------
timescaledb                     installed  2.24.0      TIME   -dsl--  Timescale     PIGSTY   15-18  timescaledb-tsl_18         Enables scalable inserts and complex queries for time-series dat
timescaledb_toolkit             installed  1.22.0      TIME   -ds-t-  Timescale     PIGSTY   15-18  timescaledb-toolkit_18     Library of analytical hyperfunctions, time-series pipelining, an
timeseries                      installed  0.2.0       TIME   -d----  PostgreSQL    PIGSTY   13-18  pg_timeseries_18           Convenience API for time series stack
periods                         installed  1.2.3       TIME   -ds---  PostgreSQL    PGDG     13-18  periods_18                 Provide Standard SQL functionality for PERIODs and SYSTEM VERSIO
temporal_tables                 installed  1.2.2       TIME   -ds--r  BSD 2-Clause  PIGSTY   13-18  temporal_tables_18         temporal tables
...
pg_bulkload                     installed  3.1.23      ETL    bds---  BSD 3-Clause  PGDG     13-18  pg_bulkload_18             pg_bulkload is a high speed data loading utility for PostgreSQL
test_decoding                   available  -           ETL    --s--x  PostgreSQL    CONTRIB  13-18  postgresql18-contrib       SQL-based test/example module for WAL logical decoding
pgoutput                        available  -           ETL    --s---  PostgreSQL    CONTRIB  13-18  postgresql18-contrib       Logical Replication output plugin

(444 Rows) (Status: installed, available, not avail | Flags: b = HasBin, d = HasDDL, s = HasLib, l = NeedLoad, t = Trusted, r = Relocatable, x = Unknown)

All extension metadata is defined in a file called extension.csv, which is continuously updated with pig releases. You can update this data file directly using pig ext reload. The updated file is placed at ~/.pig/extension.csv by default, where you can review and modify it. The authoritative version of this data file can be found in this project.

Add Repositories

To install extensions, you first need to add upstream repositories. pig repo manages Linux APT/YUM/DNF repository configurations.

You can use the straightforward pig repo set to overwrite existing repository configurations, ensuring only necessary repositories exist:

pig repo set                # Configure all repos at once: Linux, PGDG, PIGSTY (PGSQL+INFRA) repositories
pig repo set will backup and clean existing repository configurations, then add required repositories with overwrite semantics. Use with caution!

Or choose the gentler pig repo add to add required repositories:

pig repo add pgdg pigsty     # Add official PGDG and PIGSTY supplementary repositories
pig repo add pgsql           # [Optional] Add PGDG and PIGSTY combined as a single "pgsql" module
pig repo update              # Update cache: apt update / yum makecache

PIG detects your network environment and chooses between Cloudflare global CDN or China mainland CDN, but you can force a region using the --region parameter.

pig repo set      --region=china              # Use China region mirror (pigsty/aliyun) for faster downloads
pig repo set      --region=europe             # Use Europe region mirror (xtom) for faster downloads
pig repo add pgdg --region=default --update   # Force using upstream PGDG repository

PIG doesn’t support offline installation. You can download RPM/DEB packages yourself and copy them to network-isolated production servers. The related PIGSTY project provides local repositories, supporting extension installation from local repositories using pig.

Install PostgreSQL

After adding repositories, use pig ext add to install extensions (and related packages):

pig ext add -v 18 -y pgsql timescaledb postgis vector pg_duckdb pg_mooncake # Install PG 18 core and extensions with auto-confirm

# The command automatically performs translation, mapping packages to:
INFO[20:34:44] translate alias 'pgsql' to package: postgresql$v postgresql$v-server postgresql$v-libs postgresql$v-contrib postgresql$v-plperl postgresql$v-plpython3 postgresql$v-pltcl
INFO[20:34:44] translate extension 'timescaledb' to package: timescaledb-tsl_18
INFO[20:34:44] translate extension 'postgis' to package: postgis36_18
INFO[20:34:44] translate extension 'vector' to package: pgvector_18
INFO[20:34:44] translate extension 'pg_duckdb' to package: pg_duckdb_18
INFO[20:34:44] translate extension 'pg_mooncake' to package: pg_mooncake_18
INFO[20:34:44] installing packages: dnf install -y postgresql18 postgresql18-server postgresql18-libs postgresql18-contrib postgresql18-plperl postgresql18-plpython3 postgresql18-pltcl timescaledb-tsl_18 postgis36_18 pgvector_18 pg_duckdb_18 pg_mooncake_18

This uses an “alias translation” mechanism, translating clean PostgreSQL core/extension logical names to actual RPM/DEB packages. To install without alias translation, use apt/dnf directly, or use the pig install variant with -n|--no-translation:

pig install vector     # With translation, installs pgvector_18 or postgresql-18-pgvector for PG 18
pig install vector -n  # Without translation, installs a logging component named vector (from pigsty-infra repo)

Alias Translation

PostgreSQL core and extensions correspond to various RPM/DEB packages. Remembering these packages is cumbersome, so pig provides many useful aliases to simplify installation:

For example on EL systems, the following aliases translate to the corresponding RPM packages on the right:

pgsql:        "postgresql$v postgresql$v-server postgresql$v-libs postgresql$v-contrib postgresql$v-plperl postgresql$v-plpython3 postgresql$v-pltcl"
pg18:         "postgresql18 postgresql18-server postgresql18-libs postgresql18-contrib postgresql18-plperl postgresql18-plpython3 postgresql18-pltcl"
pg18-client:  "postgresql18"
pg18-server:  "postgresql18-server postgresql18-libs postgresql18-contrib"
pg18-devel:   "postgresql18-devel"
pg18-basic:   "pg_repack_18 wal2json_18 pgvector_18"
pg17-mini:    "postgresql17 postgresql17-server postgresql17-libs postgresql17-contrib"
pg16-full:    "postgresql16 postgresql16-server postgresql16-libs postgresql16-contrib postgresql16-plperl postgresql16-plpython3 postgresql16-pltcl postgresql16-llvmjit postgresql16-test postgresql16-devel"
pg15-main:    "postgresql15 postgresql15-server postgresql15-libs postgresql15-contrib postgresql15-plperl postgresql15-plpython3 postgresql15-pltcl pg_repack_15 wal2json_15 pgvector_15"
pg14-core:    "postgresql14 postgresql14-server postgresql14-libs postgresql14-contrib postgresql14-plperl postgresql14-plpython3 postgresql14-pltcl"

Note the $v placeholder is replaced with the PostgreSQL major version. When using the pgsql alias, $v is substituted with actual major versions like 18, 17. So when you install the pg18-server alias, on EL you’re actually installing postgresql18-server, postgresql18-libs, postgresql18-contrib, and on Debian/Ubuntu you’re installing postgresql-18. PIG handles all the details.


Common PostgreSQL Aliases

Alias translation list for EL

cli/ext/catalog.go
"pgsql":        "postgresql$v postgresql$v-server postgresql$v-libs postgresql$v-contrib postgresql$v-plperl postgresql$v-plpython3 postgresql$v-pltcl",
"pgsql-mini":   "postgresql$v postgresql$v-server postgresql$v-libs postgresql$v-contrib",
"pgsql-core":   "postgresql$v postgresql$v-server postgresql$v-libs postgresql$v-contrib postgresql$v-plperl postgresql$v-plpython3 postgresql$v-pltcl",
"pgsql-full":   "postgresql$v postgresql$v-server postgresql$v-libs postgresql$v-contrib postgresql$v-plperl postgresql$v-plpython3 postgresql$v-pltcl postgresql$v-llvmjit postgresql$v-test postgresql$v-devel",
"pgsql-main":   "postgresql$v postgresql$v-server postgresql$v-libs postgresql$v-contrib postgresql$v-plperl postgresql$v-plpython3 postgresql$v-pltcl pg_repack_$v wal2json_$v pgvector_$v",
"pgsql-client": "postgresql$v",
"pgsql-server": "postgresql$v-server postgresql$v-libs postgresql$v-contrib",
"pgsql-devel":  "postgresql$v-devel",
"pgsql-basic":  "pg_repack_$v wal2json_$v pgvector_$v",

Alias translation for Debian/Ubuntu

cli/ext/catalog.go
"pgsql":        "postgresql-$v postgresql-client-$v postgresql-plpython3-$v postgresql-plperl-$v postgresql-pltcl-$v",
"pgsql-mini":   "postgresql-$v postgresql-client-$v",
"pgsql-core":   "postgresql-$v postgresql-client-$v postgresql-plpython3-$v postgresql-plperl-$v postgresql-pltcl-$v",
"pgsql-full":   "postgresql-$v postgresql-client-$v postgresql-plpython3-$v postgresql-plperl-$v postgresql-pltcl-$v postgresql-server-dev-$v",
"pgsql-main":   "postgresql-$v postgresql-client-$v postgresql-plpython3-$v postgresql-plperl-$v postgresql-pltcl-$v postgresql-$v-repack postgresql-$v-wal2json postgresql-$v-pgvector",
"pgsql-client": "postgresql-client-$v",
"pgsql-server": "postgresql-$v",
"pgsql-devel":  "postgresql-server-dev-$v",
"pgsql-basic":  "postgresql-$v-repack postgresql-$v-wal2json postgresql-$v-pgvector",

These aliases can be used directly and instantiated with parameters for major versions, or you can use variants with specific major version numbers: replace pgsql with pg18, pg17, pgxx, etc. For example, for PostgreSQL 18, you can use these aliases directly:

pgsqlpg18pg17pg16pg15pg14pg13
pgsqlpg18pg17pg16pg15pg14pg13
pgsql-minipg18-minipg17-minipg16-minipg15-minipg14-minipg13-mini
pgsql-corepg18-corepg17-corepg16-corepg15-corepg14-corepg13-core
pgsql-fullpg18-fullpg17-fullpg16-fullpg15-fullpg14-fullpg13-full
pgsql-mainpg18-mainpg17-mainpg16-mainpg15-mainpg14-mainpg13-main
pgsql-clientpg18-clientpg17-clientpg16-clientpg15-clientpg14-clientpg13-client
pgsql-serverpg18-serverpg17-serverpg16-serverpg15-serverpg14-serverpg13-server
pgsql-develpg18-develpg17-develpg16-develpg15-develpg14-develpg13-devel
pgsql-basicpg18-basicpg17-basicpg16-basicpg15-basicpg14-basicpg13-basic

Install Extensions

PIG detects PostgreSQL installations in your system environment. If an active PG installation is detected (based on pg_config in PATH), pig automatically installs extensions for that PostgreSQL major version without explicit version specification.

pig install pg_smtp_client          # Simpler
pig install pg_smtp_client -v 18    # Explicitly specify major version, more reliable
pig install pg_smtp_client -p /usr/lib/postgresql/16/bin/pg_config   # Another way to specify PG version
dnf install pg_smtp_client_18       # Most direct... but not all extensions are this simple...

Tip: To add a specific PostgreSQL major version binaries to PATH, use pig ext link:

pig ext link pg18             # Create /usr/pgsql symlink and write to /etc/profile.d/pgsql.sh
. /etc/profile.d/pgsql.sh     # Take effect immediately, update PATH environment variable

To install a specific software version, use name=ver syntax:

pig ext add -v 17 pgvector=0.7.2 # install pgvector 0.7.2 for PG 17
pig ext add pg16=16.5            # install PostgreSQL 16 with a specific minor version
Note that currently only PGDG YUM repository provides historical extension versions. PIGSTY repository and PGDG APT repository only provide the latest version of extensions.

Display Extensions

pig ext status displays currently installed extensions.

$ pig ext status -v 18

Installed:
- PostgreSQL 18.0  80  Extensions

No active PostgreSQL found in PATH:
- /root/.local/bin
- /root/bin
- /usr/local/sbin
- /usr/local/bin
- /usr/sbin
- /usr/bin
Extension Stat  :  11 Installed (PIGSTY 3, PGDG 8) + 69 CONTRIB = 80 Total

Name                          Version  Cate  Flags   License     Repo    Package              Description
----                          -------  ----  ------  -------     ------  ------------         ---------------------
timescaledb                   2.23.0   TIME  -dsl--  Timescale   PIGSTY  timescaledb-tsl_18*  Enables scalable inserts and complex queries for time-series dat
postgis                       3.6.0    GIS   -ds---  GPL-2.0     PGDG    postgis36_18*        PostGIS geometry and geography spatial types and functions
postgis_topology              3.6.0    GIS   -ds---  GPL-2.0     PGDG    postgis36_18*        PostGIS topology spatial types and functions
postgis_raster                3.6.0    GIS   -ds---  GPL-2.0     PGDG    postgis36_18*        PostGIS raster types and functions
postgis_sfcgal                3.6.0    GIS   -ds--r  GPL-2.0     PGDG    postgis36_18*        PostGIS SFCGAL functions
postgis_tiger_geocoder        3.6.0    GIS   -ds-t-  GPL-2.0     PGDG    postgis36_18*        PostGIS tiger geocoder and reverse geocoder
address_standardizer          3.6.0    GIS   -ds--r  GPL-2.0     PGDG    postgis36_18*        Used to parse an address into constituent elements. Generally us
address_standardizer_data_us  3.6.0    GIS   -ds--r  GPL-2.0     PGDG    postgis36_18*        Address Standardizer US dataset example
vector                        0.8.1    RAG   -ds--r  PostgreSQL  PGDG    pgvector_18*         vector data type and ivfflat and hnsw access methods
pg_duckdb                     1.1.0    OLAP  -dsl--  MIT         PIGSTY  pg_duckdb_18*        DuckDB Embedded in Postgres
pg_mooncake                   0.2.0    OLAP  -d----  MIT         PIGSTY  pg_mooncake_18*      Columnstore Table in Postgres

If PostgreSQL cannot be found in your current system PATH (based on pg_config in PATH), make sure to specify the PG major version or pg_config path via -v|-p.

Scan Extensions

pig ext scan provides lower-level extension scanning, scanning shared libraries in specified PostgreSQL directories to discover installed extensions:

root@s37451:~# pig ext scan
Installed:
* PostgreSQL 17.6 (Debian 17.6-2.pgdg13+1)    70  Extensions
- PostgreSQL 15.14 (Debian 15.14-1.pgdg13+1)  69  Extensions
- PostgreSQL 14.19 (Debian 14.19-1.pgdg13+1)  66  Extensions
- PostgreSQL 13.22 (Debian 13.22-1.pgdg13+1)  64  Extensions
- PostgreSQL 18.0 (Debian 18.0-1.pgdg13+3)    70  Extensions
- PostgreSQL 16.10 (Debian 16.10-1.pgdg13+1)  70  Extensions

Active:
PG Version      :  PostgreSQL 17.6 (Debian 17.6-2.pgdg13+1)
Config Path     :  /usr/lib/postgresql/17/bin/pg_config
Binary Path     :  /usr/lib/postgresql/17/bin
Library Path    :  /usr/lib/postgresql/17/lib
Extension Path  :  /usr/share/postgresql/17/extension
Name                 Version  SharedLibs                                       Description            Meta
----                 -------  ----------                                       ---------------------  ------
amcheck              1.4      functions for verifying relation integrity       relocatable=true module_pathname=$libdir/amcheck lib=amcheck.so
...
pg_duckdb            1.1.0    DuckDB Embedded in Postgres                      module_pathname=$libdir/pg_duckdb relocatable=false schema=public lib=libduckdb.so, pg_duckdb.so
pg_mooncake          0.2.0    Real-time analytics on Postgres tables           module_pathname=pg_mooncake relocatable=false requires=pg_duckdb superuser=true lib=pg_mooncake.so
pg_prewarm           1.2      prewarm relation data                            module_pathname=$libdir/pg_prewarm relocatable=true lib=pg_prewarm.so
pg_smtp_client       0.2.1    PostgreSQL extension to send email using SMTP    relocatable=false superuser=false schema=smtp_client module_pathname=$libdir/pg_smtp_client lib=pg_smtp_client.so
...
Encoding Libs: cyrillic_and_mic, euc2004_sjis2004, euc_cn_and_mic, euc_jp_and_sjis, euc_kr_and_mic, euc_tw_and_big5, latin2_and_win1250, latin_and_mic, utf8_and_big5, utf8_and_cyrillic, utf8_and_euc2004, utf8_and_euc_cn, utf8_and_euc_jp, utf8_and_euc_kr, utf8_and_euc_tw, utf8_and_gb18030, utf8_and_gbk, utf8_and_iso8859, utf8_and_iso8859_1, utf8_and_johab, utf8_and_sjis, utf8_and_sjis2004, utf8_and_uhc, utf8_and_win
Built-in Libs: dict_snowball, libpqwalreceiver, llvmjit

Container Practice

You can create a fresh virtual machine or use the following Docker container for testing. Create a d13 directory with a Dockerfile:

d13/Dockerfile
FROM debian:13
USER root
WORKDIR /root/
CMD ["/bin/bash"]

RUN apt update && apt install -y ca-certificates curl && curl https://repo.pigsty.io/pig | bash
docker build -t d13:latest .
docker run -it d13:latest /bin/bash

pig repo set --region=china    # Add China region repositories
pig install -y pg18            # Install PostgreSQL 18 core packages
pig install -y postgis timescaledb pgvector pg_duckdb
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