dbgate-plugin-pglite

A DbGate driver for PGlite, the WASM build of Postgres. PGlite runs inside the DbGate process and stores its data in a directory on disk or in memory, so there is no Postgres server to install or start.

The plugin ships two PGlite engines: 0.4.6 (Postgres 17) and 0.5.8 (Postgres 18). It reads PG_VERSION from the data directory and opens the matching engine. New directories and in-memory databases always use Postgres 18 / PGlite 0.5.8.

Install

Open the Plugins widget in DbGate, search for pglite, and install it. Then create a new connection and pick PGlite as the engine.

Connecting

The connection form has one field, the data directory path.

Leave it empty, or enter memory://, for an in-memory database. Nothing is written to disk and the data is gone when the connection closes. In-memory connections are single-database.

For a database on disk, type the path to a PGlite data directory or use Browse. Browse is a file picker, not a folder picker, so select any file inside the data directory (PG_VERSION and runtime.txt are good candidates). The driver strips the filename and uses the directory. If that directory contains a pgdata/ subfolder that is itself a Postgres cluster, the driver opens the subfolder instead. A path that does not exist yet becomes a new database on first connect.

File-backed connections show a postgres database under the connection, the same way a normal Postgres server does. Creating additional databases from DbGate is not supported.

PGlite allows one connection per data directory at a time, and DbGate keeps one connection open for the whole session.

Extensions

The Advanced tab of the connection form has a checkbox for each extension the plugin ships. Checked extensions are loaded when the connection opens and created with CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS.

Bundled extension packages: pgvector, PostGIS, Apache AGE, pg_textsearch, pg_hashids, pg_ivm, pg_uuidv7, pgmq, pgtap, and full ICU locales. The standard Postgres contrib extensions (hstore, pgcrypto, pg_trgm, uuid-ossp, ltree, citext, and so on) are also listed. pgmq, ICU locales, moddatetime, and pg_stat_statements are Postgres 18 / PGlite 0.5.8 only. They sit in that group at the bottom of the Advanced tab. Opening a Postgres 17 / PGlite 0.4.6 data directory with one of those checked still fails, with an error naming the extension.

When you open an existing data directory, the driver reads shared_preload_libraries from its postgresql.conf and loads those extensions too, whether or not they are checked. If the directory preloads a library the plugin does not ship, or a library the selected engine does not have, the connection fails with an error naming the library.

Backup and restore

Right-click the postgres database for Backup and Restore.

Backup runs the WASM pg_dump from @electric-sql/pglite-tools and writes a plain SQL file with INSERT statements. The dialog exposes the usual pg_dump switches: data only, schema only, no owner, no privileges. If the data directory is already open, the driver copies it to a temporary folder and dumps the copy.

Restore reads a SQL file and runs it with exec. It does not drop anything first, so restoring into a database that already has the dumped objects fails on the first CREATE.

Development

You need Node.js and Yarn (Yarn is what DbGate itself uses).

yarn
yarn build
yarn plugin

yarn plugin builds the frontend and backend bundles, packs the plugin, and installs it into your local DbGate. Reload DbGate afterwards (View / Reload). yarn plugout removes the local install.

The build step also copies @electric-sql/pglite (Postgres 18), pglite-pg17 (Postgres 17), and the extension packages into dist/vendor/. This is needed because DbGate installs plugins by unpacking the tarball without running yarn install, and yarn pack refuses to include anything named node_modules. Bundling the packages under vendor/ sidesteps both.

License

MIT