This guide explains how to install the pg_search extension inside an existing PostgreSQL database. These instructions are for deploying on Linux Debian/Ubuntu. If you are using a different version of Linux, please contact us.

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Prerequisites

First, ensure that you have superuser access to the Postgres database.

Next, install libicu.

# Ubuntu 20.04 or 22.04
sudo apt-get install -y libicu70

# Ubuntu 24.04
sudo apt-get install -y libicu74

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Install pg_search

ParadeDB provides prebuilt binaries for the pg_search extension on Debian 11, Debian 12, Ubuntu 22.04 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for Postgres 14, 15 and 16 on both amd64 (x86_64) and arm64. They can be found in GitHub Releases. If you are using a different version of Postgres or a different operating system, you will need to build the extension from source.

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Using Prebuilt Binaries

# Example for Ubuntu 22.04, don't forget replace the OS, arch and Postgres for your system
curl -L "https://github.com/paradedb/paradedb/releases/download/v0.8.6/pg_search-v0.8.6-ubuntu-22.04-amd64-pg16.deb" -o /tmp/pg_search.deb
sudo apt-get install -y /tmp/*.deb

Note: You can replace v0.8.6 with the pg_search version you wish to install, and pg16 with the version of Postgres you are using.

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Building from Source

Please follow these instructions.

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Update postgresql.conf

Next, add pg_search to shared_preload_libraries in postgresql.conf.

shared_preload_libraries = 'pg_search'

Reload your PostgreSQL server for these changes to take effect.

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Load the Extension

Once the extension binary is installed on your system, connect to your Postgres database via your client of choice (e.g. psql) and run the following command:

CREATE EXTENSION pg_search;

That’s it! You’re all set to use pg_search in your database. To get started, we suggest you follow the quickstart guide.