> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.paradedb.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Extension

> How to install ParadeDB as an extension inside an existing self-managed Postgres

<Note>
  We recommend running ParadeDB Enterprise, not Community, in production to
  maximize uptime. See [overview](/deploy/overview#self-hosted).
</Note>

If you already self-manage Postgres, you may prefer to install ParadeDB directly within your self-managed
Postgres instead of deploying the ParadeDB Helm chart.

This can be done by installing the `pg_search` extension, which powers all of ParadeDB's custom functionalities.

## Prerequisites

Ensure that you have superuser access to the Postgres database.

## Install the ParadeDB Postgres Extension

### ParadeDB Community

ParadeDB provides prebuilt binaries of our extension for Postgres 15+ on:

* Debian 12 (Bookworm) and 13 (Trixie)
* Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy) and 24.04 (Noble)
* macOS 14 (Sonoma) and 15 (Sequoia)
* macOS via [Postgres.app](https://postgresapp.com/extensions/) (PostgreSQL 18)
* Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and 10

If you are using a different version of Postgres or a different operating system, you will need to build the extension from source.

#### pg\_search

The prebuilt releases can be found in [GitHub Releases](https://github.com/paradedb/paradedb/releases).

<Note>
  You can replace `0.24.1` with the `pg_search` version you wish to install and
  `18` with the version of Postgres you are using.
</Note>

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash Ubuntu 24.04 theme={null}
  # Available arch versions are amd64, arm64
  curl -L "https://github.com/paradedb/paradedb/releases/download/v0.24.1/postgresql-18-pg-search_0.24.1-1PARADEDB-noble_amd64.deb" -o /tmp/pg_search.deb
  sudo apt-get install -y /tmp/*.deb
  ```

  ```bash Ubuntu 22.04 theme={null}
  # Available arch versions are amd64, arm64
  curl -L "https://github.com/paradedb/paradedb/releases/download/v0.24.1/postgresql-18-pg-search_0.24.1-1PARADEDB-jammy_amd64.deb" -o /tmp/pg_search.deb
  sudo apt-get install -y /tmp/*.deb
  ```

  ```bash Debian 13 theme={null}
  # Available arch versions are amd64, arm64
  curl -L "https://github.com/paradedb/paradedb/releases/download/v0.24.1/postgresql-18-pg-search_0.24.1-1PARADEDB-trixie_amd64.deb" -o /tmp/pg_search.deb
  sudo apt-get install -y /tmp/*.deb
  ```

  ```bash Debian 12 theme={null}
  # Available arch versions are amd64, arm64
  curl -L "https://github.com/paradedb/paradedb/releases/download/v0.24.1/postgresql-18-pg-search_0.24.1-1PARADEDB-bookworm_amd64.deb" -o /tmp/pg_search.deb
  sudo apt-get install -y /tmp/*.deb
  ```

  ```bash RHEL 10 theme={null}
  # Available arch versions are x86_64, aarch64
  curl -L "https://github.com/paradedb/paradedb/releases/download/v0.24.1/pg_search_18-0.24.1-1PARADEDB.el10.x86_64.rpm" -o /tmp/pg_search.rpm
  sudo dnf install -y /tmp/*.rpm
  ```

  ```bash RHEL 9 theme={null}
  # Available arch versions are x86_64, aarch64
  curl -L "https://github.com/paradedb/paradedb/releases/download/v0.24.1/pg_search_18-0.24.1-1PARADEDB.el9.x86_64.rpm" -o /tmp/pg_search.rpm
  sudo dnf install -y /tmp/*.rpm
  ```

  ```bash macOS 15 (Sequoia) theme={null}
  # Available arch version is arm64
  curl -L "https://github.com/paradedb/paradedb/releases/download/v0.24.1/pg_search@18--0.24.1.arm64_sequoia.pkg" -o ~/Downloads/pg_search.pkg
  sudo installer -pkg ~/Downloads/pg_search.pkg -target /
  ```

  ```bash macOS 14 (Sonoma) theme={null}
  # Available arch version is arm64
  curl -L "https://github.com/paradedb/paradedb/releases/download/v0.24.1/pg_search@18--0.24.1.arm64_sonoma.pkg" -o ~/Downloads/pg_search.pkg
  sudo installer -pkg ~/Downloads/pg_search.pkg -target /
  ```
</CodeGroup>

### ParadeDB Enterprise

If you are a [ParadeDB Enterprise](/deploy/enterprise) user, you should have received a copy of the enterprise binaries. Please [contact sales](mailto:sales@paradedb.com) for access.

## Update `postgresql.conf`

Next, add the extension(s) to `shared_preload_libraries` in `postgresql.conf`.

```ini theme={null}
shared_preload_libraries = 'pg_search'
```

Reload the Postgres server for these changes to take effect.

## Load the Extension

Finally, connect to your Postgres database via your client of choice (e.g. `psql`) and run the following command:

```sql theme={null}
CREATE EXTENSION pg_search;
```

<Note>
  `pg_search` can be combined with `pgvector` for hybrid search. You can find
  the instructions for installing `pgvector` [on the `pgvector` GitHub
  repository](https://github.com/pgvector/pgvector?tab=readme-ov-file#installation).
</Note>