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Foreign data wrapper extensions can be used to query AWS S3 and other external data stores directly from ParadeDB.
Postgres has a rich ecosystem of extensions. To keep the size of the ParadeDB Dockerfile small, only the ParadeDB extension — pg_search — and a limited set of third party extensions are included:
  • pg_search for full text search
  • pgvector for vector search
  • postgis for geospatial search
  • pg_ivm for incremental materialized views
  • pg_cron for cron jobs
pg_cron is configured on the default postgres database and cannot be changed.
However, additional Postgres extensions can be installed inside existing ParadeDB Docker and Kubernetes deployments.

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Installing Third Party Extensions

The process for installing an extension varies by extension. Generally speaking, it requires:
  • Download the prebuilt binaries inside ParadeDB
  • Install the extension binary and any dependencies inside ParadeDB
  • Add the extension to shared_preload_libraries in postgresql.conf, if required by the extension
  • Run CREATE EXTENSION <extension name>
We recommend installing third party extensions from prebuilt binaries to keep the image size small. As an example, let’s install pg_partman, an extension for managing table partition sets.

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Install Prebuilt Binaries

First, enter a shell with root permissions in the ParadeDB image. 
docker exec -it --user root paradedb bash
This command assumes that your ParadeDB container name is paradedb.
Next, install the prebuilt binaries. Most popular Postgres extensions can be installed with apt-get install. 
apt-get update
apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends postgresql-17-partman
If the extension is not available with apt-get install, you can usually curl the prebuilt binary from a GitHub Release page. You will need to first install curl via apt-get install if you are taking this approach.

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Add to shared_preload_libraries

If you are installing an extension which requires this step, you can do so via the following command, replacing <extension_name> with your extension’s name:
sed -i "/^shared_preload_libraries/s/'\([^']*\)'/'\1,<extension_name>'/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
For pg_partman, the command is:
sed -i "/^shared_preload_libraries/s/'\([^']*\)'/'\1,pg_partman_bgw'/" /var/lib/postgresql/data/postgresql.conf
Postgres must be restarted afterwards. We recommend simply restarting the Docker container.

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Create the Extension

Connect to ParadeDB via psql and create the extension. 
CREATE EXTENSION pg_partman;
pg_partman is now ready to use! Note that this is a simple example of installing pg_partman. The full list of settings and optional dependencies can be found in the official installation instructions.
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