pgDEV is an IDE for PostgreSQL, built around productivity, simplicity, and a smooth developer experience.

It integrates with the AI coding harness of your choice, bringing AI-assisted development directly into your PostgreSQL workflow.

1. Start

Download the installer for your platform from GitHub Releases:

Platform	Build
Windows	x64 installer (.exe)
macOS	Apple Silicon / arm64 (.dmg or .zip)
Linux	x64 (.deb or .rpm)

Install and open pgDEV. You need a PostgreSQL server (14 or newer), but not Node.js, npm, or a separate browser. Preview builds may be unsigned; signed public releases require the project's signing credentials.

The database service runs inside an isolated Electron utility process. Closing pgDEV saves the editor session, stops queries and rolls back open transactions. Application updates are manual initially.

Click Not connected to setup first connection.

2. Connections

Parameters or a postgres://… connection string, with optional SSL. Connections persist on this device and can auto-connect on startup. The dialog manages the saved set — reuse, forget, or disconnect:

The badge shows the live connection as user@host:port/database.

3. Object browser

Section headers carry object counts; expansion survives reload; the refresh button re-reads the schema from the server.

• Tables — Columns (name, type, nullability), Indexes, Constraints (PK / FK / unique / check), Triggers.
• Views — columns. Functions — parameters plus return type, overloads listed separately. Sequences — increment, start, type, ownership. Types — composite/enum detail rows.
• Prefix grouping for related objects (Settings → Group objects).
• Right-click: Collapse on parents, Edit… on editable tables (section 8). Double-click opens DDL (section 5); double-clicking the empty tab strip opens a fresh query tab.

4. Search

One box filters every section; matching is case-insensitive with per-section counters (Tables 2/4) and highlighted hits:

• Spaces are OR (employee labor), + is AND (employee+labor), "quotes" are exact.
• A leading/trailing word scopes the kind: table, view, function (func, fn), column (col), parameter (param), type, sequence (seq) — e.g. fn count, col id. Parameter names match (p_emp finds its function); argument types never do (integer matches nothing).
• While filtering, sections force-open and group collapse goes inert; no hits reports No objects match "…".

5. DDL tabs

Double-click generates a script built to re-apply verbatim — full CREATE TABLE with columns, constraints, indexes and ownership:

Tables, plain views, sequences and functions open editable; materialized views open read-only as a preview.

6. Execution model

F5 / Ctrl+Enter runs the selection if there is one, else the tab. Completions are schema-driven (user objects plus built-ins once typed, never pg_-internals), with hover docs and signature help.

• Multi-statement batches run with per-statement result sets; typed column headers, COPY/CSV export, N row(s) footer. Failures land in Messages, never as a grid.
• Double-click a cell to inspect its raw value (pretty-printed for JSON/JSONB, with a character count) — the dialog's COPY button is the copy path, and a successful copy closes it.
• Large results page through a server cursor instead of loading everything.
• Statement timeout (configurable, applies to new connections) plus explicit cancellation bound runaway queries.
• Manual transactions can span runs with transaction-id pinning — a conflicting tab gets a 409 rather than joining the wrong transaction. Statements requiring autocommit (VACUUM, …) bypass the transaction path.
• Run stays disabled while disconnected, while a query is in flight, or in the read-only AI log tab.

7. Row editor

Edit pencils appear only when the result carries the table's primary key (SELECT label FROM … has none). The dialog locks the key, offers per-type editors with NULL checkboxes where allowed, and keeps SAVE disabled until the first change:

Invalid input (e.g. malformed JSON) is rejected client-side; server rejections (e.g. numeric overflow) arrive in-dialog with the PostgreSQL message — either way the dialog stays open and nothing is lost. A successful save runs a parameterized UPDATE … RETURNING and patches the grid from the returned row.

8. Table editor

Right-click → Edit… covers ordinary and partitioned-parent tables only (partitions inherit shape; foreign tables speak a different DDL):

Rename, retype (length/precision/scale), nullability, defaults, add/drop columns, table/column comments. Generate DDL emits only the changed ALTER clauses in apply-safe order (drops → renames → alters → adds → comments) for review. No-ops, locked/PK columns and stale fingerprints (409) are refused with an explanation.

9. Helpers

• Ctrl+Shift+F formats the selection, or the whole tab when nothing is selected.
• The sliders action builds a PREPARE / EXECUTE template from $N parameters; optional values ride along as a JSON array (e.g. [1, "text", null]).
• Tab sessions (open tabs, pinned files) restore across reloads.

10. Settings and AI agent (MCP)

Settings are per-device: editor font size, statement timeout for new connections, object grouping by name prefix, and the AI row/size caps. Reset to defaults restores everything.

Settings, pinned file references and tab sessions use versioned JSON snapshots in Electron's application-data directory, with atomic replacement and backups. Database credentials use OS-backed encryption; on Linux without a secure keyring, passwords are not persisted. IndexedDB and browser-data migration are not used.

MCP access

pgDEV exposes an MCP server.

The AI dialog provides a copyable configuration pointing at the bundled pgdev-mcp executable. The helper needs no system Node installation and authenticates to the running app with a separate persistent token. It discovers the current loopback port through a native endpoint file, so the configuration survives app restarts. Keep the token private.

Read tools: query, get_schema (optional schema/table filters; relation lists truncate past 200 entries), get_ddl (type/schema/name, plus oid/parent to pin overloads and constraints), get_active_result (the active tab's grids capped like query, plus the last 100 Messages lines — so the agent sees the outcome, including errors, of scripts you ran; no database access happens here). Editor tools: get_active_query, set_active_query (replace/append/insert), open_query_tab, list_tabs, activate_tab, close_tab.