Install the psql command line tool

The psql command-line tool is a terminal-based frontend to PostgreSQL. It is required by the gcloud beta alloydb connect command and is useful for direct database connections.

PostgreSQL has a wide range of installation options. This page describes how to install psql on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

macOS

To install psql on macOS, we recommend using Homebrew.

  1. Install the postgresql package:
brew install postgresql
  1. Add psql to your PATH by following the instructions provided in the terminal output after the installation completes. For example:
echo 'export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/postgresql@18/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

Linux (Debian / Ubuntu)

Use your distribution's package manager to install the PostgreSQL client.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install postgresql-client

For other distributions, see the official PostgreSQL download page.

Windows

To install psql on Windows, you can use the interactive installer.

Installer

  1. Download the PostgreSQL Interactive Installer for Windows from the PostgreSQL downloads page.
  2. Run the installer. When prompted to select components, you can install only Command Line Tools.
  3. Add the bin directory of your PostgreSQL installation (for example, C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\18\bin) to your system PATH environment variable.

Verify the installation

After installation, verify that psql is in your PATH and is working correctly:

psql --version

If installed correctly, the output shows the version of the psql client tool.

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