PostgreSQL

Pulsarr uses SQLite by default and needs no setup for it. You can use PostgreSQL instead, either from the first start or by moving an existing SQLite install across.

Pulsarr creates the tables, but not the database. Create an empty database owned by your user first:

CREATE DATABASE pulsarr OWNER your_username;

On PostgreSQL 15 and later, GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE does not allow creating tables in the public schema, so make the user the owner instead.

Start on PostgreSQLCopy Anchor Link

Add the connection to .env before Pulsarr starts for the first time:

dbType=postgres
dbHost=your-postgres-host
dbPort=5432
dbName=pulsarr
dbUser=your_username
dbPassword=your-password

Or give the whole connection as dbConnectionString=postgresql://user:password@host:5432/pulsarr, which is used instead of the separate settings. Pulsarr sets up the tables when it starts.

Move from SQLiteCopy Anchor Link

These steps use Docker and the docker-compose.migration.yml from the repository. Put it next to your docker-compose.yml.

1. Stop Pulsarr with docker compose down.

2. Bring the SQLite database up to date, with .env still set to SQLite:

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   docker compose -f docker-compose.migration.yml --profile migration run --rm pulsarr-migrate-sqlite

3. Add the PostgreSQL settings above to .env.

4. Create the tables in PostgreSQL:

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   docker compose -f docker-compose.migration.yml --profile migration run --rm pulsarr-migrate-postgres-setup

5. Copy the data across. It asks you to confirm before it copies:

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   docker compose -f docker-compose.migration.yml --profile migration run --rm pulsarr-migrate-data

   It checks both connections, backs up the SQLite database to ./data/backups/, copies every table and checks that the row counts match. After the copy it moves each PostgreSQL ID sequence up to the highest copied ID, so new rows don't collide. It refuses a table that already has rows and stops at the first table that fails. After a failed run, recreate the database and run step 4 again.

6. Start Pulsarr with docker compose up -d.

To see progress for each batch, run the copy step with the script's full command and --verbose. --batch-size=N sets how many rows go per insert. --help lists the options.

docker compose -f docker-compose.migration.yml --profile migration run --rm pulsarr-migrate-data bun run --bun migrations/scripts/sqlite-to-postgresql.ts --verbose

Go back to SQLiteCopy Anchor Link

Stop Pulsarr, remove the PostgreSQL settings from .env so dbType is back to sqlite, and start it again. Your SQLite database is still in ./data/db/, and the copy made before the move is in ./data/backups/.