Install TimescaleDB on PostgreSQL (macOS)

postgresqltimescaledbmacosdatabasehomebrew

This guide will walk you through installing TimescaleDB on PostgreSQL using Homebrew on macOS.

Installation Steps

1. Tap the Timescale Homebrew repository

brew tap timescale/tap

2. Install TimescaleDB

brew install timescaledb

3. Fix pg_config Path (if needed)

If you encounter an error that pg_config --version could not be executed, add PostgreSQL to your PATH:

echo 'export PATH="/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc && source ~/.zshrc

4. Run timescaledb-tune

Configure TimescaleDB by running the tuning script. Make sure to replace <user_name> and <pg_version> with your actual values:

timescaledb-tune --yes --conf-path=/Users/<user_name>/Library/Application\ Support/Postgres/var-<pg_version>/postgresql.conf

5. Copy TimescaleDB Files

Navigate to /opt/homebrew/Cellar/timescaledb/ and you will see a folder with a version number (this is the TimescaleDB version).

Important: Make sure your terminal has Full Disk Access to files and folders if you get an Operation not permitted error.

Then run the following scripts, making sure to replace <pg_version> and <timescaledb_version> with the actual versions you have:

/usr/bin/install -c -m 755 $(find /opt/homebrew/Cellar/timescaledb/<timescaledb_version>/lib/timescaledb/postgresql@<pg_version>/ -name "timescaledb*.dylib") /Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/<pg_version>/lib/postgresql

/usr/bin/install -c -m 644 /opt/homebrew/Cellar/timescaledb/<timescaledb_version>/share/timescaledb/* /Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/<pg_version>/share/postgresql/extension/

6. Configure PostgreSQL

Open Postgres.app and go to Server Settings. Open the config file and make sure shared_preload_libraries = 'timescaledb' is present. Then stop and restart the app.

Verification

After completing these steps, you should be able to create TimescaleDB hypertables in your PostgreSQL database. TimescaleDB is now ready to use!