Correct Way to Install Psql Without Full Postgres on macOS?

libpq 11.2
MacOS & zsh or bash

below works

1. install libpq

brew install libpq

2. update PATH

   if use zsh:

   echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/opt/libpq/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
   source ~/.zshrc
   

   if use bash:

   echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/opt/libpq/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile
   source ~/.bash_profile
   

Homebrew only really has the postgres formula, and doesn't have any specific formula that only installs the psql tool.

So the "correct way" to get the psql application is indeed to install the postgres formula, and you'll see toward the bottom of the "caveats" section that it doesn't actually run the database, it just puts the files on your system:

$  brew install postgres
==> Downloading 
######################################################################## 100.0%
==> Pouring postgresql-9.6.5.sierra.bottle.tar.gz
==> /usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.6.5/bin/initdb /usr/local/var/postgres
==> Caveats
<snip>
To have launchd start postgresql now and restart at login:
  brew services start postgresql
Or, if you don't want/need a background service you can just run:
  pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres start
==> Summary
🍺  /usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.6.5: 3,269 files, 36.7MB

Now you can use psql to connect to remote Postgres servers, and won't be running a local one, although you could if you really wanted to.

To verify that the local postgres daemon isn't running, check your installed homebrew services:

$ brew services list
Name       Status  User Plist
mysql      stopped      
postgresql stopped      

If you don't have Homebrew Services installed, just

$ brew tap homebrew/services

...and you'll get this functionality. For more information on Homebrew Services, read this excellent blog post that explains how it works.

If you truly don't need postgresql then you don't even have to alter your path to use libra, just link libpq. The docs say the only reason it isn't is to avoid conflicts with the PostgreSQL package.

brew uninstall postgresql
brew install libpq
brew link --force libpq

Install libpq:

 brew install libpq

Then, create a symlink:

ln -s /usr/local/opt/libpq/bin/psql /usr/local/bin/psql

Hope it helps.

I found all of these really unsatisfying, especially if you have to support multiple versions of postgres. A MUCH easier solution is to download the binaries here:

And simply run the executable version of psql that matches the database you're working against without any extra steps.

example:

./path/to/specific/version/bin/psql -c '\x' -c 'SELECT * FROM foo;'