How Can I Start Postgresql Server on Mac Os X?

If you want to manually start and stop PostgreSQL (installed via Homebrew), the easiest way is:

brew services start postgresql

and

brew services stop postgresql

If you have a specific version, make sure to suffix the version. For example:

brew services start postgresql@10

I had almost the exact same issue, and you cited the initdb command as being the fix. This was also the solution for me, but I didn't see that anyone posted it here, so for those who are looking for it:

initdb /usr/local/var/postgres -E utf8

If your computer was abruptly restarted

You may want to start PG server but it was not.

First, you have to delete the file /usr/local/var/postgres/postmaster.pid Then you can restart the service using one of the many other mentioned methods depending on your install.

You can verify this by looking at the logs of Postgres to see what might be going on: tail -f /usr/local/var/postgres/server.log

For specific version:-

 tail -f /usr/local/var/postgres@[VERSION_NUM]/server.log

Eg:

 tail -f /usr/local/var/postgres@11/server.log

Another approach is using the lunchy gem (a wrapper for launchctl):

brew install postgresql
initdb /usr/local/var/postgres -E utf8
gem install lunchy

To start PostgreSQL:

lunchy start postgres

To stop PostgreSQL:

lunchy stop postgres

For further information, refer to: "How to Install PostgreSQL on a Mac With Homebrew and Lunchy"

Here my two cents: I made an alias for postgres pg_ctl and put it in file .bash_profile (my PostgreSQL version is 9.2.4, and the database path is /Library/PostgreSQL/9.2/data).

alias postgres.server="sudo -u postgres pg_ctl -D /Library/PostgreSQL/9.2/data"

Launch a new terminal.

And then? You can start/stop your PostgreSQL server with this:

postgres.server start
postgres.server stop

The cleanest way by far to start/stop/restart PostgreSQL if you have installed it through brew is to simply unload and/or load the launchd configuration file that comes with the installation:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.postgresql.plist
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.postgresql.plist

The first line will stop PostgreSQL and the second line will start it. There isn't any need to specify any data directories, etc. since everything is in that file.

To start the PostgreSQL server:

pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres -l /usr/local/var/postgres/server.log start

To end the PostgreSQL server:

pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres stop -s -m fast

You can also create an alias via CLI to make it easier:

alias pg-start='pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres -l /usr/local/var/postgres/server.log start'
alias pg-stop='pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres stop -s -m fast'

With these you can just type "pg-start" to start PostgreSQL and "pg-stop" to shut it down.

For test purposes, I think PostgreSQL App is the best option!

Run an app, and the server is up and running.

Close the app, and the server goes down.

If you have installed using Homebrew, the below command should be enough.

brew services restart postgresql

This sometimes might not work. In that case, the below two commands should definitely work:

rm /usr/local/var/postgres/postmaster.pid

pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres start

# Remove old database files (if there was any)
$ rm -rf /usr/local/var/postgres

# Install the binary
$ brew install postgresql

# init it
$ initdb /usr/local/var/postgres

# Start the PostgreSQL server
$ postgres -D /usr/local/var/postgres

# Create your database
$ createdb mydb

# Access the database
$ psql mydb
psql (9.0.1)
Type "help" for help.

When you install PostgreSQL using Homebrew,

brew install postgres

at the end of the output, you will see this methods to start the server:

To have launchd start postgresql at login:
    ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/postgresql/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents
Then to load postgresql now:
    launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.postgresql.plist
Or, if you don't want/need launchctl, you can just run:
    postgres -D /usr/local/var/postgres

I think this is the best way.

You can add an alias into your .profile file for convenience.

I had the same problem and performed all updates from the first post. But after checking the log file,

/usr/local/var/postgres/server.log

I see the true cause:

FATAL:  data directory "/usr/local/var/postgres" has group or world access
DETAIL:  Permissions should be u=rwx (0700).

After changing permissions on this directory,

chmod 0700 /usr/local/var/postgres

the PostgreSQL server started.

Check the log file every time.

For a quick disposable test database, you can run the server in the foreground.

Initialize a new PostgreSQL database in a new directory:

mkdir db
initdb db -E utf8
createdb public

Start the server in the foreground (Ctrl + C to stop the server):

postgres -d db

In another shell session, connect to the server

psql -d public

Sometimes it's just the version which you are missing, and you are scratching your head unnecessarily.

If you are using a specific version of PostgreSQL, for example, PostgreSQL 10, then simply do

brew services start postgresql@10

brew services stop postgresql@10

The normal brew services start postgresql won't work without a version if you have installed it for a specific version from Homebrew.

If you didn't install it with Homebrew and directly from the Mac package, this worked for me for PostgreSQL 12 when using all the default locations, variables, etc.

$ sudo su postgres
bash-3.2$ /Library/PostgreSQL/12/bin/pg_ctl -D /Library/PostgreSQL/12/data/ stop

Variation on this answer:

initdb `brew --prefix`/var/postgres/data -E utf8`` &&  pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres/data -l logfile start

PostgreSQL is integrated in Server.app available through the App Store in Mac OS X v10.8 (Mountain Lion). That means that it is already configured, and you only need to launch it, and then create users and databases.

Tip: Do not start with defining $PGDATA and so on. Take file locations as is.

You would have this file: /Library/Server/PostgreSQL/Config/org.postgresql.postgres.plist

To start:

sudo serveradmin start postgres

Process started with arguments:

/Applications/ -D /Library/Server/PostgreSQL/Data -c listen_addresses=127.0.0.1,::1 -c log_connections=on -c log_directory=/Library/Logs/PostgreSQL -c log_filename=PostgreSQL.log -c log_line_prefix=%t -c log_lock_waits=on -c log_statement=ddl -c logging_collector=on -c unix_socket_directory=/private/var/pgsql_socket -c unix_socket_group=_postgres -c unix_socket_permissions=0770

You can sudo:

sudo -u _postgres psql template1

Or connect:

psql -h localhost -U _postgres postgres

You can find the data directory, version, running status and so forth with

sudo serveradmin fullstatus postgres

For development purposes, one of the simplest ways is to install Postgres.app from the official site. It can be started/stopped from Applications folder or using the following commands in terminal:

# Start
open -a Postgres

# Stop
killall Postgres
killall postgres

This worked for me (macOS v10.13 (High Sierra)):

sudo -u postgres /Library/PostgreSQL/9.6/bin/pg_ctl start -D /Library/PostgreSQL/9.6/data

Or first

cd /Library/PostgreSQL/9.6/bin/

If you installed PostgreSQL using the EnterpriseDB installer, then what Kenial suggested is the way to go:

sudo -u postgres pg_ctl -D /Library/PostgreSQL/{version}/data start
sudo -u postgres pg_ctl -D /Library/PostgreSQL/{version}/data stop

For MacPorts, just use the load/unload command and the port name of the running server:

sudo port load postgresql96-server
- or -
sudo port unload postgresql96-server

so you don't have to remember where the /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.postgresql96.plist file is located.

Homebrew is the way!!

To start the service:

brew services start postgresql

To list it:

brew services list | grep postgres

To stop the service:

brew services stop postgresql

If you didn't install the Postgres server with Homebrew or installed using .dmg file, try this:

$ sudo su postgres
bash-3.2$ /Library/PostgreSQL/13/bin/pg_ctl -D /Library/PostgreSQL/13/data/ stop

docker run --name some-postgres -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mysecretpassword -d postgres

$ brew upgrade postgres

fixed it for me.

That, of course, will upgrade your PostgreSQL version and update/install any dependencies.

Warning: Do this knowing that your PostgreSQL version will likely change. For me, that wasn't a big deal.

None of the previous answers fixed the issue for me, despite getting the same error messages.

I was able to get my instance back up and running by deleting the existing postmaster.pid file which was locked and was not allowing connections.

After doing brew services restart postgresql.

It works best to: brew services stop postgresql brew postgresql-upgrade-database brew services start postgresql

Then type: psql

it now runs this was after the error: psql: error: could not connect to server: No such file or directory Is the server running locally and accepting connections on Unix domain socket "/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432"?

The upgrade may be optional depending on the other dependencies your running.

Which means that rather than Restart using brew for in on mac os, Stop completely postgres and then start postgres and connect to your psql databaseName.

Hope this was useful.

having installed Postgres with homebrew that is what I do to start postgres and keep it in foreground to see the logs:

/opt/homebrew/opt/postgresql/bin/postgres -D /opt/homebrew/var/postgres

For Mac OS X, I really like LaunchRocket for this and other background services I used in development.

This site has nice instructions on installation.

This gives you a nice screen in your System Preferences that allows you to launch, reboot, root, and launch at login.