mcp-postgres

A comprehensive PostgreSQL MCP (Model Context Protocol) server providing 27 tools for database management and administration.

Features

• Connection Management — connect, disconnect, pool health monitoring

• Query Execution — parameterized queries, EXPLAIN ANALYZE, prepared statements

• Schema Introspection — tables, indexes, constraints, views, functions, enums, extensions

• CRUD Operations — type-safe insert, update, delete, upsert with injection protection

• Server Management — version, settings, config reload, uptime

• Database Sizing — database and table sizes with index/toast breakdown

Installation

npm install @itunified.io/mcp-postgres

Or run directly:

npx @itunified.io/mcp-postgres

Configuration

Set one of the following environment variables:

# Option 1: Connection string (preferred)
export POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING="postgresql://myuser:mypassword@your-database.example.com:5432/mydb"

# Option 2: Individual variables
export PGHOST="your-database.example.com"
export PGPORT="5432"
export PGUSER="myuser"
export PGPASSWORD="mypassword"
export PGDATABASE="mydb"
export PGSSLMODE="require"  # optional

Multi-Database Configuration

Create a config file at ~/.config/mcp-postgres/databases.yaml:

databases:
  production:
    host: db.example.com
    port: 5432
    user: admin
    password: ${DB_PROD_PASSWORD}
    database: myapp
    ssl: true
  staging:
    host: staging-db.example.com
    port: 5432
    user: admin
    password: ${DB_STAGING_PASSWORD}
    database: myapp
default: production

Environment variables in ${VAR_NAME} syntax are automatically expanded.

Config file discovery order:

1. POSTGRES_CONFIG_FILE env var (explicit path)

2. ~/.config/mcp-postgres/databases.yaml or databases.json

3. POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING env var (single database)

4. Individual PG* env vars (single database)

Override the config path with POSTGRES_CONFIG_FILE env var:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "postgres": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@itunified.io/mcp-postgres"],
      "env": {
        "POSTGRES_CONFIG_FILE": "/path/to/databases.yaml"
      }
    }
  }
}

Use pg_list_connections to see all configured databases, pg_switch_database to change the active one.

HashiCorp Vault Integration (Optional)

mcp-postgres supports opportunistic secret loading from HashiCorp Vault via AppRole authentication. When configured, it fetches PostgreSQL credentials from a KV v2 path — so you never need to put database passwords in environment variables or config files.

How it works:

1. On startup, the server checks for NAS_VAULT_ADDR, NAS_VAULT_ROLE_ID, and NAS_VAULT_SECRET_ID in the environment

2. If all three are set, it logs in via AppRole and reads the configured KV v2 path

3. It populates POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING and PG* env vars from the Vault secret — but only for vars not already set

4. If Vault is not configured or unreachable, the server silently falls back to env vars

Precedence: Explicit env vars → Vault → config file fallback → (error if nothing set)

* Only required if using Vault. Without these, the server uses env vars / config files directly.

Vault KV v2 secret structure:

# Path: kv/your/postgres/secret
{
  "connection_string": "postgresql://myuser:mypassword@your-database.example.com:5432/mydb",
  "host": "your-database.example.com",
  "port": "5432",
  "user": "myuser",
  "password": "mypassword",
  "database": "mydb"
}

Key mapping: connection_string → POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING, host → PGHOST, port → PGPORT, user → PGUSER, password → PGPASSWORD, database → PGDATABASE

Tip: You can store either connection_string (for single-database setups) or individual fields (host/port/user/password/database), or both. The loader maps whatever keys are present.

Vault setup steps:

1. Write PG credentials to a KV v2 path:

   vault kv put kv/your/postgres/secret \
     connection_string="postgresql://myuser:mypassword@your-database.example.com:5432/mydb" \
     host="your-database.example.com" \
     port="5432" \
     user="myuser" \
     password="mypassword" \
     database="mydb"

2. Create a read-only policy:

   path "kv/data/your/postgres/secret" {
     capabilities = ["read"]
   }

3. Create an AppRole and get credentials:

   vault write auth/approle/role/mcp-postgres \
     token_policies="mcp-postgres" token_ttl=1h
   vault read auth/approle/role/mcp-postgres/role-id
   vault write -f auth/approle/role/mcp-postgres/secret-id

4. Configure the server with Vault env vars (no PG creds needed):

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "postgres": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": ["@itunified.io/mcp-postgres"],
         "env": {
           "NAS_VAULT_ADDR": "https://vault.example.com:8200",
           "NAS_VAULT_ROLE_ID": "your-role-id",
           "NAS_VAULT_SECRET_ID": "your-secret-id"
         }
       }
     }
   }

Note: Config file options (POSTGRES_CONFIG_FILE, databases.yaml) and PGSSLMODE are not loaded from Vault — set them via env vars if needed.

Claude Desktop / MCP Settings

Add to your settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "postgres": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@itunified.io/mcp-postgres"],
      "env": {
        "POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING": "postgresql://myuser:mypassword@your-database.example.com:5432/mydb"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools

Connection (5 tools)

Query (3 tools)

Schema Introspection (9 tools)

CRUD (4 tools)

Server (4 tools)

HA Monitoring (4 tools)

Database Management (2 tools)

Enterprise Edition

For advanced PostgreSQL operations, mcp-postgres-enterprise extends this server with:

• DBA Monitoring — VACUUM, ANALYZE, REINDEX, pg_stat_activity, table/index stats, locks, cache hit ratio, bloat detection

• CloudNativePG (CNPG) — K8s cluster management, failover, switchover, backup orchestration

• HA Operations — Replication slot management, PgBouncer pool control

• Backup / PITR — pg_dump/pg_restore orchestration, point-in-time recovery

• RBAC — Role management, privilege grants, row-level security policies

• Audit — Query log analysis, connection audit, permission mapping

• Compliance — SSL enforcement, connection limit checks

Available as a private GitHub package. Contact itunified.io for access.

Security

Query Safety Model

• CRUD tools (pg_insert, pg_update, pg_delete, pg_upsert): All use parameterized queries ($1, $2, ...) — safe from SQL injection. Destructive operations require confirm: true.

• pg_query: Unrestricted raw SQL runner by design — intended for power users who need full SQL flexibility. No injection protection is applied because the tool's purpose is to execute arbitrary SQL.

• pg_query_explain: Defaults to safe plan mode (EXPLAIN only, no execution). mode=analyze always requires confirm: true because EXPLAIN ANALYZE executes the statement.

• pg_query_prepared: Deprecated. Prepared statements are session-local in PostgreSQL and unreliable with connection pools. Statement names are validated as SQL identifiers. Use parameterized pg_query instead.

Destructive Operations

These tools require confirm: true to execute:

• pg_update, pg_delete, pg_upsert — data modification

• pg_reload_config — server configuration

• pg_query_explain (analyze mode) — statement execution

Credentials

• Connection credentials are read from environment variables or JSON/YAML config — never logged or stored

• All identifiers (table, column, schema names) are validated against a strict regex pattern

License

This project is dual-licensed:

1. AGPL-3.0 — Free for open-source and non-commercial use

2. Commercial License — For proprietary and commercial use

See COMMERCIAL_LICENSE.md for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue first to discuss proposed changes.