---
title: "dbdev: PostgreSQL Package Manager"
description: "database.dev is a public preview of dbdev, a PostgreSQL package manager whose registry is currently read-only and preloaded with packages demonstrating packaging and discovery possibilities. It aims to provide repeatable deployment of libraries and applications, with third-party publishing tools planned after community feedback, and uses organization- or user-namespaced package names to address name and typo squatting. The in-database client installs packages, which PostgreSQL then exposes as native extensions; dbdev adds major.minor.patch version constraints, while compatibility currently requires Supabase new projects or PostgreSQL with pg_tle and pgsql-http. Examples include a hybrid document-search backend, an index advisor that reports a sample total-cost reduction from 25.88 to 6.40, and administration views for database diagnostics. The preview depends on Trusted Language Extensions, and the post invites reports, feature ideas, and contributions while noting that pl/rust had not yet reached Supabase."
---

# dbdev: PostgreSQL Package Manager

[Supabase](https://yomu.fyi/company/supabase) · oli\_rice,daltjoh-aws · Apr 14, 2023

**Type:** Announcement

## Summary

database.dev is a public preview of dbdev, a PostgreSQL package manager whose registry is currently read-only and preloaded with packages demonstrating packaging and discovery possibilities. It aims to provide repeatable deployment of libraries and applications, with third-party publishing tools planned after community feedback, and uses organization- or user-namespaced package names to address name and typo squatting. The in-database client installs packages, which PostgreSQL then exposes as native extensions; dbdev adds major.minor.patch version constraints, while compatibility currently requires Supabase new projects or PostgreSQL with pg\_tle and pgsql-http. Examples include a hybrid document-search backend, an index advisor that reports a sample total-cost reduction from 25.88 to 6.40, and administration views for database diagnostics. The preview depends on Trusted Language Extensions, and the post invites reports, feature ideas, and contributions while noting that pl/rust had not yet reached Supabase.

## Context

The project is motivated by creating an open ecosystem for packaging and discovering SQL, enabling repeatable deployment of PostgreSQL libraries and applications, and providing a more modern development experience than PostgreSQL's existing extension tooling. It also addresses package name squatting and typo squatting through namespaces.

## Approach / What changed

dbdev uses an in-database client to install registry packages as native PostgreSQL extensions. It adds major.minor.patch version constraints and namespaces packages by an owning organization or user handle. The preview relies on Trusted Language Extensions and supports Supabase projects or PostgreSQL instances with pg\_tle and pgsql-http.

## Takeaways

- The registry is read-only during the public preview, with third-party publishing tooling planned after community feedback.
- Namespaced packages use the owning organization or user handle, so a fork published by another account receives that account's namespace.
- olirice-index\_advisor recommends indexes from query explain plans and showed total cost decreasing from 25.88 to 6.40 for the sample query.

**Tags:** [Deployment](https://yomu.fyi/topic/deployment), [Open Source](https://yomu.fyi/topic/open-source), [Performance](https://yomu.fyi/topic/performance), [Postgres](https://yomu.fyi/topic/postgres), [Search](https://yomu.fyi/topic/search)

- Source: [Supabase](https://supabase.com/blog/dbdev)
- Source URL: https://supabase.com/blog/dbdev
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-08-29T01:17:38.749Z

[Read original post](https://supabase.com/blog/dbdev)