CREATE EXTENSION(7) PostgreSQL 14.19 Documentation CREATE EXTENSION(7)
NAME
CREATE_EXTENSION - install an extension
SYNOPSIS
CREATE EXTENSION [ IF NOT EXISTS ] extension_name
[ WITH ] [ SCHEMA schema_name ]
[ VERSION version ]
[ CASCADE ]
DESCRIPTION
CREATE EXTENSION loads a new extension into the current database. There must not be an
extension of the same name already loaded.
Loading an extension essentially amounts to running the extension's script file. The
script will typically create new SQL objects such as functions, data types, operators and
index support methods. CREATE EXTENSION additionally records the identities of all the
created objects, so that they can be dropped again if DROP EXTENSION is issued.
The user who runs CREATE EXTENSION becomes the owner of the extension for purposes of
later privilege checks, and normally also becomes the owner of any objects created by the
extension's script.
Loading an extension ordinarily requires the same privileges that would be required to
create its component objects. For many extensions this means superuser privileges are
needed. However, if the extension is marked trusted in its control file, then it can be
installed by any user who has CREATE privilege on the current database. In this case the
extension object itself will be owned by the calling user, but the contained objects will
be owned by the bootstrap superuser (unless the extension's script explicitly assigns them
to the calling user). This configuration gives the calling user the right to drop the
extension, but not to modify individual objects within it.
PARAMETERS
IF NOT EXISTS
Do not throw an error if an extension with the same name already exists. A notice is
issued in this case. Note that there is no guarantee that the existing extension is
anything like the one that would have been created from the currently-available script
file.
extension_name
The name of the extension to be installed. PostgreSQL will create the extension using
details from the file SHAREDIR/extension/extension_name.control.
schema_name
The name of the schema in which to install the extension's objects, given that the
extension allows its contents to be relocated. The named schema must already exist. If
not specified, and the extension's control file does not specify a schema either, the
current default object creation schema is used.
If the extension specifies a schema parameter in its control file, then that schema
cannot be overridden with a SCHEMA clause. Normally, an error will be raised if a
SCHEMA clause is given and it conflicts with the extension's schema parameter.
However, if the CASCADE clause is also given, then schema_name is ignored when it
conflicts. The given schema_name will be used for installation of any needed
extensions that do not specify schema in their control files.
Remember that the extension itself is not considered to be within any schema:
extensions have unqualified names that must be unique database-wide. But objects
belonging to the extension can be within schemas.
version
The version of the extension to install. This can be written as either an identifier
or a string literal. The default version is whatever is specified in the extension's
control file.
CASCADE
Automatically install any extensions that this extension depends on that are not
already installed. Their dependencies are likewise automatically installed,
recursively. The SCHEMA clause, if given, applies to all extensions that get installed
this way. Other options of the statement are not applied to automatically-installed
extensions; in particular, their default versions are always selected.
NOTES
Before you can use CREATE EXTENSION to load an extension into a database, the extension's
supporting files must be installed. Information about installing the extensions supplied
with PostgreSQL can be found in Additional Supplied Modules.
The extensions currently available for loading can be identified from the
pg_available_extensions or pg_available_extension_versions system views.
Caution
Installing an extension as superuser requires trusting that the extension's author
wrote the extension installation script in a secure fashion. It is not terribly
difficult for a malicious user to create trojan-horse objects that will compromise
later execution of a carelessly-written extension script, allowing that user to
acquire superuser privileges. However, trojan-horse objects are only hazardous if they
are in the search_path during script execution, meaning that they are in the
extension's installation target schema or in the schema of some extension it depends
on. Therefore, a good rule of thumb when dealing with extensions whose scripts have
not been carefully vetted is to install them only into schemas for which CREATE
privilege has not been and will not be granted to any untrusted users. Likewise for
any extensions they depend on.
The extensions supplied with PostgreSQL are believed to be secure against
installation-time attacks of this sort, except for a few that depend on other
extensions. As stated in the documentation for those extensions, they should be
installed into secure schemas, or installed into the same schemas as the extensions
they depend on, or both.
For information about writing new extensions, see Section 38.17.
EXAMPLES
Install the hstore extension into the current database, placing its objects in schema
addons:
CREATE EXTENSION hstore SCHEMA addons;
Another way to accomplish the same thing:
SET search_path = addons;
CREATE EXTENSION hstore;
COMPATIBILITY
CREATE EXTENSION is a PostgreSQL extension.
SEE ALSO
ALTER EXTENSION (ALTER_EXTENSION(7)), DROP EXTENSION (DROP_EXTENSION(7))
PostgreSQL 14.19 2025 CREATE EXTENSION(7)
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