Postgres extensions

Each managed Postgres database has an Extensions section on its Settings tab. Turn an extension on there and Ownkube runs CREATE EXTENSION for you as the database superuser, so your own role never needs superuser rights. Turn it off and Ownkube runs DROP EXTENSION.

Turn an extension on

1. Open the database and go to the Settings tab.
2. In Extensions, switch on the ones you need. Each staged change shows an On after deploy or Off after deploy pill.
3. Deploy the change. Ownkube creates the extension in the app database.

Check it from okctl connect or the data console:

SELECT extname, extversion FROM pg_extension ORDER BY extname;

Available extensions

Group	Extension	What it does	Restarts
Search	pgvector (vector)	Store embeddings and run vector similarity search	No
Search	pg_trgm	Fast fuzzy text search and LIKE queries with trigram indexes	No
Search	unaccent	Strip accents so searches match café and cafe	No
Search	fuzzystrmatch	Levenshtein distance and sound-alike matching	No
Geo	PostGIS (postgis)	Geographic types, spatial indexes and distance queries	No
Types and indexes	citext	Case-insensitive text, handy for emails and usernames	No
Types and indexes	hstore	Key-value pairs in a single column	No
Types and indexes	btree_gin	Combine plain columns with GIN indexes	No
Types and indexes	btree_gist	Exclusion constraints, such as no overlapping bookings	No
Crypto and IDs	pgcrypto	Hashing and encryption functions in SQL	No
Crypto and IDs	uuid-ossp	Generate UUIDs, including v1 and v5	No
Jobs and queues	pg_cron	Schedule SQL to run on a cron schedule	Yes
Jobs and queues	pgmq	A lightweight message queue stored in Postgres tables	No
Jobs and queues	pg_partman	Create and retire time or ID based table partitions	No
Analytics	pg_duckdb	Run analytical queries on a fast columnar engine	Yes
Analytics	pg_ivm	Materialized views that update as rows change	Yes
Analytics	hll	Approximate distinct counts in a few bytes	No
Analytics	tdigest	Approximate percentiles and medians over large tables	No
Query insights	pg_stat_statements	Track query timing to find slow queries	Yes

Extensions are available on Postgres 17 and 18, on every plan. If the Extensions section is missing or shows fewer entries, the database runs an older DB platform version: use Upgrade on its Overview tab (see Upgrades).

Extensions that restart the database

pg_cron, pg_duckdb, pg_ivm and pg_stat_statements load when Postgres starts, so turning one on or off restarts the database. Open connections drop for a moment. The toggle shows a Restarts pill, and the section warns you before you deploy. Every other extension applies without a restart.

Turning an extension off

Turning an extension off drops it. If a table, column or index still uses it, the drop fails and the extension stays on. Remove what depends on it first, for example the vector column or the HNSW index, then turn it off.

An extension you created yourself in SQL, and never touched in Settings, is left alone. Ownkube only manages the ones you switch in the Extensions section.

Notes on specific extensions

pgvector

Turn it on, then add a vector(n) column sized to your embedding model and an HNSW index:

CREATE TABLE documents (
  id        bigserial PRIMARY KEY,
  content   text NOT NULL,
  embedding vector(1536) NOT NULL
);
CREATE INDEX ON documents USING hnsw (embedding vector_cosine_ops);

Size the box so the index fits in memory. The pgvector guide covers operators, index settings and sizing.

pg_cron

Jobs run in the app database, on background workers, with up to 5 jobs running at once.

SELECT cron.schedule('nightly-cleanup', '0 3 * * *',
  $$DELETE FROM sessions WHERE expires_at < now()$$);
SELECT * FROM cron.job;

For jobs that run code rather than SQL, use a scheduled job instead.

pg_duckdb

Analytical queries run in DuckDB’s columnar engine inside Postgres. On Ownkube, pg_duckdb is limited to a quarter of the box memory, spills to at most a quarter of the volume, and cannot read files or reach the network. It suits aggregates over your own tables.

pg_stat_statements

Once on, the pg_stat_statements view lists the queries that take the most time:

SELECT calls, round(mean_exec_time::numeric, 1) AS mean_ms, query
FROM pg_stat_statements
ORDER BY total_exec_time DESC
LIMIT 10;

Postgres Create, connect, size and back up a managed database.

Data console Browse tables and run SQL from the dashboard.

pgvector guide Vector search in Postgres, from setup to HNSW indexes.

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Note

Need an extension that isn’t listed? Email support@ownkube.io with the name and what you use it for.