Download PG Exporter

PG Exporter 1.4.1 is available as managed Linux packages, direct RPM/DEB files, release archives for Linux/macOS/Windows, a multi-architecture container image, Pigsty automation, and source. Choose by lifecycle ownership, not by feature set: every route runs the same exporter and declarative collectors.

Choose an installation path

For long-running Linux services, start with the repository package. It gives upgrades, file ownership, /etc/default/pg_exporter, the merged collector configuration, and systemd behavior as one managed unit.

Repository packages

The pigsty-infra repository publishes pg-exporter for common EL and Debian/Ubuntu platforms.

• APT · Debian / Ubuntu
• YUM · RHEL / Rocky / Alma

sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pigsty-infra.list > /dev/null <<'EOF'
deb [trusted=yes] https://repo.pigsty.io/apt/infra generic main
EOF

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y pg-exporter

sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/pigsty-infra.repo > /dev/null <<'EOF'
[pigsty-infra]
name=Pigsty Infra for $basearch
baseurl=https://repo.pigsty.io/yum/infra/$basearch
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
module_hotfixes=1
EOF

sudo yum makecache
sudo yum install -y pg-exporter

The repository examples match the current Pigsty package channel. If your supply-chain policy requires signed package metadata, promote a verified release artifact into your own repository instead of weakening that policy on production hosts.

Configure and enable the service

The package installs:

• /usr/bin/pg_exporter — executable;
• /etc/pg_exporter.yml — merged collector configuration, preserved on upgrades;
• /etc/default/pg_exporter — process environment and options, preserved on upgrades;
• pg_exporter.service — systemd unit running as the prometheus user.

Create the monitoring database role, then set its connection URL:

sudoedit /etc/default/pg_exporter

# Set this value in the file; prefer .pgpass or a secret file in production.
PG_EXPORTER_URL='postgres://[email protected]:5432/postgres?sslmode=disable'

Enable, start, and verify the service:

sudo systemctl enable --now pg_exporter
sudo systemctl status pg_exporter
journalctl -u pg_exporter -n 50 --no-pager

curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:9630/up
curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:9630/metrics | grep '^pg_up '

Use sslmode=verify-full plus an explicit CA for remote production targets. The deployment guide covers .pgpass, PG_EXPORTER_URL_FILE, HTTP TLS/authentication, and network exposure.

GitHub release artifacts

The v1.4.1 release contains RPM and DEB packages plus archives for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Linux supports amd64, arm64, and ppc64le; macOS supports amd64 and arm64; Windows provides amd64.

• DEB package
• RPM package
• Tar archive

VERSION=1.4.1
ARCH=amd64
curl -fLO "https://github.com/pgsty/pg_exporter/releases/download/v${VERSION}/pg-exporter_${VERSION}-1_${ARCH}.deb"
sudo apt install "./pg-exporter_${VERSION}-1_${ARCH}.deb"

VERSION=1.4.1
ARCH=$(uname -m)
curl -fLO "https://github.com/pgsty/pg_exporter/releases/download/v${VERSION}/pg-exporter-${VERSION}-1.${ARCH}.rpm"
sudo dnf install "./pg-exporter-${VERSION}-1.${ARCH}.rpm"

VERSION=1.4.1
OS=linux
ARCH=amd64
ARCHIVE="pg_exporter-${VERSION}.${OS}-${ARCH}.tar.gz"
STAGE="pg_exporter-${VERSION}-${OS}-${ARCH}"

curl -fLO "https://github.com/pgsty/pg_exporter/releases/download/v${VERSION}/${ARCHIVE}"
mkdir -p "${STAGE}"
tar -xzf "${ARCHIVE}" -C "${STAGE}"
sudo install -m 0755 "${STAGE}/pg_exporter" /usr/local/bin/pg_exporter
sudo install -m 0644 "${STAGE}/pg_exporter.yml" /etc/pg_exporter.yml

pg_exporter --version

Verify the download

Every release includes checksums.txt. Verify the files before installing or promoting them:

VERSION=1.4.1
curl -fLO "https://github.com/pgsty/pg_exporter/releases/download/v${VERSION}/checksums.txt"
sha256sum -c checksums.txt --ignore-missing

On macOS, use shasum -a 256 <archive> and compare it with the matching entry in checksums.txt.

Container image

The official pgsty/pg_exporter image publishes amd64 and arm64 manifests. Pin the release tag for reproducible deployments:

docker run -d \
  --name pg_exporter \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 127.0.0.1:9630:9630 \
  -e PG_EXPORTER_URL='postgres://monitor:S3cret@postgres:5432/postgres' \
  pgsty/pg_exporter:1.4.1

curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:9630/up
curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:9630/metrics | grep '^pg_up '

Mount a custom collector file only when you need one:

docker run -d \
  --name pg_exporter \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 127.0.0.1:9630:9630 \
  -e PG_EXPORTER_URL_FILE=/run/secrets/pgurl \
  -v ./pgurl:/run/secrets/pgurl:ro \
  -v ./pg_exporter.yml:/etc/pg_exporter.yml:ro \
  pgsty/pg_exporter:1.4.1

For Compose and Kubernetes examples, probes, secrets, and Prometheus wiring, continue to Container and Kubernetes deployment.

Pigsty

Pigsty is the integrated route when you want PG Exporter together with a PostgreSQL distribution, Prometheus-compatible metrics storage, recording/alerting rules, and Grafana dashboards.

curl -fsSL https://repo.pigsty.io/get | bash
cd ~/pigsty

The bootstrap only obtains Pigsty; choose the appropriate inventory and deployment procedure before running it against any host. See the Pigsty installation guide and its existing PostgreSQL monitoring workflow.

Build from source

Use the Go version declared by the tagged go.mod, then build the exact release source:

git clone https://github.com/pgsty/pg_exporter.git
cd pg_exporter
git checkout "v1.4.1"
make build

./pg_exporter --version
PG_EXPORTER_URL='postgres://[email protected]:5432/postgres' ./pg_exporter --dry-run

For a manual Unix install:

sudo install -m 0755 pg_exporter /usr/local/bin/pg_exporter
sudo install -m 0644 pg_exporter.yml /etc/pg_exporter.yml

Source builds do not create a service account or register a system service. If you need package-grade ownership and service behavior, use the RPM/DEB route or reproduce those controls deliberately.

Activation checklist

Installation is complete only when the target can be scraped:

1. Create a least-privilege monitoring role.
2. Provide the connection through --url, PG_EXPORTER_URL, PGURL, or PG_EXPORTER_URL_FILE.
3. Run pg_exporter --dry-run and inspect /explain.
4. Verify /up and confirm pg_up 1 at /metrics.
5. Add the exporter to Prometheus-compatible scraping.
6. For production, review credentials, TLS, HTTP exposure, systemd/container restart policy, and probes.

Need the complete artifact matrix or PostgreSQL/PgBouncer compatibility details? Use the Installation reference and Compatibility matrix.