Temporary PostgreSQL server

Today I want to share a simple shell script to spin up a temporary PostgreSQL database. I’ve been using this script for two years and found it useful enough to publish it now. The script is inspired by a blog post by Johannes Bornhold that reminded me of Unix’ simplicity. You can download it here.

The script essentially performs seven steps:

• Create a temporary directory using mktemp
• Initialize the directory using initdb
• Serve the directory using postgres
• Ensure the server is up using pg_isready
• Create a database using createdb
• Wait for a SIGINT
• Remove the temporary directory

Obviously, you still need to install PostgreSQL to use the script. However, you may use your favorite functional package manager to install PostgreSQL on-the-fly if you like. In case of Nix, simply replace the shebang on the first line of the script with the following two lines.

#! /usr/bin/env nix-shell
#! nix-shell --pure --packages postgresql -i bash

In case of GNU Guix, use the following shebang. Please note, however, that the env command on your OS might not support the used -S argument.

#! /usr/bin/env -S guix environment --pure --ad-hoc postgresql bash coreutils -- bash

You can find the full shell script here.