psql — PostgreSQL Interactive Terminal

psql is PostgreSQL's feature-rich interactive terminal. It lets you write and execute queries, inspect database objects, import/export data, script batch operations, and customize output formatting — all from the command line.

Execution boundary

Confirm the authorized database, role and operation scope before writes, imports, grants or shell commands. Prefer a least-privileged account, -X -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 for reviewed scripts and verified TLS (sslmode=verify-full with trusted CA) for remote connections. ECHO is not a dry-run and rollback cannot undo every side effect. This reference includes psql 18 features; check client version separately from server version.