Use your own PostgreSQL

Use your own PostgreSQL when you already operate a database service, need managed backups, or do not want the installer-managed PostgreSQL container.

You have two paths with external PostgreSQL:

• Still use Docker Compose for the Lore Web and Redis containers, but point DATABASE_URL at your external database. This path is covered below in "Compose Web container with external PostgreSQL."
• Run Lore Web without Docker entirely. This requires building or running the Lore Web container image directly with your own orchestrator. The DATABASE_URL and SNAPSHOT_DATA_DIR requirements are the same.

Lore only needs one server environment variable to point at it:

Plaintext

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://lore:YOUR_PASSWORD@db.example.com:5432/lore

The server code accepts postgresql://, postgres://, and normalizes postgresql+...:// URLs. Non-local hosts use SSL automatically unless the URL disables it with sslmode=disable or equivalent.

Required database capabilities

The initial migration runs this sequence:

SQL

CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS vector;

-- Then try pg_jieba. If that fails, try zhparser. If both fail,
-- Lore continues with PostgreSQL simple full-text search.
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS pg_jieba;
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS zhparser;

If neither pg_jieba nor zhparser is available, Lore still starts, but Chinese lexical recall is weaker. Semantic recall still depends on embedding configuration from /setup.

Create database and role

Example owner-style setup:

SQL

CREATE USER lore WITH PASSWORD 'change-me';
CREATE DATABASE lore OWNER lore;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE lore TO lore;

For a stricter production setup, run the first migration as an owner role that can create extensions, then run the Web server with a restricted role that can read/write the Lore schema. Do not point production at a role that lacks migration permission before the initial migration has completed.

Install extensions

The easiest path is the Lore PostgreSQL image:

Plaintext

LORE_POSTGRES_IMAGE=fffattiger/pgvector-zhparser:pg16

That image is built from postgres/Dockerfile: it starts from pgvector/pgvector:pg16, builds zhparser, builds pg_jieba, and appends:

Plaintext

shared_preload_libraries = 'pg_jieba'

If you operate PostgreSQL yourself, mirror that requirement:

1. Install pgvector for your PostgreSQL major version.
2. Install pg_jieba if you need high-quality Chinese recall.
3. Add pg_jieba to shared_preload_libraries.
4. Restart PostgreSQL.
5. Create vector and pg_jieba in the Lore database, or let Lore's first migration create them.

pg_jieba cannot be fully enabled by CREATE EXTENSION alone if the server library was not preloaded.

Compose Web container with external PostgreSQL

If you still use the repository docker-compose.yml for the Web and Redis containers, set .env like this:

Plaintext

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://lore:YOUR_PASSWORD@db.example.com:5432/lore
API_TOKEN=YOUR_SERVER_TOKEN_IF_USED
WEB_PORT=18901

REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379/0
REDIS_DATA_DIR=./data/redis
CACHE_KEY_PREFIX=lore
CACHE_LOCAL_MAX_ITEMS=2000

SNAPSHOT_DATA_DIR=./data/snapshots
LORE_FRONTEND_IMAGE=fffattiger/lore:latest

Then either remove the bundled postgres service from your local Compose file or leave it unused. If you also operate Redis externally, replace REDIS_URL. If Redis is empty or unreachable during startup, Lore falls back to an in-process local cache; this is acceptable for one Web process but not ideal for multi-instance deployments.

Verify before connecting agents

Run these checks from the Web server host:

Shell

curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:18901/api/health

Then open /setup and complete embedding and View LLM configuration. Database connectivity alone is not enough for useful recall.

When you want the installer to configure only local agents against this existing server, pass the server URL:

Shell

npx @loremem/cli install --base-url http://YOUR_SERVER:18901 --api-token YOUR_TOKEN