pgvector

What is pgvector?

pgvector is a PostgreSQL extension that adds vector similarity search, the standard building block for AI/RAG features (storing and querying embeddings). Laradock runs this as a separate Postgres instance built from the official pgvector/pgvector image, with its own port and data folder so it can run alongside the regular postgres service without conflicting.

Start pgvector

docker compose up -d pgvector

Stop pgvector

docker compose stop pgvector

This stops the container without deleting its data. Data lives under DATA_PATH_HOST/pgvector.

Configuration

All settings live in pgvector/defaults.env and can be overridden by adding the same line to your own .env:

Variable	Default	What it does
PGVECTOR_VERSION	pg17	Image tag from pgvector's Docker Hub image, matches the underlying Postgres major version.
PGVECTOR_PORT	5433	Host-side port (container port 5432), deliberately different from the regular postgres service's 5432 so both can run at once.
PGVECTOR_DB	default	Database created automatically on first boot; the vector extension is enabled in this database automatically.
PGVECTOR_USER	default	Non-root user created automatically.
PGVECTOR_PASSWORD	secret	Password for PGVECTOR_USER.
PGVECTOR_ENTRYPOINT_INITDB	./pgvector/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d	Folder of init scripts auto-run on first boot, this is where CREATE EXTENSION vector happens (init.sql).

Connect from your host machine

Connect to localhost on PGVECTOR_PORT (5433 by default) with PGVECTOR_USER/PGVECTOR_PASSWORD, using any Postgres client (psql, TablePlus, DBeaver):

psql -h localhost -p 5433 -U default -d default

From another Laradock container, use DB_HOST=pgvector and port 5432 (the container-internal port).

Verify the extension is enabled

docker compose exec pgvector psql -U default -d default -c "SELECT * FROM pg_extension WHERE extname = 'vector';"

Common issues

• vector extension missing. It's enabled by pgvector/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/init.sql, which only runs the first time the data folder is created. If you changed PGVECTOR_DB after the volume already existed, connect and run CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS vector; manually.
• Confusing this with the regular postgres service. They're two separate containers with separate ports (5433 vs 5432) and separate data folders (DATA_PATH_HOST/pgvector vs DATA_PATH_HOST/postgres), on purpose, so you can run both.
• Port already in use on your host. Change PGVECTOR_PORT in .env and restart: docker compose up -d pgvector.
• App can't connect but the container is running. From inside another container, the host is pgvector and the port is the container-internal 5432, not PGVECTOR_PORT.

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Need plain Postgres without vectors? See the Databases guide. Back to the Getting Started guide.