Immich PostgreSQL

Description / name	Input element
Container Registry
Container Configuration Root Path
Immich PostgreSQL Host Port
Immich PostgreSQL /var/lib/postgresql/data Path

PostgreSQL with pgvector and vectorchord extensions required by Immich for vector similarity search. Defaults to PostgreSQL 14 (:latest), PostgreSQL 18 available as :18.


Port	`5432`
Registry	`ghcr.io/daemonless/immich-postgres`
Daemonless	daemonless/immich-postgres
Source	immich-app/immich
Website	immich.app

Version Tags

Tag	Description	Best For
`14` / `14-pkg` / `latest`	Upstream Binary. Built from official release.	Most users — recommended.
`18` / `18-pkg`	Upstream Binary. Built from official release.	Alternative build.

Before deploying, ensure your host environment is ready. See the Quick Start Guide for host setup instructions, including the security model for host vs. container privileges.

Deployment

Podman AppJail

Compose CLI Ansible

services:
  immich-postgres:
    image: "ghcr.io/daemonless/immich-postgres:latest"
    container_name: immich-postgres
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=postgres  # Database superuser (default: postgres)
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres  # Database password (default: postgres)
      - POSTGRES_DB=immich  # Database name (default: immich)
      - POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS=  # Additional initdb arguments
    volumes:
      - "/path/to/containers/immich-postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data"
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
    annotations:
      org.freebsd.jail.allow.sysvipc: "true"
    # always (not unless-stopped) so FreeBSD's podman rc.d auto-starts it at boot
    restart: always

podman run -d --name immich-postgres \
  -p 5432:5432 \
  --annotation 'org.freebsd.jail.allow.sysvipc=true' \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=postgres \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=immich \
  -e POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS= \
  -v /path/to/containers/immich-postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data \
  ghcr.io/daemonless/immich-postgres:latest

- name: Deploy immich-postgres
  containers.podman.podman_container:
    name: immich-postgres
    image: "ghcr.io/daemonless/immich-postgres:latest"
    state: started
    restart_policy: always
    env:
      POSTGRES_USER: "postgres"
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: "postgres"
      POSTGRES_DB: "immich"
      POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS: ""
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
    volumes:
      - "/path/to/containers/immich-postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data"
    annotation:
      org.freebsd.jail.allow.sysvipc: "true"

Director CLI

# .env

DIRECTOR_PROJECT=immich-postgres
POSTGRES_USER=postgres
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres
POSTGRES_DB=immich
POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS=

# appjail-director.yml

options:
  - virtualnet: ':<random> default'
  - nat:
services:
  immich-postgres:
    name: immich_postgres
    options:
      - container: 'boot args:--pull'
      - expose: '5432:5432 proto:tcp'
      - template: !ENV '${PWD}/immich-postgres.conf'
    oci:
      user: root
      environment:
        - POSTGRES_USER: !ENV '${POSTGRES_USER}'
        - POSTGRES_PASSWORD: !ENV '${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}'
        - POSTGRES_DB: !ENV '${POSTGRES_DB}'
        - POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS: !ENV '${POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS}'
    volumes:
      - IMMICH_POSTGRES_DATA_PATH: /var/lib/postgresql/data
volumes:
  IMMICH_POSTGRES_DATA_PATH:
    device: '/path/to/containers/immich-postgres'

# Makejail

ARG tag=latest

OPTION overwrite=force
OPTION from=ghcr.io/daemonless/immich-postgres:${tag}
SET allow.sysvipc=1

appjail oci run -Pd \
  -o overwrite=force \
  -o container="args:--pull" \
  -o virtualnet=":<random> default" \
  -o nat \
  -o expose="5432:5432 proto:tcp" \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=postgres \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=immich \
  -e POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS= \
  -o fstab="/path/to/containers/immich-postgres /var/lib/postgresql/data <pseudofs>" \
  ghcr.io/daemonless/immich-postgres:latest immich-postgres

Interactive Configuration

Parameters

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
`POSTGRES_USER`	`postgres`	Database superuser (default: postgres)
`POSTGRES_PASSWORD`	`postgres`	Database password (default: postgres)
`POSTGRES_DB`	`immich`	Database name (default: immich)
`POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS`	``	Additional initdb arguments

Volumes

Path	Description
`/var/lib/postgresql/data`	Database data directory

Ports

Port	Protocol	Description
`5432`	TCP	PostgreSQL Port

This image is part of the Immich Stack.

PostgreSQL version: :latest and :14 use PostgreSQL 14. :18 uses PostgreSQL 18. New installations should consider :18. If you are migrating an existing Immich instance, stay on :14 — PostgreSQL major version upgrades require a full pg_dumpall and restore. The default :latest tag will follow whatever version Immich recommends upstream.

PostgreSQL requires allow.sysvipc for shared memory. Create immich-postgres.conf alongside appjail-director.yml:

exec.start: "/bin/sh /etc/rc"
exec.stop: "/bin/sh /etc/rc.shutdown jail"
mount.devfs
persist
allow.sysvipc

Implementation Details

Architectures: amd64
User: postgres (UID/GID set via PUID/PGID). Defaults to 1000:1000.
Base: Built on ghcr.io/daemonless/base (FreeBSD 15.1).
sysvipc: Requires --annotation 'org.freebsd.jail.allow.sysvipc=true' (ocijail 0.5.0+)

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