Visualizing your PostgreSQL databases with pgAdmin

Many applications use PostgreSQL databases in the application stack. However, not all developers are knowledgeable about navigating and working with PostgreSQL databases.

Fortunately, when you use containers in development, it is easy to add additional services to help with troubleshooting and debugging.

The pgAdmin tool is a popular open-source tool designed to help administer and visualize PostgreSQL databases.

In this guide you will learn how to:

1. Add pgAdmin to your application stack
2. Configure pgAdmin to automatically connect to the development database

Adding pgAdmin to your stack

1. In your compose.yaml file, add the pgadmin service next to your existing postgres service:

   yamlCopy

   services:
     postgres:
       image: postgres:18
       environment:
         POSTGRES_USER: postgres
         POSTGRES_PASSWORD: secret
         POSTGRES_DB: demo
   
     pgadmin:
       image: dpage/pgadmin4:9.8
       ports:
         - 5050:80
       environment:
         # Required by pgAdmin
         PGADMIN_DEFAULT_EMAIL: [email protected]
         PGADMIN_DEFAULT_PASSWORD: secret
   
         # Don't require the user to login
         PGADMIN_CONFIG_SERVER_MODE: 'False'
   
         # Don't require a "master" password after logging in
         PGADMIN_CONFIG_MASTER_PASSWORD_REQUIRED: 'False'
   

2. Start the Compose stack with the following command:

   consoleCopy

   $ docker compose up
   

   After the image is downloaded the container starts, you will see output that looks similar to the following indicating pgAdmin is ready:

   consoleCopy

   pgadmin-1   | [2025-09-22 15:52:47 +0000] [1] [INFO] Starting gunicorn 23.0.0
   pgadmin-1   | [2025-09-22 15:52:47 +0000] [1] [INFO] Listening at: http://[::]:80 (1)
   pgadmin-1   | [2025-09-22 15:52:47 +0000] [1] [INFO] Using worker: gthread
   pgadmin-1   | [2025-09-22 15:52:47 +0000] [119] [INFO] Booting worker with pid: 119
   

3. Open pgAdmin by going to http://localhost:5050.

4. Once in the admin panel, select the Add New Server link to define a new server. Enter the following details:

   • General tab:
     • Name: postgres
   • Connection tab:
     • Host name/address: postgres
     • Username: postgres
     • Password: secret
     • Enable the Save password? field

   [!IMPORTANT]

   These connection details assume you are using the previous Compose file snippet. If you are using an existing Compose file, adjust the connection details as required. The Host name/address field should match the name of your postgres service.

5. Select the Save button to create the new database.

You now have pgAdmin setup and connected to your containerized database. Feel free to navigate around, view the tables, and explore your database.

Configuring pgAdmin to auto-connect to the database

Although you have pgAdmin running, it would be nice if you could simply open the app without needing to configure the database connection. Reducing the setup steps would be a great way to make it easier for teammates to get value from this tool.

Fortunately, there is an ability to auto-connect to the database.

[!WARNING]

In order to auto-connect, the database credentials are shared using plaintext files. During local development, this is often acceptable as local data is not real customer data. However, if you are using production or sensitive data, this practice is strongly discouraged.

1. First, you need to define the server itself, which pgAdmin does using a servers.json file.

   Add the following to your compose.yaml file to define a config file for the servers.json file:

   yamlCopy

   configs:
     pgadmin-servers:
       content: |
         {
           "Servers": {
             "1": {
               "Name": "Local Postgres",
               "Group": "Servers",
               "Host": "postgres",
               "Port": 5432,
               "MaintenanceDB": "postgres",
               "Username": "postgres",
               "PassFile": "/config/pgpass"
             }
           }
         }
   

2. The servers.json file defines a PassFile field, which is a reference to a postgreSQL password files. These are often referred to as a pgpass file.

   Add the following config to your compose.yaml file to define a pgpass file:

   yamlCopy

   config:
     pgadmin-pgpass:
       content: |
         postgres:5432:*:postgres:secret
   

   This will indicate any connection requests to postgres:5432 using the username postgres should provide a password of secret.

3. In your compose.yaml, update the pgadmin service to inject the config files:

   yamlCopy

   services:
     pgadmin:
       ...
       configs:
         - source: pgadmin-pgpass
           target: /config/pgpass
           uid: "5050"
           gid: "5050"
           mode: 0400
         - source: pgadmin-servers
           target: /pgadmin4/servers.json
           mode: 0444
   

4. Update the application stack by running docker compose up again:

   consoleCopy

   $ docker compose up
   

5. Once the application is restarted, open your browser to http://localhost:5050. You should be able to access the database without any logging in or configuration.

Conclusion

Using containers makes it easy to not only run your application's dependencies, but also additional tools to help with troubleshooting and debugging.

When you add tools, think about the experience and possible friction your teammates might experience and how you might be able to remove it. In this case, you were able to take an extra step to add configuration to automatically configure and connect the databases, saving your teammates valuable time.