Configure your Environment - Paradedb

This guide will walk you through setting up your environment to run queries against ParadeDB. Choose your preferred tool below:

ParadeDB comes with a helpful procedure that creates a table populated with mock data to help you get started. Run the following command to create this table.

sql

CALL paradedb.create_bm25_test_table(
  schema_name => 'public',
  table_name => 'mock_items'
);

Then, inspect the first 3 rows:

sql

SELECT description, rating, category
FROM mock_items
LIMIT 3;

ini

       description        | rating |  category
--------------------------+--------+-------------
 Ergonomic metal keyboard |      4 | Electronics
 Plastic Keyboard         |      4 | Electronics
 Sleek running shoes      |      5 | Footwear
(3 rows)

Next, let's create a BM25 index called search_idx on this table. A BM25 index is a covering index, which means that multiple columns can be included in the same index.

sql

CREATE INDEX search_idx ON mock_items
USING bm25 (id, description, category, rating, in_stock, created_at, metadata, weight_range)
WITH (key_field='id');

<Note> As a general rule of thumb, any columns that you want to filter, `GROUP BY`, `ORDER BY`, or aggregate as part of a full text query should be added to the index for faster performance. </Note> <Note> Note the mandatory `key_field` option. See [choosing a key field](/documentation/indexing/create-index#choosing-a-key-field) for more details. </Note>

You're all set! Try running some queries.

</Accordion> <Accordion title="Django"> To start you'll need a [Django](https://www.djangoproject.com/) project with [Psycopg](https://www.psycopg.org/) and [django-paradedb](https://pypi.org/project/django-paradedb/) installed. Run the following to create one:

bash

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install django psycopg django-paradedb==0.5.0
python3 -m django startproject myproject .
python3 manage.py startapp myapp

In myproject/settings.py, add 'django.contrib.postgres' and 'myapp' to INSTALLED_APPS. Then, configure DATABASES["default"] to point to Postgres:

python

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...,
    'django.contrib.postgres',
    'myapp',
]

DATABASES = {
    "default": {
        "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.postgresql",
        "NAME": "mydatabase",
        "USER": "myuser",
        "PASSWORD": "mypassword",
        "HOST": "localhost",
        "PORT": "5432",
    }
}

We can now add a model for ParadeDB's built-in test table and BM25 index:

python

from django.db import models

from django.contrib.postgres.fields import IntegerRangeField
from paradedb.indexes import BM25Index
from paradedb.queryset import ParadeDBManager


class MockItem(models.Model):
    description = models.TextField(null=True, blank=True)
    rating = models.IntegerField(null=True, blank=True)
    category = models.CharField(max_length=255, null=True, blank=True)
    in_stock = models.BooleanField(null=True, blank=True)
    metadata = models.JSONField(null=True, blank=True)
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(null=True, blank=True)
    last_updated_date = models.DateField(null=True, blank=True)
    latest_available_time = models.TimeField(null=True, blank=True)
    weight_range = IntegerRangeField(null=True, blank=True)

    objects = ParadeDBManager()

    class Meta:
        db_table = "mock_items"
        indexes = [
            BM25Index(
                fields={
                    "id": {},
                    "description": {"tokenizer": "unicode_words"},
                    "category": {"tokenizer": "literal"},
                    "rating": {},
                    "in_stock": {},
                    "metadata": {"json_fields": {"fast": True}},
                    "created_at": {},
                    "last_updated_date": {},
                    "latest_available_time": {},
                    "weight_range": {},
                },
                key_field="id",
                name="search_idx",
            ),
        ]

Run the migrations to create the table and index:

bash

python3 manage.py makemigrations
python3 manage.py migrate

Now, open a Python shell with python3 manage.py shell and run the following command to populate mock_items.

python

from django.db import connection

with connection.cursor() as cursor:
    cursor.execute("""
        CALL paradedb.create_bm25_test_table(
          schema_name => 'public',
          table_name  => 'mock_items_tmp'
        );
        INSERT INTO public.mock_items
        SELECT * FROM public.mock_items_tmp;
        DROP TABLE public.mock_items_tmp;
    """)

You're all set! Try running some queries in your Python shell.

</Accordion> <Accordion title="SQLAlchemy"> To get started, install [SQLAlchemy](https://www.sqlalchemy.org/), [Alembic](https://alembic.sqlalchemy.org/en/latest/), [Psycopg](https://www.psycopg.org/), and [sqlalchemy-paradedb](https://pypi.org/project/sqlalchemy-paradedb/).

bash

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install sqlalchemy psycopg alembic sqlalchemy-paradedb==0.5.0

Initialize Alembic:

bash

alembic init migrations

Then update the Alembic configuration to point to your database:

ini

sqlalchemy.url = postgresql+psycopg://myuser:mypassword@localhost:5432/mydatabase

ParadeDB comes with a built-in test table that we'll run our queries against. Create a models.py file with a model and search index for that table:

python

from __future__ import annotations

from datetime import date, datetime, time
from typing import Any

from sqlalchemy import Boolean, Date, DateTime, Index, Integer, String, Text, Time
from sqlalchemy.dialects.postgresql import INT4RANGE, JSONB, Range
from sqlalchemy.orm import DeclarativeBase, Mapped, mapped_column

from paradedb.sqlalchemy import indexing


class Base(DeclarativeBase):
    pass


class MockItem(Base):
    __tablename__ = "mock_items"

    id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, primary_key=True)
    description: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=True)
    rating: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=True)
    category: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(255), nullable=True)
    in_stock: Mapped[bool | None] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=True)
    metadata_: Mapped[dict[str, Any] | None] = mapped_column("metadata", JSONB, nullable=True)
    created_at: Mapped[datetime | None] = mapped_column(DateTime, nullable=True)
    last_updated_date: Mapped[date | None] = mapped_column(Date, nullable=True)
    latest_available_time: Mapped[time | None] = mapped_column(Time, nullable=True)
    weight_range: Mapped[Range[int] | None] = mapped_column(INT4RANGE, nullable=True)


Index(
    "search_idx",
    indexing.BM25Field(MockItem.id),
    indexing.BM25Field(MockItem.description),
    indexing.BM25Field(MockItem.category),
    indexing.BM25Field(MockItem.rating),
    indexing.BM25Field(MockItem.in_stock),
    indexing.BM25Field(MockItem.metadata_),
    indexing.BM25Field(MockItem.created_at),
    indexing.BM25Field(MockItem.last_updated_date),
    indexing.BM25Field(MockItem.latest_available_time),
    indexing.BM25Field(MockItem.weight_range),
    postgresql_using="bm25",
    postgresql_with={"key_field": "id"},
)

Copy this configuration into your migrations/env.py:

python

from logging.config import fileConfig

from sqlalchemy import engine_from_config, text
from sqlalchemy import pool

from alembic import context

# This import is required for autogenerated ParadeDB migrations
# to work properly.
import paradedb.sqlalchemy.alembic  # noqa: F401
from models import Base

config = context.config

if config.config_file_name is not None:
    fileConfig(config.config_file_name)

target_metadata = Base.metadata

# The ParadeDB Docker image comes pre-bundled with some popular
# extensions like PostGIS. PostGIS automatically creates a table
# called `spatial_ref_sys`. This tells Alembic not to drop it even
# though it isn't tracked in Alembic's metadata.
IGNORED_TABLES = {"spatial_ref_sys"}


def include_object(object, name, type_, reflected, compare_to):
    if type_ == "table" and reflected and name in IGNORED_TABLES:
        return False
    return True


def run_migrations_offline() -> None:
    url = config.get_main_option("sqlalchemy.url")
    context.configure(
        url=url,
        target_metadata=target_metadata,
        literal_binds=True,
        dialect_opts={"paramstyle": "named"},
    )

    with context.begin_transaction():
        context.run_migrations()


def run_migrations_online() -> None:
    connectable = engine_from_config(
        config.get_section(config.config_ini_section, {}),
        prefix="sqlalchemy.",
        poolclass=pool.NullPool,
    )

    with connectable.connect() as connection:
        # This prevents Alembic from modifying tables outside
        # of the `public` schema.
        connection.execute(text("SET search_path TO public"))
        connection.commit()
        context.configure(
            connection=connection,
            target_metadata=target_metadata,
            include_object=include_object,
        )

        with context.begin_transaction():
            context.run_migrations()


if context.is_offline_mode():
    run_migrations_offline()
else:
    run_migrations_online()

Next, add a migration to create the mock_items test table. Create a blank migration in 0001_create_mock_items_table.py by running the following command:

bash

alembic revision --rev-id 0001 -m "Create mock_items table"

Update the generated migration to create the table:

python

def upgrade() -> None:
    """Upgrade schema."""
    op.execute(
        """
        CALL paradedb.create_bm25_test_table(
          schema_name => 'public',
          table_name => 'mock_items'
        )
        """
    )


def downgrade() -> None:
    """Downgrade schema."""
    op.execute("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS public.mock_items")

Then, run it with:

bash

alembic upgrade head

Next, autogenerate a new migration to create the search index.

bash

alembic revision --rev-id 0002 --autogenerate -m "Create search index on mock_items"

The generated migration should look like this:

python

"""add mock_items search index

Revision ID: 0002
Revises: 0001
Create Date: 2026-04-07 13:56:45.304941

"""
from typing import Sequence, Union

from alembic import op
import sqlalchemy as sa


# revision identifiers, used by Alembic.
revision: str = '0002'
down_revision: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = '0001'
branch_labels: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = None
depends_on: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = None


def upgrade() -> None:
    """Upgrade schema."""
    # ### commands auto generated by Alembic - please adjust! ###
    op.create_bm25_index('search_idx', 'mock_items', ['id', 'description', 'category', 'rating', 'in_stock', 'metadata', 'created_at', 'last_updated_date', 'latest_available_time', 'weight_range'], key_field='id', table_schema='public')
    # ### end Alembic commands ###


def downgrade() -> None:
    """Downgrade schema."""
    # ### commands auto generated by Alembic - please adjust! ###
    op.drop_bm25_index('search_idx', if_exists=True, schema='public')
    # ### end Alembic commands ###

Then run it with:

bash

alembic upgrade head

Finally, run python and execute the following:

python

from models import MockItem
from sqlalchemy import create_engine
engine = create_engine('postgresql+psycopg://myuser:mypassword@localhost:5432/mydatabase')

You're all set! Try running some queries in your shell.

</Accordion> <Accordion title="Rails"> To get started, create a [Rails](https://rubyonrails.org/) app that uses PostgreSQL.

bash

rails new paradedb -d postgresql
cd paradedb

Add the rails-paradedb gem to your Gemfile:

ruby

gem "rails-paradedb", "0.6.0", require: "parade_db"

Then install it:

bash

bundle install

Update config/database.yml to point to your ParadeDB database:

yml

development:
  adapter: postgresql
  encoding: unicode
  database: mydatabase
  username: myuser
  password: mypassword
  host: localhost
  port: 5432

ParadeDB comes with a built-in test table that we'll run our queries against. Generate a migration to create it:

bash

rails generate migration CreateMockItemsTable

Update the generated migration to create mock_items:

ruby

def up
  execute <<~SQL
    CALL paradedb.create_bm25_test_table(
      schema_name => 'public',
      table_name => 'mock_items'
    );
  SQL
end

def down
  drop_table :mock_items, if_exists: true
end

Next, create a model for the mock_items table in app/models/mock_item.rb:

ruby

class MockItem < ApplicationRecord
  include ParadeDB::Model

  self.table_name = "mock_items"
  self.primary_key = "id"
end

Then, create a search index for that table in app/models/mock_item_index.rb:

ruby

class MockItemIndex < ParadeDB::Index
  self.table_name = :mock_items
  self.key_field = :id
  self.index_name = :search_idx
  self.fields = {
    id: nil,
    description: nil,
    category: nil,
    rating: nil,
    in_stock: nil,
    metadata: nil,
    created_at: nil,
    last_updated_date: nil,
    latest_available_time: nil,
    weight_range: nil
  }
end

Generate a migration for the search index:

bash

rails generate migration CreateMockItemsIndex

Update the generated migration to create the index:

ruby

def up
  create_paradedb_index(MockItemIndex, if_not_exists: true)
end

def down
  remove_bm25_index :mock_items, name: :search_idx, if_exists: true
end

Run the migrations:

bash

rails db:migrate

You're all set! Open the Rails console and run some queries.

bash

rails console

</Accordion>