Querying ClickHouse® from Postgres with pg_clickhouse v26.3

Run analytics queries on ClickHouse® from Postgres without rewriting your SQL, using pg_clickhouse, EDB's build of the open-source Postgres extension of the same name. pg_clickhouse is a foreign data wrapper (FDW) that exposes ClickHouse tables as foreign tables in Postgres. It pushes WHERE clauses, joins, and aggregate expressions down to ClickHouse, so the analytical work runs there and Postgres receives only the results.

Installing pg_clickhouse

Run the following steps on your Postgres instance. For the supported platforms, Postgres versions, and Postgres distributions, see Compatibility.

1. Set up the EDB repository for ClickHouse and install the package for your Postgres distribution and version:

   • Rocky Linux
   • Debian

   → WrapCopy

   export EDB_SUBSCRIPTION_TOKEN=<your-token>
   export EDB_SUBSCRIPTION_PLAN=clickhouse
   curl -1sSLf "https://downloads.enterprisedb.com/$EDB_SUBSCRIPTION_TOKEN/$EDB_SUBSCRIPTION_PLAN/setup.rpm.sh" | sudo -E bash
   sudo dnf install -y <package-name>

   → WrapCopy

   export EDB_SUBSCRIPTION_TOKEN=<your-token>
   export EDB_SUBSCRIPTION_PLAN=clickhouse
   curl -1sSLf "https://downloads.enterprisedb.com/$EDB_SUBSCRIPTION_TOKEN/$EDB_SUBSCRIPTION_PLAN/setup.deb.sh" | sudo -E bash
   sudo apt-get install -y <package-name>

   Where:

   • <your-token> is the token you received when you registered for the EDB subscription.

   • <package-name> is the package for your Postgres distribution and version, where <version> is the Postgres major version (16, 17, or 18):

     Postgres distribution	Package name
     Community Postgres	edb-pg<version>-pg-clickhouse
     EDB Postgres Advanced Server	edb-as<version>-pg-clickhouse
     EDB Postgres Extended Server	edb-postgresextended-<version>-pg-clickhouse

     For example, edb-pg17-pg-clickhouse installs pg_clickhouse for community Postgres 17, and edb-as17-pg-clickhouse installs it for EDB Postgres Advanced Server 17.

2. Create the extension in the database where you want to query ClickHouse, then verify the installation. pg_clickhouse doesn't need an entry in shared_preload_libraries.

   → WrapCopy

   -- in Postgres
   CREATE EXTENSION pg_clickhouse;
   SELECT pgch_version();

Connecting to ClickHouse®

After installing the extension, connect it to your ClickHouse server by creating a foreign server that uses the clickhouse_fdw foreign data wrapper, mapping your Postgres user to a ClickHouse user, and importing the ClickHouse tables you want to query with IMPORT FOREIGN SCHEMA. The foreign server supports the binary driver, which uses the ClickHouse native protocol, and the http driver, which uses the HTTP interface.

The upstream tutorial walks through each step with a complete example, from importing tables to running aggregate queries and joins. The upstream reference lists the foreign server, user mapping, and foreign table options.

Checking that queries are pushed down

Use EXPLAIN to see where a query runs. A Foreign Scan at the root of the plan means pg_clickhouse pushed the entire query down to ClickHouse. Queries that aren't fully pushed down run partly in Postgres, which can be slower on large tables. See the upstream README for the current pushdown coverage.