pgloader

pgloader Plugin

pgloader is a mature ETL tool focused on loading data into PostgreSQL. Given a source (database URL or file) and a Postgres target URL, it auto-discovers the source schema, converts types, creates tables/indexes, and loads rows with parallel COPY.

Commands

• pgloader migrate run <source> <target> — Full migration into Postgres
• pgloader migrate dryrun <source> <target> — Process without writing (--dry-run)
• pgloader load command <file.load> — Run a .load command file (casting rules, filters)
• pgloader encodings list — Show supported source encodings
• pgloader _ _ — Passthrough

Usage Examples

• "Migrate this MySQL database to Postgres"
• "Load this CSV into a Postgres table"
• "Convert this SQLite file into Postgres"
• "Do a dry run of the migration first"

Installation

sudo apt-get install -y pgloader
# or: brew install pgloader

Examples

# Full MySQL -> Postgres migration
pgloader mysql://root:pass@localhost/sourcedb postgresql://postgres@localhost/destdb

# CSV file into Postgres
pgloader ./people.csv postgresql://localhost/analytics

# Dry run first
pgloader --dry-run sqlite:///app.db postgresql://localhost/appdb

# Advanced: .load file with casting rules
pgloader complex.load

Key Features

• Sources: MySQL, SQLite, MS SQL Server, CSV, fixed-width, dBase (.dbf), IXF, archives
• Automatic schema discovery + Postgres type conversion
• .load command files for fine control: CAST rules, INCLUDING/EXCLUDING table filters, BEFORE/AFTER LOAD hooks
• --dry-run to validate without writing; --verbose/--debug for diagnostics