---
okf: "0.1"
type: service
visibility: private
status: active
updated: 2026-06-22
links: []
---

# kb-postgres

Postgres 16 + pgvector — KB spine on **PIHA** (Raspberry Pi 5, always-on). Stores the frozen envelope schema shared by all KB pillars (mails, documents, photos, transactions).

Runs here because the KB store must answer queries 24/7; SOLARIA (GPU/compute) is powered down intermittently. Embeddings/models still run on SOLARIA's GPU — only the Postgres+pgvector store lives on PIHA. The `pgvector/pgvector:pg16` image is multi-arch and runs natively on arm64 (the Pi 5).

Port: **5433** on PIHA (Tailscale-accessible to other nodes).

## Standard deploy (from SATURN)

```bash
# On SATURN — pushes to master, then deploy.sh SSHes to PIHA and runs deploy-node.sh
git push origin master
scripts/deploy/deploy.sh piha
```

`deploy-node.sh` on PIHA automatically picks up the per-host override:
```
docker compose \
  -f services/kb-postgres/docker-compose.yml \
  -f hosts/piha/runtime/kb-postgres/docker-compose.override.yml \
  up -d --remove-orphans
```

The PIHA override caps memory (`mem_limit: 1g`) and tunes Postgres for a tight,
HA-shared RAM budget. Data lives in the `kb_postgres_data` named volume, which
**must** land on the NVMe (Docker data-root on `/home`), never the SD card —
verify before first deploy (see the override file's DATA PLACEMENT note):

```bash
# On PIHA
docker info -f '{{.DockerRootDir}}'                       # expect an NVMe path
df -h "$(docker info -f '{{.DockerRootDir}}')"            # confirm it's the NVMe
```

## First-time setup on PIHA (before first deploy)

The `.env` file must exist at `services/kb-postgres/.env` in the PIHA repo checkout
(alongside the compose file — that's where `env_file: .env` resolves to):

```bash
# On PIHA
cd ~/homelab-codex-ws
cp services/kb-postgres/env.example services/kb-postgres/.env
# Edit .env: set POSTGRES_PASSWORD to something strong
```

`.env` is gitignored (`*.env` rule in root `.gitignore`) — it will never be committed.

## Manual one-off (debugging / first boot)

```bash
# On PIHA, from repo root
docker compose \
  -f services/kb-postgres/docker-compose.yml \
  -f hosts/piha/runtime/kb-postgres/docker-compose.override.yml \
  up -d
```

## Verify after first boot

```bash
# Host-side healthcheck
./services/kb-postgres/healthcheck.sh

# Inside the container
docker exec kb-postgres psql -U kb -d kb -c '\d envelope'
docker exec kb-postgres psql -U kb -d kb \
  -c "SELECT extname FROM pg_extension WHERE extname = 'vector';"
```

Expected `\d envelope` output:

```
                    Table "public.envelope"
  Column  |           Type           | Nullable |  Default
----------+--------------------------+----------+-----------
 id       | text                     | not null |
 source   | text                     | not null |
 ts       | timestamp with time zone | not null |
 geo      | jsonb                    |          |
 raw_ref  | text                     | not null |
 entities | jsonb                    | not null | '[]'::jsonb
Indexes:
    "envelope_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (id)
    "envelope_source_idx" btree (source)
    "envelope_ts_idx" btree (ts)
```

## Schema contract

The `envelope` table is the frozen cross-source envelope (see `kb/subsystems/kb-overview.md` §Zasady przekrojowe). Adding columns is OK; removing or renaming existing ones is NOT.

Future migrations go in `init/` as `002_*.sql`, `003_*.sql`, …. Postgres runs `initdb` scripts only on a fresh volume — for existing instances apply migrations with `psql` directly.

Applied so far: `001` envelope, `002` document_chunk, `003` chunk model key + `excluded_reason`, `004` document_summary, `005` `mail_sync_state`.

`005_mail_sync_state.sql` (2026-08-06) adds the per-folder IMAP sync cursor for `jobs/mail-imap-sync`, keyed `(account, folder)`. A table rather than a file under `/opt/homelab/state/` for one decisive reason: the cursor and the envelopes it describes must restore together or not at all. A state file surviving a DB restore would make the poller silently skip everything between the restored rows and the file's `last_uid` — a failure with no symptom. Apply it by hand on the live instance (`kb/runbooks/mail-sync-run.md` §4); the DDL is `IF NOT EXISTS`, so repeating it is safe.

## Connection string

```
postgresql://kb:<POSTGRES_PASSWORD>@piha:5433/kb
```

Set `KB_TEST_DSN` to this value when running integration tests from `packages/kb-mail/`
(host = `piha` over Tailscale).