How to setup a password for PostgreSQL in postgreapp?

Question

I am using postgresapp for the PostgreSQL and without password I was able to connect to the database and perform operations. I am curious to learn about the password. Also I use Postico as Interface. Open to any suggestions.

Answer 1

The default for Postgres.app is to have no password and set trust-level authentication in pg_hba.conf. To change this, you need to do the following:

• Alter the IP address and mask for host all all 127.0.0.1/32 trust as needed in pg_hba.conf, and change authentication method from trust to password or md5 (or whatever your requirements are)
• Set the password for the desired user(s) with ALTER USER <username> WITH PASSWORD '<password>';
• Reload the conf with SELECT pg_reload_conf()

Note your pg_hba.conf file is usually located in ~/Library/Application Support/Postgres/var-12 -- the sure-fire way to know is by querying SHOW data_directory in your psql prompt