Updating TimescaleDB versions

The instructions below all you to update TimescaleDB within the same major release version (for example, from TimescaleDB 2.1 to 2.2, or from 1.7 to 1.7.4). If you need to upgrade between TimescaleDB 1.x and 2.x, see our separate upgrade document for detailed instructions.

TimescaleDB supports in-place updates only: you don’t need to dump and restore your data, and versions are published with automated migration scripts that convert any internal state if necessary.

warning

There is currently no automated way to downgrade to an earlier release of TimescaleDB without setting up a new instance of PostgreSQL with a previous release of TimescaleDB and then using pg_restore from a backup.

TimescaleDB release compatibility

TimescaleDB currently supports the following PostgreSQL releases. If you are not currently running a compatible release, please upgrade before updating TimescaleDB.

If you need to upgrade PostgreSQL first, see our documentation.

tip

We always recommend that you update PostgreSQL and TimescaleDB as separate actions to make sure that each process completes properly. For example, if you are currently running PostgreSQL 10 and TimescaleDB 1.7.5, and you want to upgrade to PostgreSQL 13 and TimescaleDB 2.2, upgrade in this order:

1. Upgrade PostgreSQL 10 to PostgreSQL 12
2. Update TimescaleDB 1.7.5 to TimescaleDB 2.2 on PostgreSQL 12
3. Upgrade PostgreSQL 12 to PostgreSQL 13 with TimescaleDB 2.2 installed

Update TimescaleDB

Software upgrades use PostgreSQL’s ALTER EXTENSION support to update to the latest version. TimescaleDB supports having different extension versions on different databases within the same PostgreSQL instance. This allows you to update extensions independently on different databases. The upgrade process involves three steps:

1. Perform a backup of your database via pg_dump.
2. Install the latest version of the TimescaleDB extension.
3. Execute the following psql command inside any database that you want to update:

ALTER EXTENSION timescaledb UPDATE;

warning

When executing ALTER EXTENSION, you should connect using psql with the -X flag to prevent any .psqlrc commands from accidentally triggering the load of a previous TimescaleDB version on session startup. It must also be the first command you execute in the session.

This will upgrade TimescaleDB to the latest installed version, even if you are several versions behind.

After executing the command, the psql \dx command should show the latest version:

\dx timescaledb
    Name     | Version |   Schema   |                             Description
-------------+---------+------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------
 timescaledb | x.y.z   | public     | Enables scalable inserts and complex queries for time-series data
(1 row)