Build error: permission denied to create extension "vector"

Product Support

AI-generated summary

yaxu encountered a build error while rebuilding their multisite Discourse install, specifically a “permission denied to create extension ‘vector’” error in PostgreSQL 15.13. Despite running as root and disabling plugins, the issue persisted. NateDhaliwal confirmed they were running as root, which yaxu affirmed. The problem was resolved by manually entering the PostgreSQL container via ./launcher enter app, switching to the postgres user, and executing CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS vector; for each site’s database after restarting Docker yaxu. The root cause was that the discourse database user lacked superuser privileges needed to install the vector extension.

1

Hi,

I’m having problems rebuilding my multisite discourse install. I get the errors pasted below.

  • I’m running ./launcher rebuild app as root.
  • git status in /var/discourse says I’m up to date with branch main.
  • it reports running postgres 15.13:
    2025-08-14 10:35:04.390 UTC [45] LOG: starting PostgreSQL 15.13 (Debian 15.13-1.pgdg120+1) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Debian 12.2.0-14) 12.2.0, 64-bit
  • I have disabled all plugins apart from docker_manager
  • discourse-doctor doesn’t find any problems

Here are the errors:

I, [2025-08-14T10:35:56.213949 #1]  INFO -- : > cd /var/www/discourse && su discourse -c 'find /var/www/discourse/vendor/bundle -name cache -not -path "*/gems/*" -type d -exec rm -rf {} +'
I, [2025-08-14T10:35:56.325831 #1]  INFO -- : 
I, [2025-08-14T10:35:56.325961 #1]  INFO -- : > cd /var/www/discourse && su discourse -c 'find /var/www/discourse/vendor/bundle -name tmp -type d -exec rm -rf {} +'
I, [2025-08-14T10:35:56.430781 #1]  INFO -- : 
I, [2025-08-14T10:35:56.431139 #1]  INFO -- : > cd /var/www/discourse && sudo -E -u discourse bundle exec rake multisite:migrate
`/root` is not writable.
Bundler will use `/tmp/bundler20250814-776-hjo98w776' as your home directory temporarily.
2025-08-14 10:36:05.626 UTC [872] discourse@b_discourse ERROR:  permission denied to create extension "vector"
2025-08-14 10:36:05.626 UTC [872] discourse@b_discourse HINT:  Must be superuser to create this extension.
2025-08-14 10:36:05.626 UTC [872] discourse@b_discourse STATEMENT:  CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS "vector"
2025-08-14 10:36:05.627 UTC [872] discourse@b_discourse ERROR:  current transaction is aborted, commands ignored until end of transaction block
2025-08-14 10:36:05.627 UTC [872] discourse@b_discourse STATEMENT:  SELECT 1 FROM pg_available_extensions WHERE name = 'vector';
2025-08-14 10:36:05.753 UTC [873] discourse@c_discourse ERROR:  permission denied to create extension "vector"
2025-08-14 10:36:05.753 UTC [873] discourse@c_discourse HINT:  Must be superuser to create this extension.
2025-08-14 10:36:05.753 UTC [873] discourse@c_discourse STATEMENT:  CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS "vector"
2025-08-14 10:36:05.753 UTC [873] discourse@c_discourse ERROR:  current transaction is aborted, commands ignored until end of transaction block
2025-08-14 10:36:05.753 UTC [873] discourse@c_discourse STATEMENT:  SELECT 1 FROM pg_available_extensions WHERE name = 'vector';
2025-08-14 10:36:05.870 UTC [874] discourse@d_discourse ERROR:  permission denied to create extension "vector"
2025-08-14 10:36:05.870 UTC [874] discourse@d_discourse HINT:  Must be superuser to create this extension.
2025-08-14 10:36:05.870 UTC [874] discourse@d_discourse STATEMENT:  CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS "vector"
2025-08-14 10:36:05.870 UTC [874] discourse@d_discourse ERROR:  current transaction is aborted, commands ignored until end of transaction block
2025-08-14 10:36:05.870 UTC [874] discourse@d_discourse STATEMENT:  SELECT 1 FROM pg_available_extensions WHERE name = 'vector';

Any help/pointers much appreciated!

2

Are you doing this as a root user (ran sudo -s before this)?

3

Hi @NateDhaliwal , yes I am running as root.

4

I solved it in postgres (first I had to restart docker with `service restart docker`)

./launcher enter app
sudo -u postgres psql

then running this for each site’s database:

\c b_discourse
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS vector;