PostgreSQL Sync

AgentsView stores sessions locally in SQLite by default. PostgreSQL sync lets you push sessions from one or more machines into a shared PostgreSQL database, then serve a read-only web UI from it — useful for team dashboards or multi-machine setups.

The sync direction is one-way: SQLite to PostgreSQL. Each machine pushes its own sessions; pg serve reads from the shared database. The resulting UI includes the session browser, analytics dashboard, search, and, as of 0.23.0, the Usage dashboard as well.

Quick Start

1. Configure PostgreSQL

Add a [pg] section to ~/.agentsview/config.toml:

[pg]
url = "postgres://user:pass@host:5432/dbname?sslmode=require"
machine_name = "my-laptop"

The machine_name identifies which machine pushed each session. It defaults to the system hostname if omitted. It must not be "local" (reserved for the local SQLite sentinel).

2. Push Sessions

agentsview pg push

This syncs all local sessions, messages, and tool calls to PostgreSQL. The schema is created automatically on first push.

3. Serve the Dashboard

agentsview pg serve

Opens the read-only web UI at http://127.0.0.1:8080, backed entirely by PostgreSQL. No local SQLite, file watching, or uploads — just the viewer.

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Commands

agentsview pg push

Sync sessions from the local SQLite database to PostgreSQL.

agentsview pg push [flags]

Flag	Default	Description
--full	false	Force full local resync and re-push, bypassing change detection
--projects		Comma-separated projects to push (inclusive)
--exclude-projects		Comma-separated projects to exclude
--all-projects	false	Ignore configured project filters for this run

Push is on-demand — run it whenever you want to sync. There is no automatic background push.

What happens on push:

1. Runs a local sync to pick up any new or modified session files
2. Compares local sessions against the PostgreSQL watermark to find what changed since the last push
3. Upserts sessions, messages, and tool calls in batches of 50
4. Advances the watermark timestamp on success

Incremental pushes use a two-layer fingerprint to skip unchanged sessions: first, session metadata fields (project, agent, timestamps, message counts) are compared; then, per- session message statistics (count, content length sum/max/min, system message ordinals, tool call counts) are checked against PostgreSQL. Use --full to bypass both layers and re-push everything — for example, after a schema reset or when message content was rewritten in place.

If any sessions fail to push, the watermark is not advanced so they are retried on the next run. The exit code is 1 when any errors occur, 0 otherwise.

Project Filtering

By default, pg push syncs all projects. Use project filters to push a subset:

# Push only these projects
agentsview pg push --projects alpha,beta

# Push everything except this project
agentsview pg push --exclude-projects scratch

# Ignore config-file filters for this run
agentsview pg push --all-projects

--projects and --exclude-projects are mutually exclusive. --all-projects cannot be combined with either.

Project filters can also be set in config.toml so you don’t need to pass them on every run:

[pg]
url = "postgres://..."
projects = ["alpha", "beta"]
# or: exclude_projects = ["scratch"]

CLI flags override config values. Use agentsview projects to list available project names.

Caution

Filtered pushes do not advance the global push watermark because it covers all projects. This means the query window for subsequent filtered pushes grows over time. Run an unfiltered pg push (or pg push --all-projects) periodically to reset the watermark.

agentsview pg status

Show the current sync state.

agentsview pg status

Output:

Machine:     my-laptop
Last push:   2026-03-24T10:30:00Z
PG sessions: 1842
PG messages: 47291

Field	Description
Machine	Configured machine name or hostname
Last push	Timestamp of last successful push (“never” if no push yet)
PG sessions	Total session count in PostgreSQL (all machines)
PG messages	Total message count in PostgreSQL (all machines)

agentsview pg serve

Start a read-only web UI backed by PostgreSQL.

agentsview pg serve [flags]

Flag	Default	Description
--host	127.0.0.1	Bind address
--port	8080	Port
--base-path		URL prefix for reverse-proxy subpath
--public-url		Public-facing URL for proxy access
--public-origin		Trusted browser origin (repeatable/comma-separated)
--public-port	8443	External port for managed proxy
--proxy		Managed proxy mode (caddy)
--caddy-bin	caddy	Caddy binary path
--proxy-bind-host	0.0.0.0	Caddy bind address
--tls-cert		TLS certificate path
--tls-key		TLS key path
--allowed-subnet		CIDR allowlist (repeatable/comma-separated)

The server is read-only — uploads, file watching, and local sync are all disabled. Sessions from all machines appear in a single unified view. The same deployment also serves the analytics dashboard and the Usage page from PostgreSQL-backed queries.

On startup, pg serve automatically applies any pending schema migrations to PostgreSQL, creating new tables and indexes added in newer AgentsView versions. This removes the need to run pg push before starting the server after an upgrade. If the PostgreSQL role is read-only, the migration is skipped and the server falls back to the schema compatibility check.

When require_auth is enabled, a bearer token is generated if needed and printed on startup. Pass it via Authorization: Bearer <token> on API requests. The SSE watch endpoint also accepts ?token=<token> as a query parameter since the EventSource API cannot set custom headers.

For LAN access, combine require_auth = true with a non-loopback bind such as agentsview pg serve --host 0.0.0.0, or keep the backend on loopback and expose it through a proxy.

pg serve does not expose the global live-refresh event stream used by normal agentsview serve, because there is no local sync engine attached to the server. The session browser, analytics, and usage views still work normally; they are just not auto-refreshed by the global SSE path.

Caution

Query-parameter tokens can leak through server logs, browser history, and Referer headers. Prefer the Authorization header for all non-SSE requests, and use TLS (via managed Caddy or an external reverse proxy) to protect tokens in transit.

For managed Caddy mode, keep the backend --host on loopback and use --proxy-bind-host / --public-port to expose the public listener. The pg serve and normal serve modes keep separate managed-Caddy state, so both can coexist on one host.

Examples:

Enable auth before exposing pg serve

Only the loopback example below is safe without auth. Every other example binds off 127.0.0.1 or fronts a public proxy, so set require_auth = true in ~/.agentsview/config.toml before starting the server. The same bearer-token mechanism described in Remote Access applies.

# Local development — loopback, no auth required
agentsview pg serve

# Team viewer with managed Caddy and TLS
# Requires require_auth = true in config.toml
agentsview pg serve \
  --proxy caddy \
  --public-url https://viewer.example.com \
  --public-port 8443 \
  --tls-cert /path/to/cert.pem \
  --tls-key /path/to/key.pem

# Remote access on a trusted private network (no TLS)
# Requires require_auth = true; only use behind a VPN or on a
# private LAN because tokens cross the wire in cleartext.
agentsview pg serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

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Machine Labels

When multiple machines push to the same PostgreSQL database, each session is tagged with its source machine name. In the web UI, session items show a machine label when the session did not originate from the local machine. Use the multi-host filter in the sidebar to show sessions from specific machines.

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Configuration

All PostgreSQL settings live in the [pg] section of ~/.agentsview/config.toml:

[pg]
url = "postgres://user:pass@host:5432/dbname?sslmode=require"
machine_name = "my-laptop"
schema = "agentsview"
allow_insecure = false

Field	Default	Description
url	(required)	PostgreSQL connection string
machine_name	OS hostname	Identifies the pushing machine; defaults to os.Hostname() if omitted
schema	agentsview	PostgreSQL schema name
allow_insecure	false	Allow non-TLS connections to non-loopback hosts
projects		Array of project names to include in push
exclude_projects		Array of project names to exclude from push

Caution

The url field is required for all pg commands. If it contains credentials, ensure config.toml has restricted file permissions (0600).

The connection string supports standard PostgreSQL parameters. Use sslmode=require or sslmode=verify-full for remote databases. Only use sslmode=disable for trusted local connections.

Environment variables in the URL are expanded using ${VAR} syntax:

[pg]
url = "postgres://${PG_USER}:${PG_PASSWORD}@host:5432/dbname?sslmode=require"

Environment Variables

PostgreSQL settings can also be configured via environment variables, which override config.toml values:

Variable	Description
AGENTSVIEW_PG_URL	PostgreSQL connection URL
AGENTSVIEW_PG_MACHINE	Machine name for push sync
AGENTSVIEW_PG_SCHEMA	Schema name (default agentsview)

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Multi-Machine Workflow

A typical team setup:

1. Each developer configures [pg] in their local config.toml with a unique machine_name
2. Each developer runs agentsview pg push periodically (or on a cron schedule) to sync their sessions
3. One server runs agentsview pg serve pointed at the shared PostgreSQL database
4. The team opens the shared dashboard to browse everyone’s sessions, filtered by machine if needed

# Developer A's cron (every 30 minutes)
*/30 * * * * agentsview pg push

# Team server
agentsview pg serve \
  --proxy caddy \
  --public-url https://viewer.team.internal \
  --tls-cert /etc/certs/viewer.pem \
  --tls-key /etc/certs/viewer-key.pem

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Limitations

• One-way sync — sessions flow from SQLite to PostgreSQL only. Changes in PostgreSQL do not propagate back to local machines.
• Permanent deletes not propagated — sessions removed via agentsview prune are not deleted from PostgreSQL because the local rows no longer exist at push time. Use a direct SQL DELETE to clean up PostgreSQL if needed. Soft-deleted sessions (trash) sync correctly.
• Schema compatibility — pg serve automatically applies pending schema migrations on startup. If the PostgreSQL role lacks DDL permissions, run agentsview pg push from a machine with write access to update the schema.