Polygres CLI

Operate a user's Polygres project through the installed polygres command. Treat the CLI as the operational and security boundary. Do not call private control-plane routes or infer undocumented request payloads.

Prefer an available MCP connection

When Polygres MCP tools are available in the current session, read references/mcp-tool-contract.md and use the discovered compatible tools for interactive project operations. Call whoami, respect the fixed-project or multi-project boundary, and treat the discovered catalog as authoritative.

Use the CLI workflow in this skill when the user explicitly asks for CLI, when MCP is absent or incompatible, or when the operation belongs to the CLI surface, such as migrations, Runtime keys, interactive database access, import start, and legacy vector or text configuration. Never invent an MCP tool to mirror a CLI command.

Start safely

1. Run polygres --version and polygres --help before live or end-to-end

testing, and whenever availability or command compatibility is unknown.

1. If the command is missing, tell the user how to install polygres-cli and

let them approve or perform the installation. Do not install packages silently.

1. For live tests from a Polygres source checkout, create an isolated test

environment, reinstall both polygres-cli and polygres-sdk from that checkout under its dependency-installation policy, and verify their versions and import origins before testing. Do not substitute PyPI packages for the checkout under test.

1. Outside a source checkout, compare installed CLI and SDK versions with the

versions required by the application or current skill compatibility record. Do not call an installation current merely because the command exists. Obtain approval before changing installed packages.

1. Run polygres whoami before a mutation when identity or active organization

is uncertain. Use polygres login when authentication is required.

1. Resolve the project with polygres projects list, an explicit --project,

or polygres projects use <project>. State the resolved project before a destructive, secret-producing, or schema-mutating operation.

1. Resolve project_mode. When it is synced, read

references/synced-projects.md before choosing any command.

1. Prefer polygres --json ... for output the agent must parse. Treat stdout as

the JSON channel and stderr as diagnostics.

If bundled examples differ from the installed --help, follow the installed command surface and explain the version mismatch. Never guess a replacement.

Route the request

Read only the references needed for the task:

Execute an operation

1. Classify the request as read-only, mutating, destructive,

schema-mutating, or secret-producing.

1. Load the relevant reference and validate local inputs.
2. Resolve authentication and project context.
3. Resolve project mode and stop any command that is unavailable for that mode.
4. For a mutation, show the target project, affected resource, important

options, and reversibility.

1. Obtain explicit approval when required. Accept an existing consolidated

pipeline approval when it names this exact project, source scope, action, and unchanged plan digest.

1. Run the narrowest documented command.
2. Retain project, job, migration, configuration, key, and request IDs from the

result.

1. Report only the observed terminal state. If work is still running, say so

and provide the status command.

Require consent

Obtain explicit user approval before:

• replace_existing imports;
• applying a SQL migration;
• creating or updating a text configuration, including a generated TSVector

column or managed text index;

• reindexing a text configuration;
• revoking a Runtime API key;
• deleting existing vector or text configurations;
• every durable pgContext mutation, including collection create, update,

set-default, vector addition, default-vector change, reindex, or delete; filter registration; point reconciliation; and operation cancellation or retry;

• pgContext point upsert or delete when it will become a durable operation or

when deleting mappings is destructive for the user's serving behavior;

• any command that uses --yes;
• any other operation that is destructive or difficult to reverse.

Add --yes only after approval for that exact operation and target. Do not add a second confirmation to an explicit rows insert, rows upsert, or rows ignore command that is already authorized by the user's command or a matching consolidated pipeline approval. Before approval for add-column or new-table collection creation, also show the preflight DDL, affected schema objects, and ownership boundaries.

Protect secrets

• Never request, retrieve, store, log, or pass a native database password.
• Never request, print, or place a synced source connection in an argument,

generated file, or transcript. Prefer the CLI's hidden interactive URL prompt. For approved non-interactive work, reference a user-populated environment variable with --connection-env; never inspect its value.

• Let psql prompt the user for the database password.
• If an agent terminal cannot maintain an interactive TTY, give the user the

passwordless command or ask them to run polygres db psql directly.

• Never ask a user for POLYGRESACCESSTOKEN. It is a development and test

override, not a public authentication workflow.

• Warn before polygres keys create <name> because the Runtime API-key secret

is shown once and can enter terminal or agent history.

• Offer to let the user run key creation in their own terminal so the secret

does not enter the agent transcript.

• Never place tokens, keys, or passwords in source files, examples, command

arguments, logs, or final summaries.

Prepare non-CSV data locally

For TSV, JSON arrays, and JSONL/NDJSON datasets, read references/data-imports.md and use scripts/prepare_import.py. Route one JSON object intended as an individual write to references/rows.md instead. Resolve the script path from this skill directory instead of assuming the repository contains scripts/.

The converter is local-only and produces a reviewed CSV artifact. It does not call Polygres. Never silently flatten nested JSON, rename columns, or collapse null and empty-string values without explaining the result and obtaining the required approval.

Do not present SQL migrations as a generic row-import mechanism. Do not call the backend SQL-import or pg_dump routes because those commands are not in the current public CLI.

Handle failures

Use references/automation-and-errors.md to interpret exit codes. In particular:

• Fix validation before retrying exit 2.
• Reauthenticate on exit 3.
• Explain missing permission on exit 4.
• Resolve missing resources on exit 5.
• Resolve conflicts or ambiguous project selection on exit 6.
• Respect rate-limit guidance on exit 7.
• Treat exit 8 as remote failure or timeout.
• Install or hand off a missing local dependency such as psql on exit 9.

After an import or provisioning timeout, check the known resource or job status before resubmitting. A timed-out client does not prove the server operation failed.