What is pg_database_owner in Postgres

PostgreSQL 14 (released September 30, 2021) added a predefined role called pg_database_owner. It's a small addition, but it changes how you hand out privileges to whoever owns a database, and it removes some of the manual grant work that used to come with creating new databases from a template.

What is `pg_database_owner`?

pg_database_owner is a built-in role that always maps to the owner of the current database. You never assign it. Whoever owns the database is the member, and that's decided for you.

You don't grant it to users.
Membership is implicit and context-dependent: whoever owns the database is the member.

The useful consequence is that privileges granted to pg_database_owner in a template database carry over automatically to any new database created from that template.

Why it Exists

It solves two problems.

Template Database Privileges Before, keeping privileges consistent across databases meant granting them by hand every time. Now you grant once to pg_database_owner in a template, and every database created from it applies the same privileges.
Safer Defaults Starting in PostgreSQL 15, the public schema is owned by pg_database_owner. That gives each database owner direct control over schema access and closes the long-standing problem of a public schema that was open to everyone by default.

Key Characteristics

Property	Description
Implicit membership	Always maps to the database owner
Database scope	Valid only in the current database
No login	Cannot log in directly
No explicit members	You cannot `GRANT ... TO pg_database_owner`
Template inheritance	Privileges granted in a template DB carry over
Isolation	Cannot be part of role hierarchies
Public schema ownership (v15+)	Owns the `public` schema

Common Error

If you try to add a member to it explicitly, Postgres stops you:

GRANT pg_database_owner TO my_user;
ERROR: role "pg_database_owner" cannot have explicit members

That's expected. Membership is derived from ownership, not granted. So instead:

Grant privileges to pg_database_owner
Or transfer database ownership if you want a different effective owner

ALTER DATABASE mydb OWNER TO new_owner;

Practical Examples

Schema Privileges

GRANT USAGE, CREATE ON SCHEMA app TO pg_database_owner;
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA app
  GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON TABLES TO pg_database_owner;

Template Setup Grant monitoring or utility functions to pg_database_owner in a template database, and every new database owner inherits that access without you doing anything extra.

Best Practices

Do:

Use it in template databases when you want privileges to stay consistent
Grant privileges to it, not to users
Reach for it when handing out schema or function access

Don't:

Try to grant it to users, since that always fails
Expect it to reach across databases, since its scope is the current one
Assume it carries privileges on its own, because it starts with none

Conclusion

pg_database_owner is a small change with a clear payoff: it gives PostgreSQL a clean, dynamic way to tie privileges to whoever owns a database, and the privileges follow ownership automatically. If you're running multi-tenant setups or just want a public schema that isn't wide open, it makes privilege management simpler and your defaults safer.

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What is pg_database_owner in Postgres