Clone

Create a new instance whose data is copied from an existing one, streamed directly — no temp file on disk.

# Clone the default instance
pg clone test02

# Clone a specific instance
pg clone test02 -i proj01

# Clone a remote database via connection string
pg clone test02 --dsn postgres://user:pass@host:5432/db

# Custom data directory for the new instance
pg clone test02 -i proj01 --base-dir /data/pg

What happens

1. Pre-flight check — the source is verified before anything is created:
   • Local instance: container must be running
   • --dsn: an authenticated SELECT 1 must succeed (catches wrong password, unreachable host)
2. Create — a new instance entry is added to the config with a random password, its own container name, data directory and auto-assigned port
3. Start — the new instance is started (same workflow as pg start)
4. Stream — source data is piped to the target with live transfer progress shown once per second

Notes

• The source instance must be running (or the --dsn target reachable); a bad source fails immediately with no side effects
• The new instance name must not already exist in config
• --dsn and --instance are mutually exclusive: with --dsn the connection string determines host, port and database
• The new instance gets a fresh random password — find it in the clone output or pg status -i <name>
• Logical copy only (schema + data); for large databases a physical approach may be faster