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docs: add warning around macO install#20253

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david-fraley wants to merge6 commits intomain

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docs: add warning around macO install#20253

david-fraley wants to merge6 commits intomainfromdf/install-mac-issue

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david-fraley commentedOct 9, 2025

Background

We had a customer try to install Coder on their Mac. They were hit with the follow error

Encountered an error running "coder server postgres-builtin-serve", see "coder server postgres-builtin-serve --help" for more informationerror: Failed to start built-in PostgreSQL. Optionally, specify an external deployment with `--postgres-url`: unable to init database using '/Users/benbrandt/Library/Application Support/coderv2/postgres/bin/bin/initdb -A password -U coder -D /Users/benbrandt/Library/Application Support/coderv2/postgres/data --pwfile=/Users/benbrandt/Library/Application Support/coderv2/postgres/runtime/pwfile --encoding=UTF8': fork/exec /Users/benbrandt/Library/Application Support/coderv2/postgres/bin/bin/initdb: bad CPU type in executable

The reason being that Coder was trying to use Intel (x86_64) PostgreSQL binaries on Applie Silicon Macs. The workaround is to install and use an external PostgreSQL instance instead of our built-in one.

Description

This PR updates our install docs to call out this issue, and adds in a workaround. See a preview of the change athttps://coder.com/docs/@df%2finstall-mac-issue/install