---
title: Using Postgres Enum Types in Ent Schema
id: enum
slug: enum-types
---

import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs';
import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem';
import InstallationInstructions from '../components/_installation_instructions.mdx';


Enum types are data structures that consist of a predefined, ordered set of values. By default, when using `field.Enum`
in your Ent schema, Ent uses simple string types to represent the enum values in **PostgreSQL and SQLite**. However, in some
cases, you may want to use the native enum types provided by the database.

This guide explains how to define a schema field that uses a native PostgreSQL enum type and configure the schema migration
to manage both Postgres enums and the Ent schema as a single migration unit using Atlas.

:::info [Atlas Pro Feature](https://atlasgo.io/features#pro-plan)
Atlas support for [Composite Schema](https://atlasgo.io/atlas-schema/projects#data-source-composite_schema) used in this
guide is available exclusively to Pro users. To use this feature, run:
```
atlas login
```
:::

## Install Atlas

<InstallationInstructions />

## Login to Atlas

```shell
$ atlas login a8m
//highlight-next-line-info
You are now connected to "a8m" on Atlas Cloud.
```

## Composite Schema

An `ent/schema` package is mostly used for defining Ent types (objects), their fields, edges and logic. External enum types,
or any other database objects do not have representation in Ent models - A Postgres enum type can be defined once in your Postgres
schema, and may be used multiple times in different fields and models.

In order to extend our PostgreSQL schema to include both custom enum types and our Ent types, we configure Atlas to
read the state of the schema from a [Composite Schema](https://atlasgo.io/atlas-schema/projects#data-source-composite_schema)
data source. Follow the steps below to configure this for your project:

1\. Create a `schema.sql` that defines the necessary enum type there. In the same way, you can define the enum type in
   [Atlas Schema HCL language](https://atlasgo.io/atlas-schema/hcl-types#enum):

<Tabs>
<TabItem value={"sql"} label={"Using SQL"}>

```sql title="schema.sql"
CREATE TYPE status AS ENUM ('active', 'inactive', 'pending');
```

</TabItem>
<TabItem value={"hcl"} label={"Using HCL"}>

```hcl title="schema.hcl"
schema "public" {}

composite "status" {
  schema = schema.public
  values = ["active", "inactive", "pending"]
}
```

</TabItem>
</Tabs>

2\. In your Ent schema, define an enum field that uses the underlying Postgres `ENUM` type:

```go title="ent/schema/user.go" {6-8}
// Fields of the User.
func (User) Fields() []ent.Field {
	return []ent.Field{
		field.Enum("status").
			Values("active", "inactive", "pending").
			SchemaType(map[string]string{
				dialect.Postgres: "status",
			}),
	}
}
```

:::note
In case a schema with custom driver-specific types is used with other databases, Ent falls back to the default type
used by the driver (e.g., `TEXT` in SQLite and `ENUM (...)` in MariaDB or MySQL)s.
:::

3\. Create a simple `atlas.hcl` config file with a `composite_schema` that includes both your custom enum types defined in
   `schema.sql` and your Ent schema:

```hcl title="atlas.hcl"
data "composite_schema" "app" {
  # Load first custom types first.
  schema "public" {
    url = "file://schema.sql"
  }
  # Second, load the Ent schema.
  schema "public" {
    url = "ent://ent/schema"
  }
}

env "local" {
  src = data.composite_schema.app.url
  dev = "docker://postgres/15/dev?search_path=public"
}
```

## Usage

After setting up our composite schema, we can get its representation using the `atlas schema inspect` command, generate
schema migrations for it, apply them to a database, and more. Below are a few commands to get you started with Atlas:

#### Inspect the Schema

The `atlas schema inspect` command is commonly used to inspect databases. However, we can also use it to inspect our
`composite_schema` and print the SQL representation of it:

```shell
atlas schema inspect \
  --env local \
  --url env://src \
  --format '{{ sql . }}'
```

The command above prints the following SQL. Note, the `status` enum type is defined in the schema before
its usage in the `users.status` column:

```sql
-- Create enum type "status"
CREATE TYPE "status" AS ENUM ('active', 'inactive', 'pending');
-- Create "users" table
CREATE TABLE "users" ("id" bigint NOT NULL GENERATED BY DEFAULT AS IDENTITY, "status" "status" NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY ("id"));
```

#### Generate Migrations For the Schema

To generate a migration for the schema, run the following command:

```shell
atlas migrate diff \
  --env local
```

Note that a new migration file is created with the following content:

```sql title="migrations/20240712090543.sql"
-- Create enum type "status"
CREATE TYPE "status" AS ENUM ('active', 'inactive', 'pending');
-- Create "users" table
CREATE TABLE "users" ("id" bigint NOT NULL GENERATED BY DEFAULT AS IDENTITY, "status" "status" NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY ("id"));
```

#### Apply the Migrations

To apply the migration generated above to a database, run the following command:

```
atlas migrate apply \
  --env local \
  --url "postgres://postgres:pass@localhost:5432/database?search_path=public&sslmode=disable"
```

:::info Apply the Schema Directly on the Database

Sometimes, there is a need to apply the schema directly to the database without generating a migration file. For example,
when experimenting with schema changes, spinning up a database for testing, etc. In such cases, you can use the command
below to apply the schema directly to the database:

```shell
atlas schema apply \
  --env local \
  --url "postgres://postgres:pass@localhost:5432/database?search_path=public&sslmode=disable"
```

Or, using the [Atlas Go SDK](https://github.com/ariga/atlas-go-sdk):

```go
ac, err := atlasexec.NewClient(".", "atlas")
if err != nil {
	log.Fatalf("failed to initialize client: %w", err)
}
// Automatically update the database with the desired schema.
// Another option, is to use 'migrate apply' or 'schema apply' manually.
if _, err := ac.SchemaApply(ctx, &atlasexec.SchemaApplyParams{
	Env: "local",
	URL: "postgres://postgres:pass@localhost:5432/database?search_path=public&sslmode=disable",
}); err != nil {
    log.Fatalf("failed to apply schema changes: %w", err)
}
```

:::

The code for this guide can be found in [GitHub](https://github.com/ent/ent/tree/master/examples/enumtypes).