PostgreSQL error 25001 occurs when a transaction is already active and prevents certain operations like DROP DATABASE or ALTER TYPE from executing. Commit or rollback the current transaction first to resolve this.
Error 25001 indicates that a SQL transaction is already in progress when PostgreSQL encounters a command that cannot run inside a transaction block. In PostgreSQL, some commands such as DROP DATABASE, CREATE DATABASE, ALTER TYPE ADD, and VACUUM are auto-committing statements that cannot be executed while a transaction is active. When PostgreSQL detects an active transaction and receives one of these commands, it raises error 25001 to protect database integrity. This is distinct from error 25P01 ("No active SQL transaction"), which occurs when you try to commit or rollback without an active transaction. Error 25001 happens in the opposite scenario: you have an active transaction that needs to be closed before certain operations can proceed.
Before executing any command that cannot run in a transaction block, you must first complete the active transaction.
COMMIT; -- or ROLLBACK;If you want to keep the transaction's changes, use COMMIT. If you want to discard them, use ROLLBACK.
After committing or rolling back, you can now execute commands that require auto-commit mode:
DROP DATABASE my_database;
CREATE DATABASE new_database;
ALTER TYPE my_type ADD VALUE 'new_value';If using an ORM or database library that automatically wraps statements in transactions, you may need to disable this for specific operations.
For Laravel Doctrine Migrations:
// Wrap the problematic command outside of transactions
DB::unprepared("ALTER TYPE my_type ADD VALUE 'new_value'");For other frameworks, consult the documentation on running non-transactional queries.
If trying to DROP DATABASE, ensure no other connections are using that database:
SELECT * FROM pg_stat_activity WHERE datname = 'database_name';For PostgreSQL 13+, you can use the FORCE option to terminate existing connections:
DROP DATABASE database_name WITH (FORCE);Alternatively, connect to a different database (like template1) before dropping your target database.
Transaction vs. Auto-Commit Commands: PostgreSQL distinguishes between regular SQL commands (which can run in transactions) and auto-committing commands (which must run outside transactions). The auto-committing commands include DDL operations like CREATE/DROP DATABASE, VACUUM, REINDEX, and certain ALTER operations. Some PostgreSQL client libraries like psycopg2 (Python) automatically start transactions, which can mask this error. If you encounter this error in application code, check your connection settings—you may need to enable autocommit mode or explicitly set the connection isolation level. In connection pools and multi-threaded environments, ensure that transaction state is properly isolated per connection.
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