How to fix Invalid schema name in PostgreSQL

Connect to your PostgreSQL database and query the information schema to list all available schemas:

SELECT schema_name FROM information_schema.schemata ORDER BY schema_name;

Look for your schema in the output. If it's missing, you need to create it before using it.

Use the CREATE SCHEMA statement to create the missing schema:

CREATE SCHEMA my_schema;

If you need the schema to be owned by a specific user, include the AUTHORIZATION clause:

CREATE SCHEMA my_schema AUTHORIZATION my_user;

After creation, verify it appears in the information_schema.schemata query from Step 1.

PostgreSQL lowercases unquoted identifiers by default. If your schema was created with mixed case using quotes (e.g., CREATE SCHEMA "MySchema"), you must always reference it with double quotes and exact casing:

-- Correct: matches the creation statement
SET search_path TO "MySchema";

-- Incorrect: will fail because PostgreSQL looks for lowercase "myschema"
SET search_path TO MySchema;

For simplicity, create and reference all schemas in lowercase:

CREATE SCHEMA my_schema;  -- Good practice
SET search_path TO my_schema;  -- Works without quotes

Schema names must follow PostgreSQL identifier rules:

- Start with a letter (a-z) or underscore (_)
- Contain only letters, digits (0-9), underscores, or dollar signs ($)
- Be 63 characters or fewer
- NOT start with pg_ (reserved for system schemas)

Invalid examples:

CREATE SCHEMA 2024_data;        -- ERROR: starts with digit
CREATE SCHEMA pg_custom;        -- ERROR: reserved prefix
CREATE SCHEMA my-schema;        -- ERROR: hyphen not allowed
CREATE SCHEMA my schema;        -- ERROR: space not allowed

Valid examples:

CREATE SCHEMA my_schema;        -- OK
CREATE SCHEMA my_schema_2024;   -- OK
CREATE SCHEMA _internal;        -- OK

Ensure your database user has appropriate privileges. If you get the error after creating the schema, verify the user can access it:

-- Check current user
SELECT current_user;

-- Grant USAGE privilege on the schema
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA my_schema TO my_user;

-- Grant CREATE privilege to create objects in the schema
GRANT CREATE ON SCHEMA my_schema TO my_user;

If public schema access has been revoked, explicitly grant USAGE on the public schema or set search_path to include your schema:

ALTER USER my_user SET search_path TO my_schema, public;