How to fix pg_restore "input file appears to be a text format dump. please use psql"

This error occurs because you're trying to use pg_restore on a plain text SQL dump file, but pg_restore only works with binary or directory format dumps.

Option 1: Use psql instead#

psql -U username -d database_name -f dump_file.sql

Option 2: Check if your dump is compressed#

If your file has a .gz extension:

gunzip -c dump_file.sql.gz | psql -U username -d database_name

Option 3: Create a custom/binary format dump#

When creating dumps in the future, use the -Fc flag with pg_dump:

pg_dump -Fc -d source_database > backup.dump

Then you can use pg_restore with this file:

pg_restore -d target_database backup.dump