hindsight-embed: daemon_client.py hardcodes DATABASE_URL, breaks on root VPS (pg0 cannot run as root)

[GodsBoy]

Problem

hindsight-embed daemon_client.py hardcodes HINDSIGHT_API_DATABASE_URL to pg0://hindsight-embed on line 79, overriding any value already set in the environment:

env["HINDSIGHT_API_DATABASE_URL"] = "pg0://hindsight-embed"

This means users running on a VPS as root (common setup for OpenClaw, Docker-less deployments) cannot use an external PostgreSQL instance to work around the initdb: error: cannot be run as root limitation of embedded pg0.

Environment

• hindsight-embed v0.4.6
• Hetzner VPS (Ubuntu 24.04, running as root)
• OpenClaw with hindsight-openclaw plugin

Error

RuntimeError: Failed to start embedded PostgreSQL after 5 attempts. 
Last error: Error: PostgreSQL error: Command error: 
stdout=; stderr=initdb: error: cannot be run as root
initdb: hint: Please log in (using, e.g., "su") as the (unprivileged) user that will own the server process.

Root Cause

hindsight-api properly supports external PostgreSQL via HINDSIGHT_API_DATABASE_URL (e.g. postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/hindsight). However, hindsight-embed/daemon_client.py unconditionally overwrites this env var before spawning the daemon, making it impossible to use external PostgreSQL.

Workaround

We patched daemon_client.py line 79 to respect existing env vars:

# Before (broken for root users):
env["HINDSIGHT_API_DATABASE_URL"] = "pg0://hindsight-embed"

# After (respects user override):
if "HINDSIGHT_API_DATABASE_URL" not in env:
    env["HINDSIGHT_API_DATABASE_URL"] = "pg0://hindsight-embed"

Combined with installing PostgreSQL 16 as a system service with pgvector extension, Hindsight works perfectly on a root VPS.

Suggested Fix

One-line change in hindsight-embed/hindsight_embed/daemon_client.py:

if "HINDSIGHT_API_DATABASE_URL" not in env:
    env["HINDSIGHT_API_DATABASE_URL"] = "pg0://hindsight-embed"

This preserves the default behavior (pg0 embedded) while allowing users who set HINDSIGHT_API_DATABASE_URL to use an external PostgreSQL instance.

Who This Affects

• Anyone running OpenClaw/hindsight-embed on a VPS as root (common for Hetzner, DigitalOcean, etc.)
• Anyone wanting to use an external PostgreSQL for better control over the database
• Docker users are unaffected (Docker image runs as non-root hindsight user)