Good—you’re exactly where you need to be: inside psql as the postgres superuser. That gives you full control.

No guessing, no passwords needed.

🔧 Change password for Darren user

First, confirm the exact username (case matters):

\du

If you see darren (most likely lowercase), then run:

ALTER USER darren WITH PASSWORD 'newpassword123';

⚠️ Important details

• PostgreSQL usernames are case-sensitive if quoted, but usually stored lowercase
• So:
• darren ✅ (normal)
• "Darren" ❗ (only if originally created with quotes)

If you’re unsure, just copy it exactly from \du.

🧪 Test it right away

Exit:

\q

Then:

psql -U darren -d ougway_db -h localhost -p 5432

❗ If login still fails

Then it’s NOT the password—it’s authentication mode.

Check:

sudo nano /etc/postgresql/16/main/pg_hba.conf

Make sure you have:

local   all   all   md5

Then restart:

sudo systemctl restart postgresql

🧠 Quick sanity recap

You are:
– logged in as postgres ✅
– able to modify ANY user ✅
– not blocked by passwords anymore ✅

⚡ Shortcut (if you want full control)

If Darren should be your main user, you can also do:

ALTER USER darren WITH SUPERUSER;

🚀 Bottom line

The exact command you asked for is:

ALTER USER darren WITH PASSWORD 'your_new_password';

Once that works, everything (pgAdmin, scripts, terminal) becomes consistent again.

If anything errors, paste it—we’re past the hard part now.

Perfect — that simplifies everything 👍

So your username is:

darren

🔧 Change Darren’s password (exact command)

Inside psql (where you already are as postgres):

ALTER USER darren WITH PASSWORD 'newpassword123';

Pick whatever password you want.

🧪 Test it immediately

Exit:

\q

Then test:

psql -U darren -d ougway_db -h localhost -p 5432

⚠️ If it STILL doesn’t let you in

Then it’s not the password — it’s authentication mode.

Fix it:

sudo nano /etc/postgresql/16/main/pg_hba.conf

Find this line:

local   all   all   peer

Change it to:

local   all   all   md5

Save, then:

sudo systemctl restart postgresql

🧠 Why this matters

• peer → ignores password, uses Linux user match
• md5 → uses the password you just set

Right now you want md5 so:
– pgAdmin works
– scripts work
– passwords actually matter

✅ After this

You’ll have:
– known username: darren
– known password
– consistent login everywhere

If you want next:
👉 we can decide whether darren or ougway should be your main ingestion user so everything stays clean going forward.