The Homebrew package manager includes launchctl plists to start automatically. For more information run brew info postgres.

Start manually:

pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres -l /usr/local/var/postgres/server.log start

Stop manually:

pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres stop -s -m fast

What is the result of pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres -l /usr/local/var/postgres/server.log start?

What is the result of pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres status?

Are there any error messages in the server.log?

Make sure tcp localhost connections are enabled in pg_hba.conf:

# IPv4 local connections:
host    all             all             127.0.0.1/32            trust

Check the listen_addresses and port in postgresql.conf:

egrep 'listen|port' /usr/local/var/postgres/postgresql.conf

#listen_addresses = 'localhost'     # what IP address(es) to listen on;
#port = 5432                # (change requires restart)

Cleaning up

Postgres was most likely installed via Homebrew, Fink, MacPorts or the EnterpriseDB installer.

Check the output of the following commands to determine which package manager it was installed with:

brew && brew list|grep postgres
fink && fink list|grep postgres
port && port installed|grep postgres

I had almost the exact same issue, and you cited the initdb command as being the fix. This was also the solution for me, but I didn't see that anyone posted it here, so for those who are looking for it:

initdb /usr/local/var/postgres -E utf8

Another approach is using lunchy gem.

gem install lunchy

To start postgres:

lunchy start postgres

To stop postgres:

lunchy stop postgres

For further info refer to: "How to Install PostgreSQL on a Mac With Homebrew and Lunchy"

If you want to manually start and stop postgresql (installed via homebrew), the easiest way is:

brew services start postgresql

and

brew services stop postgresql

Here my 2 cents: I made a alias for postgres pg_ctl and put it in .bash_profile(my postgresql version is 9.2.4, and database path is /Library/PostgreSQL/9.2/data).

alias postgres.server="sudo -u postgres pg_ctl -D /Library/PostgreSQL/9.2/data"

Launch new terminal.

And then? You can start/stop your postgresql server with this:

postgres.server start
postgres.server stop

To start the postgresql server:

pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres -l /usr/local/var/postgres/server.log start

to end the postgresql server:

pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres stop -s -m fast

You can also create an alias via CLI to make it easier:

alias pg-start='pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres -l /usr/local/var/postgres/server.log start'
alias pg-stop='pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres stop -s -m fast'

With these you can just type "pg-start" to start Postgres and "pg-stop" to shut it down.

For test purposes, i think PostgreSQL App is the best option!

Run an App, and the server is up and running. Close the App, and the server goes down.

http://postgresapp.com/

The cleanest way by far to start/stop/restart postgres if you have installed it through brew is to simply unload and/or load the launchd configuration file that comes with the installation:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.postgresql.plist
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.postgresql.plist

The first line will stop postgres and the second line will start it. No need to specify any data directories etc. since everything is in that file.

when you install postgresql using homebrew:

brew install postgres

at the end of the output you will see this methods to start server:

To have launchd start postgresql at login:
    ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/postgresql/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents
Then to load postgresql now:
    launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.postgresql.plist
Or, if you don't want/need launchctl, you can just run:
    postgres -D /usr/local/var/postgres

I think this is the best way.

You can add alias into your .profile for convenience.

PostgreSQL is integrated in Server.app available through the App Store in Mountain Lion. That means that it is already configured, and you only need to launch it, and then create users and databases.

Tip: Do not start with defining $PGDATA and so on, take file locations as is.

You would have this file: /Library/Server/PostgreSQL/Config/org.postgresql.postgres.plist

To start:

sudo serveradmin start postgres

Process started with arguments:

/Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/bin/postgres_real -D /Library/Server/PostgreSQL/Data -c listen_addresses=127.0.0.1,::1 -c log_connections=on -c log_directory=/Library/Logs/PostgreSQL -c log_filename=PostgreSQL.log -c log_line_prefix=%t -c log_lock_waits=on -c log_statement=ddl -c logging_collector=on -c unix_socket_directory=/private/var/pgsql_socket -c unix_socket_group=_postgres -c unix_socket_permissions=0770

You can sudo:

sudo -u _postgres psql template1

Or connect:

psql -h localhost -U _postgres postgres

You can find the data directory, version, running status and so forth with

sudo serveradmin fullstatus postgres  

For a quick disposable test database you can run the server in the foreground.

Initialize a new postgres database in a new directory

mkdir db
initdb db -E utf8
createdb public

Start the server in the foreground (ctrl-C to stop the server)

postgres -d db

In another shell session, connect to the server

psql -d public

For development purposes, one of the simplest ways is to install Postgres.app from the official site. It can be started/stopped from Applications folder or using the following commands in terminal:

# start
open -a Postgres

# stop
killall Postgres
killall postgres

Variation on this answer: http://stackoverflow.com/a/13103603/2394728

initdb `brew --prefix`/var/postgres/data -E utf8`