diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/redirects.json b/nixos/doc/manual/redirects.json
index 2c9b0242e9e8..7abcc36257f5 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/redirects.json
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/redirects.json
@@ -1286,6 +1286,12 @@
   "module-services-postgres-initializing-extra-permissions-service-user-oneshot": [
     "index.html#module-services-postgres-initializing-extra-permissions-service-user-oneshot"
   ],
+  "module-services-postgres-authentication": [
+    "index.html#module-services-postgres-authentication"
+  ],
+  "module-services-postgres-authentication-user-mapping": [
+    "index.html#module-services-postgres-authentication-user-mapping"
+  ],
   "module-services-postgres-upgrading": [
     "index.html#module-services-postgres-upgrading"
   ],
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/continuous-integration/hydra/default.nix b/nixos/modules/services/continuous-integration/hydra/default.nix
index d83db34b9aa3..df586356306a 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/continuous-integration/hydra/default.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/continuous-integration/hydra/default.nix
@@ -564,16 +564,14 @@ in
     services.postgresql.enable = lib.mkIf haveLocalDB true;
 
     services.postgresql.identMap = lib.optionalString haveLocalDB ''
-      hydra-users hydra hydra
-      hydra-users hydra-queue-runner hydra
-      hydra-users hydra-www hydra
-      hydra-users root hydra
-      # The postgres user is used to create the pg_trgm extension for the hydra database
-      hydra-users postgres postgres
+      hydra hydra hydra
+      hydra hydra-queue-runner hydra
+      hydra hydra-www hydra
+      hydra root hydra
     '';
 
     services.postgresql.authentication = lib.optionalString haveLocalDB ''
-      local hydra all ident map=hydra-users
+      local all hydra peer map=hydra
     '';
 
   };
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.md b/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.md
index daff317e9e2b..e1256c9672f2 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.md
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.md
@@ -170,6 +170,38 @@ are already created.
   }
 ```
 
+## Authentication {#module-services-postgres-authentication}
+
+Local connections are made through unix sockets by default and support [peer authentication](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/auth-peer.html).
+This allows system users to login with database roles of the same name.
+For example, the `postgres` system user is allowed to login with the database role `postgres`.
+
+System users and database roles might not always match.
+In this case, to allow access for a service, you can create a [user name map](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/auth-username-maps.html) between system roles and an existing database role.
+
+### User Mapping {#module-services-postgres-authentication-user-mapping}
+
+Assume that your app creates a role `admin` and you want the `root` user to be able to login with it.
+You can then use [](#opt-services.postgresql.identMap) to define the map and [](#opt-services.postgresql.authentication) to enable it:
+
+```nix
+services.postgresql = {
+  identMap = ''
+    admin root admin
+  '';
+  authentication = ''
+    local all admin peer map=admin
+  '';
+}
+```
+
+::: {.warning}
+To avoid conflicts with other modules, you should never apply a map to `all` roles.
+Because PostgreSQL will stop on the first matching line in `pg_hba.conf`, a line matching all roles would lock out other services.
+Each module should only manage user maps for the database roles that belong to this module.
+Best practice is to name the map after the database role it manages to avoid name conflicts.
+:::
+
 ## Upgrading {#module-services-postgres-upgrading}
 
 ::: {.note}
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.nix b/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.nix
index abcb704b887a..48ff4c2a48ef 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.nix
@@ -274,6 +274,14 @@ in
           Defines the mapping from system users to database users.
 
           See the [auth doc](https://postgresql.org/docs/current/auth-username-maps.html).
+
+          There is a default map "postgres" which is used for local peer authentication
+          as the postgres superuser role.
+          For example, to allow the root user to login as the postgres superuser, add:
+
+          ```
+          postgres root postgres
+          ```
         '';
       };
 
@@ -674,12 +682,20 @@ in
       (mkBefore "# Generated file; do not edit!")
       (mkAfter ''
         # default value of services.postgresql.authentication
+        local all postgres         peer map=postgres
         local all all              peer
         host  all all 127.0.0.1/32 md5
         host  all all ::1/128      md5
       '')
     ];
 
+    # The default allows to login with the same database username as the current system user.
+    # This is the default for peer authentication without a map, but needs to be made explicit
+    # once a map is used.
+    services.postgresql.identMap = mkAfter ''
+      postgres postgres postgres
+    '';
+
     services.postgresql.systemCallFilter = mkMerge [
       (mapAttrs (const mkDefault) {
         "@system-service" = true;
diff --git a/nixos/tests/postgresql/postgresql.nix b/nixos/tests/postgresql/postgresql.nix
index a88143c6421a..ecf1b5552804 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/postgresql/postgresql.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/postgresql/postgresql.nix
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ let
           services.postgresql = {
             inherit package;
             enable = true;
+            identMap = ''
+              postgres root postgres
+            '';
             # TODO(@Ma27) split this off into its own VM test and move a few other
             # extension tests to use postgresqlTestExtension.
             extensions = ps: with ps; [ plv8 ];
@@ -73,7 +76,7 @@ let
         in
         ''
           def check_count(statement, lines):
-              return 'test $(sudo -u postgres psql postgres -tAc "{}"|wc -l) -eq {}'.format(
+              return 'test $(psql -U postgres postgres -tAc "{}"|wc -l) -eq {}'.format(
                   statement, lines
               )