Add a Postgres database to an app

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Before you start

• To link an existing database: a running Postgres database in the same account. See Create a database.
• To create one with the app: your account’s free database still unused, or the $7.99 a month plan.

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Add a database when you create the app

1

Find the Database section

On the Deploy an app page, after you pick the code, find Database. For a template it shows only when the template keeps data in Postgres.

2

Pick an option

Option	What you get
No database	Nothing now. You can add one later.
Postgres, free	The free plan. One free database per account. See Free plan.
Postgres	The smallest paid plan, $7.99 a month, with daily backups and point-in-time recovery.

A template that needs Postgres starts with it picked.

3

Deploy

Click Deploy.

• Pay-as-you-go account: Raff creates the database and the app at once.
• Monthly account: the app and its database are one order at checkout, with the database as a line under the app. A free database is created when you pay.

4

Wait for the first deploy

The app page shows Starting the database. Once the database runs, Raff links it and starts the first deploy, so DATABASE_URL is set from the start.

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Link a database you already have

1. Open the database and go to the Apps tab.
2. Under Linked apps and functions, pick the app in Choose an app… and click Link an app.
3. Raff creates a database user for that app, adds the variables and redeploys the app.

1. Open the app and go to the Bindings tab.
2. Click Attach, choose Database, and pick the database.
3. Keep Env var prefix as DATABASE_ and click Attach. The app redeploys with the connection.

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The variables your app gets

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Connect with TLS

const { Pool } = require('pg');

const pool = new Pool({
  connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
  ssl: { ca: process.env.DATABASE_CA_CERT },
});

printf '%s\n' "$DATABASE_CA_CERT" > /tmp/raff-db-ca.pem

PGPASSWORD="$DATABASE_PASSWORD" psql "host=$DATABASE_HOST port=$DATABASE_PORT dbname=$DATABASE_NAME user=$DATABASE_USER sslmode=verify-full sslrootcert=/tmp/raff-db-ca.pem"

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Change or remove the link

• Rotate credentials issues a new password and redeploys the app with it. The old password stops working at once.
• Delete binding removes the app’s database user and its DATABASE_* variables, and redeploys the app without them. The database itself stays.

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What happens on delete

• Keep: the database keeps running and billing, for example “Keeps running and billing $7.99/mo”. Only the app’s login to it is removed.
• Delete: the database is deleted with the app. Its backups are kept for 14 days, and on monthly billing the unused part of the month goes back to your balance.
• A database another app also uses is always kept.

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Use the API

curl -X POST https://api.rafftechnologies.com/api/v1/apps/services \
  -H "X-API-Key: $RAFF_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Project-ID: $RAFF_PROJECT_ID" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "api",
    "service_type": "web",
    "source_type": "image",
    "builder": "image",
    "image_ref": "ghcr.io/you/api:latest",
    "http_port": 8080,
    "tier_id": 2,
    "deploy_now": true,
    "link_database_id": "DATABASE_UUID"
  }'

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Next steps