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Connecting Hasura to an ElephantSQL Postgres Database

Introduction

This guide explains how to connect a new or existing ElephantSQL Postgres database to a Hasura instance, either on Hasura Cloud or via one of our self-hosted solutions.

:::info Note

If you plan on using Hasura Cloud, which we recommend, follow steps 1 and 2 below. If you're self-hosting a Hasura instance and already have a project running, skip to step 3.

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Step 1: Sign up or log in to Hasura Cloud

Navigate to Hasura Cloud and sign up or log in.

Step 2: Create a Hasura Cloud project {#create-hasura-project-do}

On the Hasura Cloud dashboard, create a new project:

After the project is initialized successfully, click on Launch Console to open the Hasura Console in your browser.

On the Hasura Console, navigate to the Data tab and choose Connect Existing Database. Hasura will prompt you for a Postgres Database URL. We'll create this in the next step and then come back here.

Step 3: Create a Postgres DB on ElephantSQL {#create-pg-db-elephant}

Log into ElephantSQL.

If this is your first time logging into ElephantSQL, you'll need to create a team. Complete the form and click Create team.

From here, you'll need to create a new instance:

<Thumbnail src="/img/cloud-dbs/elephant/elephant-create-instance.png" alt="Create new Elephant instance" width="700px" />

Choose a name, plan, and - if necessary - tags for this instance. Click Select Region when complete:

<Thumbnail src="/img/cloud-dbs/elephant/elephant-instance-details.png" alt="Add details to Elephant instance" width="700px" />

Choose a region and click Review:

<Thumbnail src="/img/cloud-dbs/elephant/elephant-select-region.png" alt="Choose region for Elephant instance" width="700px" />

Confirm your selections and click Create instance:

Congratulations! You've now created an ElephantSQL Postgres instance you can use with Hasura GraphQL Engine. Follow the steps below to connect it to Hasura.

Step 4: Get the database connection URL {#get-db-url}

From your dashboard, click on the name of your instance:

The structure of the database connection URL looks as follows:

postgres://<user-name>:<password>@<host-server>

From the Details view, copy the URL string to your clipboard:

<Thumbnail src="/img/cloud-dbs/elephant/elephant-connection-string.png" alt="Get the connection string for the database" width="700px" />

Step 5: Finish connecting the database

Back on the Hasura Console, enter the database URL that we retrieved in the previous step:

<Thumbnail src="/img/cloud-dbs/elephant/elephant-connect-db.png" alt="Add the connection string to your Hasura Console" width="700px" />

Then click Connect Database.

:::info Note

For security reasons, it is recommended to set database URLs as env vars and using the env vars to connect to the databases in place of the raw database URLs.

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Voilà. You are ready to start developing.

Next steps

• You can check out our 30-Minute Hasura Basics Course and other GraphQL & Hasura Courses for a more detailed introduction to Hasura.

• If using Hasura Cloud, you can also click the gear icon to manage your Hasura Cloud project. (e.g. add collaborators, env vars or custom domains).

:::info Note

For more information on which Postgres features we support, check out this page.

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