Connecting Hasura to a Timescale Postgres Database
Introduction
This guide explains how to connect a new or existing Timescale Postgres database to a Hasura instance, either on Hasura Cloud or via one of our self-hosted solutions. If you're exploring Timescale Postgres and are interested in migrating an existing Postgres database - such as from Heroku - check out their docs before continuing below.
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.
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
On the Hasura Cloud dashboard, create a new project:
You will get prompted for a Postgres Database URL. We will create this in the next step and then come back here.
After the project is initialized successfully, click on Launch Console to open the Hasura Console in your browser.
On the Hasura Console, navigate to Data -> Manage -> Connect Database -> Connect existing database:
Step 3: Create a Postgres DB on Timescale Cloud
Log into the Timescale Cloud portal.
On the Timescale dashboard, under Services, click on + Create new service:
Select the Postgres option:
Scroll down and select the Cloud Provider, Region and Service Plan based on your requirements.
In the end, enter a Name for the service:
Then click Create service.
If you're using a database user other than the default one, make sure to give it the right Postgres permissions.
Step 4: Allow connections to your DB from Hasura
On the Services dashboard, click on your DB:
Scroll down to Allowed IP Addresses and click on Change:
If using Hasura Cloud, from your project's dashboard, copy the Hasura Cloud IP address:
If you're using a self-hosted solution, you'll need to determine the IP address manually depending on your hosting service.
Add the Hasura IP address that you copied, click on the + and then click on Save changes:
Step 5: Get the database connection URL
The structure of the database connection URL looks as follows:
postgresql://<user-name>:<password>@<public-ip>:<postgres-port>/<db>?sslmode=require
To get it, navigate to the Overview tab of your database dashboard and copy the Service URI:
Step 6: Finish connecting the database
Back on the Hasura Console, enter the database URL that we retrieved in step 5:
Then click Connect Database.
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.
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).
For more information on which Postgres features we support, check out this page.
