Netlify Db

Raw SQL via @netlify/neon

@netlify/neon wraps @neondatabase/serverless. No connection string needed — it auto-configures.

import { neon } from '@netlify/neon';
const sql = neon();

const users = await sql('SELECT * FROM users');
await sql('INSERT INTO users (name) VALUES ($1)', ['Jane']);
await sql('UPDATE users SET name = $1 WHERE id = $2', ['Jane', 1]);
await sql('DELETE FROM users WHERE id = $1', [1]);

Drizzle ORM Integration

For most projects, use Drizzle ORM on top of Netlify DB.

drizzle.config.ts

import { defineConfig } from 'drizzle-kit';

export default defineConfig({
  dialect: 'postgresql',
  dbCredentials: { url: process.env.NETLIFY_DATABASE_URL! },
  schema: './db/schema.ts',
  out: './migrations',
  migrations: { prefix: 'timestamp' }, // Avoids conflicts across branches
});

db/index.ts

import { neon } from '@neondatabase/serverless';
import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/neon-http';
import * as schema from './schema';

const sql = neon(process.env.NETLIFY_DATABASE_URL!);
export const db = drizzle(sql, { schema });
export * from './schema';

Schema Example

// db/schema.ts
import { integer, pgTable, varchar, text, boolean, timestamp } from 'drizzle-orm/pg-core';

export const items = pgTable('items', {
  id: integer().primaryKey().generatedAlwaysAsIdentity(),
  title: varchar({ length: 255 }).notNull(),
  description: text(),
  isActive: boolean('is_active').notNull().default(true),
  createdAt: timestamp('created_at').defaultNow(),
  updatedAt: timestamp('updated_at').defaultNow(),
});

export type Item = typeof items.$inferSelect;
export type NewItem = typeof items.$inferInsert;

Query Patterns

import { db, items } from '../db';
import { eq } from 'drizzle-orm';

const all = await db.select().from(items);
const [one] = await db.select().from(items).where(eq(items.id, id)).limit(1);
const [created] = await db.insert(items).values({ title: 'New' }).returning();
const [updated] = await db
  .update(items)
  .set({ title: 'Updated' })
  .where(eq(items.id, id))
  .returning();
await db.delete(items).where(eq(items.id, id));

Migrations

{
  "scripts": {
    "db:generate": "drizzle-kit generate",
    "db:migrate": "netlify dev:exec drizzle-kit migrate",
    "db:push": "netlify dev:exec drizzle-kit push",
    "db:studio": "netlify dev:exec drizzle-kit studio"
  }
}

Workflow: modify schema, run db:generate, then db:migrate.

Deploy Preview Branching

Netlify DB supports branching — production branch gets the production database, all other branches and deploy previews get a separate preview branch. Develop and test migrations on preview, merge to main, then apply to production.

Environment Variables

• NETLIFY_DATABASE_URL — Auto-set by Netlify when database is provisioned
• Retrieve manually: netlify env:get NETLIFY_DATABASE_URL

Local Development

Run netlify dev or use @netlify/vite-plugin to get database access locally. Use netlify dev:exec to run migration commands with the proper environment.