# Connect Postgres for Nuxt

## Summary
Connect a Nuxt app to PostgreSQL on Ample. Read DATABASE_URL at runtime with pg: when you supply one with --env it is delivered encrypted and takes precedence; when you supply none and the app needs PostgreSQL, Ample auto-provisions a managed PostgreSQL 16 database and injects its connection string.

## Representative Queries
- Connect Postgres for Nuxt
- Where can I host Connect Postgres built with Nuxt?
- I need driver setup, connection settings, secret handling and a real connection test.

## Prerequisites
- pg reading the DATABASE_URL environment variable at runtime
- Either a production DATABASE_URL to pass with --env, or nothing (auto-provision)
- An Ample account token with servers:write and databases:read

## Resource Requirements
- primitive:compute
- primitive:postgres

## Infrastructure Requirements
### Compute
- **Status:** verified
- **Summary:** Apps run in isolated x86_64 Firecracker microVMs that auto-pause when idle and wake on request; sizes are the priced VM sizes.

### Postgres
- **Status:** verified
- **Summary:** Managed PostgreSQL 16 runs in its own microVM and is auto-provisioned when an app needs a database and no DATABASE_URL is supplied.

## Workflow Steps
1. **Read the URL at runtime**  
   Open connections from the DATABASE_URL environment variable inside the app; never commit credentials and never connect at build time.
2. **Choose the source of the database**  
   Pass --env DATABASE_URL=... for an existing database, or omit it to let Ample provision a managed one on first deploy and reuse it on redeploys.  
   Command: `ample deploy . --name  --public`
3. **Test the connection through the app**  
   Expose a route (/api/db) that runs a trivial query and returns postgres=ok.
4. **Verify**  
   Fetch the live URL and run the success checks below. On failure read the build log, then the runtime log, fix the cause and deploy again; do not blind-retry.  
   Command: `ample logs  --kind build`

## Examples
**Nuxt + PostgreSQL canary**  
Auto-provisioned managed database with a real query.

## Success Checks
- Database route reports a live connection  
  - **Kind:** http_get  
  - **Path:** /api/db  
  - **Expect:** postgres=ok

## Limitations
- Verified on the node-22 template at s-1vcpu-1gb; other templates and sizes are not verified by this recipe.
- Region, compliance attestations and request-duration limits are unknown and not claimed.
- Apps auto-pause when idle and wake on the next request; always-on is an operator setting, not a plan feature.
- Managed PostgreSQL 16 only; extensions, connection limits and backup or restore procedures are not verified.
- Apps and their managed databases are placed together; cross-node shared databases are unsupported.

## Cost Estimate
- **Currency:** USD
- **Monthly Amount:** 10.0
- **Basis:** size prices from pricing.toml  
- **Components:**  
  - App server, size: s-1vcpu-1gb, quantity: 1.0, monthlyAmount: 5.0  
  - Managed PostgreSQL database, size: s-1vcpu-1gb, quantity: 1.0, monthlyAmount: 5.0  
- **Note:** Apps and managed databases auto-pause when idle; the estimate is the always-on monthly price of the tested sizes. Plan quotas and budgets apply.