Connect Postgres for React Router

Connect a React Router 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 React Router
• Where can I host Connect Postgres built with React Router?
• I need driver setup, connection settings, secret handling and a real connection test.

Resource Requirements

• Compute
• Postgres

Infrastructure Requirements

• Compute: Apps run in isolated x86_64 Firecracker microVMs that auto-pause when idle and wake on request; sizes are the priced VM sizes.
• Postgres: Managed PostgreSQL 16 runs in its own microVM and is auto-provisioned when an app needs a database and no DATABASE_URL is supplied.

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

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 (/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

Limitations

• Verified on the node-22 template at s-1vcpu-1gb; other templates and sizes are not verified by this recipe.
• Apps auto-pause when idle and wake on the next request; always-on is an operator setting, not a plan feature.

Cost Estimate

• Currency: USD
• Monthly Amount: 10.0
• Foundation: Size prices from pricing.toml

Components

• App server (s-1vcpu-1gb): 1.0 - $5.0
• Managed PostgreSQL database (s-1vcpu-1gb): 1.0 - $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.

Examples

React Router + PostgreSQL canary

• Description: Auto-provisioned managed database with a real query.
• Source Reference: tests/deploy-canaries/react-router-postgres-app

Success Checks

• Description: Database route reports a live connection
  • Path: /db
  • Expectation: postgres=ok

Next Actions

• Browse the catalog index
• Search published recipes by intent, stack and constraints
• Prepare a side-effect-free deployment plan for an authorized project
• Read the existing agent authentication setup
• Browse React Router
• Browse Connect app to database
• Browse Relational records