Data & Analytics

Neon Serverless PostgreSQL

Use Neon for serverless PostgreSQL with branching, autoscaling, and a generous free tier for development.

Claude Code Cursor Copilot Windsurf Gemini CLI

Overview

Neon is a serverless PostgreSQL platform that separates storage and compute, enabling features like instant database branching, autoscaling to zero, and point-in-time restore. The @neondatabase/serverless driver provides a WebSocket-based PostgreSQL connection that works in serverless and edge environments where traditional TCP connections are not available.

Neon's branching feature creates copy-on-write clones of your database, enabling preview environments for pull requests, safe testing of migrations, and instant production snapshots. Branches share storage with the parent, so creating a branch is instant and costs nothing until data diverges. Autoscaling adjusts compute resources based on load, scaling to zero during inactivity for cost efficiency.

The serverless driver is wire-compatible with node-postgres (pg), so existing code works without changes. It supports both pooled connections (for serverless) and direct connections (for long-running processes). Neon provides the Neon Auth extension for automatic JWT validation in PostgreSQL, built-in connection pooling via PgBouncer, and integrations with Vercel, Cloudflare, and AWS Lambda.

Who Is This For?

Deploy PostgreSQL for serverless applications on Vercel
Create database branches for preview deployments
Scale PostgreSQL to zero during development inactivity
Run instant point-in-time database restores

Installation

Setup for Claude Code

npm install @neondatabase/serverless

Configuration

import { neon } from "@neondatabase/serverless"

const sql = neon(process.env.DATABASE_URL!)

// Simple query
const posts = await sql`
  SELECT * FROM posts
  WHERE published = true
  ORDER BY created_at DESC
  LIMIT 10
`

// With parameters
const user = await sql`
  SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ${userId}
`