neon

# Neon Important: Neon is no longer just a Postgres provider. Neon is a complete set of cloud backend primitives built around Lakebase Postgres, for developers, startups, and agent platforms, from Databricks — bundling Lakebase Postgres, Auth (managed Better Auth), long-running Functions, Object Storage, and an AI Gateway, all instant, branchable, and serverless. **Lakebase Postgres** is the database itself. It is one product, reached two ways: through Neon, with a free plan and the full set of backend primitives above, or through Databricks, alongside the rest of the Databricks suite. Same infrastructure, same features, same engineering team. Call the database Lakebase Postgres, and use "Neon" for the brand and for this access path — not as a name for the database. A Neon branch is an isolated, copy-on-write clone of your data, taken from its current state or from a past state within your project's retained history window. You can freely modify or delete it. It shares data with its parent until writes cause it to diverge, and those writes are stored independently as deltas. ## Backend Primitives Neon bundles several backend primitives for building apps and agents that all branch together: - **Lakebase Postgres** — Postgres that scales and branches with your app, built on the lakebase architecture: OLTP directly on cloud object storage, with storage decoupled from compute. _Generally available._ - **Auth** — Managed Better Auth with users and sessions stored in Postgres. _Generally available._ - **Object Storage** — S3-compatible object storage that branches with your projects. _Public beta._ - **Functions** — Neon's compute offering: long-running serverless functions that run close to your database, for WebSocket servers, long agent HTTP streams, APIs, and server-sent event servers. _Public beta._ - **AI Gateway** — One API for frontier and open-source models, supporting the chat completions API and the responses API, powered by Databricks Unity AI Gateway. _Public beta._ ### Public Beta Service Availability Object Storage, Functions, and AI Gateway are in public beta. Beta access features are currently available on projects in `us-east-2` and `eu-central-1`. Before guiding a user through any of these services, confirm they are working in one of these regions. If not, they will need to create a new project in a supported region. ## Architecture: How to Use Neon Neon is **not** a place to host your app frontend. Neon provides the backend primitives (Lakebase Postgres, Auth, Object Storage, Functions, AI Gateway) that **compose with** the application platform you already use. Recommended architectures: **Full-stack app on Vercel** (or Netlify) augmented with Neon — the app framework (Next.js, TanStack Start, etc.) owns your UI and routes and talks directly to your Neon services (Lakebase Postgres, Auth, Object Storage, Functions, AI Gateway). **Reach for Neon Functions when you outgrow the host's limits** — a WebSocket or SSE server, long-running agents, or an MCP server that risks timing out on short, lambda-style serverless functions. As long as there is an active connection, a Neon Function can run up to 24 hours without interruption, with the added benefit of running close to your data. **Move your whole backend control plane onto Neon Functions** — especially useful when the frontend is **client-only** rather than full-stack: TanStack Router, React Router in client mode, and similar SPAs hosted on Vercel or Netlify. The client talks **directly to Neon Functions**, where you build REST APIs and request/response agents. Secure these functions like any standalone REST API — verify a JWT or API key at the top of each handler (see the `neon-functions` skill). Because Functions are just your backend, they compose with a full-stack app that already has one (Next.js route handlers, etc.), too. ## Neon Documentation The Neon documentation is the source of truth for all Neon-related information. Always verify claims against the official docs before responding. Neon features and APIs evolve, so prefer fetching current docs over relying on training data. ### Finding the Right Page Look the page up before you fetch it — **don't guess URLs!** The docs index lists every available page with its URL and a short description: ``` https://neon.com/docs/llms.txt ``` ### Fetching Docs as Markdown Any Neon doc page can be fetched as markdown in two ways: 1. **Append `.md` to the URL** (simplest): https://neon.com/docs/introduction/branching.md 2. **Request `text/markdown`** on the standard URL: `curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://neon.com/docs/introduction/branching` Both return the same markdown content. Use whichever method your tools support. ## Choosing the Right Skill Neon provides a set of agent skills in addition to the official documentation. When a task matches one of the rows below, work from that skill rather than from this overview. You may have some of these skills already installed, or you may need to install them. The skills below live in the [`neondatabase/agent-skills`](https://github.com/neondatabase/agent-skills) repo: | Skill | Use it for | | -------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | `neon-postgres` | Working with databases, including connections, schemas, queries, search, and autoscaling: SQL development, schema design, performance optimization, and scaling decisions. | | `neon-postgres-branches` | Choosing or creating the right branch type for dev, preview, test, or CI workflows. Use this skill as a slash command. | | `neon-object-storage` | Storing and serving files (uploads, images, blobs), including branching them with the database. | | `neon-functions` | Deploying long-running or streaming serverless functions — APIs, agents, SSE/WebSocket servers. | | `neon-ai-gateway` | Calling an LLM or routing across model providers with one credential, including discovering the branch's servable models at runtime via the OpenAI-compatible `/v1/models` endpoint. | | `neon-postgres-egress-optimizer` | Diagnosing or fixing excessive Postgres egress (network data-transfer) costs in a codebase. | For guidance on agent platforms that provision and operate Lakebase Postgres on Neon at scale, use `neon-postgres-agent-platforms`, which lives in a separate repo: [`neondatabase/neon-for-agent-platforms`](https://github.com/neondatabase/neon-for-agent-platforms). ### Installing the Right Skill First check whether the target skill is already installed and accessible (for example, it appears in the available skills list or its `SKILL.md` is present). If it is, use it directly. If it is not installed, install it via the `skills` CLI, if available, with `npx`/`bunx`: ```bash npx skills add neondatabase/agent-skills -s <skill-name> ``` Replace `<skill-name>` with the skill you need (for example, `neon-object-storage`, `neon-functions`, or `neon-ai-gateway`). Useful flags: - `-g` — install globally instead of into the current project. - `-y` — non-interactive mode (skip prompts). - `-a <agent-name>` — pick the target agent(s) for non-interactive mode. For example, to install the object storage skill globally for a specific agent without prompts: ```bash npx skills add neondatabase/agent-skills -s neon-object-storage -g -y -a <agent-name> ``` If you don't have access to the `skills` CLI, you can visit https://neon.com/.well-known/agent-skills for a registry of all available Neon skills and fetch them manually. ### Updating Skills Keep the skills up to date: for every new session, update them so you are working with the latest best practices. Use the same method that was used to install them. With the `skills` CLI, run the install command above with `update` in place of `add`, or run `npx skills update` to update all Neon skills. If the skills were installed via a plugin, they are updated automatically. ## Getting Started with Neon Before `npx neon@latest init --agent`, check whether the CLI is already authenticated: - `NEON_API_KEY` is set - `npx neon@latest profile list -o json` lists a profile whose `account` is not `-` A `DEFAULT` row with `account: "-"` and `file: "missing"` is not an account. If `neon` is not installed, or `npx neon@latest profile list` cannot run, that is not an account. If none of those hold, follow [Starting without a Neon account](#starting-without-a-neon-account). The easiest way to get started with Neon is to use our CLI and the project bootstrap wizard: ```bash npx neon@latest init --agent ``` Use the `--agent` flag to run in a non-interactive, state-machine mode. This init command will guide you through installation of suggested Neon development tools. Everything is customizable. The defaults are: - Neon CLI installed globally - Neon MCP server installed globally - Neon Agent skills installed into the project If `init` is run in an empty project, it will run the `bootstrap` command, offering to install one of our project templates. ### Getting Started with the Neon CLI **Prefer the CLI over the MCP server** unless the user instructs otherwise, the CLI is unavailable or blocked in your environment, or it is not authenticated, since it provides more capabilities, including deploying Neon Functions. The above `init` command will install the Neon CLI, but the CLI can also be installed manually with `npm i -g neon` or `bun i -g neon`. For full CLI installation options, see https://neon.com/docs/cli/install.md #### Useful CLI Commands These commands are included in the `init` command but can be run manually as needed. 1. `neon link` — Interactively links the workspace to a Neon org, project, and branch, writing the IDs to a git-ignored `.neon` file. Run once per project. Once linked, project- and branch-scoped commands no longer need `--project-id` or `--branch` (for example, `neon branch list`). 2. `neon checkout <branch-name>` — Pins a different branch in `.neon`, creating it if it doesn't exist yet, and pulls that branch's env. It drives the [Branch-First Dev Flow](#branch-first-dev-flow) described below. 3. `neon config init` — Initializes a `neon.ts` file, which declares how you provision and manage Neon services, in the root of the project. 4. `neon env pull` — Fetches the current branch's Neon environment variables (`DATABASE_URL`, …) into your existing `.env`, or `.env.local` if you don't have one (override the target with `--file`). No branch ID needed; it reads `.neon`. **`link` and `checkout` run this for you by default**, so you rarely call it directly. Without `neon.ts` it pulls the vars of every service the branch actually has (Postgres, plus Neon Auth, the Data API, and bucket `AWS_*` once provisioned); with `neon.ts` it pulls only the services declared there and errors if the branch is missing one — and the AI Gateway vars are never pulled unless `neon.ts` declares `aiGateway`. ### Getting Started with the Neon MCP Server The above `init` command will install the Neon MCP server globally, but it can also be installed manually using: `npx -y add-mcp https://mcp.neon.tech/mcp -g -n Neon -y -a <agent-name>` or through your IDE plugin. For all available plugins, see: https://neon.com/docs/ai/ai-agents-tools.md For full MCP server installation options, see https://neon.com/docs/ai/connect-mcp-clients-to-neon.md Useful MCP tools to initialize a project: - `list_projects` — Lists the first 10 Neon projects in your account, providing a summary of each project. If you can't find a specific project, increase the limit by passing a higher value to the `limit` parameter. - `create_project` — Creates a new Neon project in your Neon account. A project acts as a container for branches, databases, roles, and computes. - `get_connection_string` — Returns your database connection string. ## Starting without a Neon account If the Getting Started account check found credentials, use them. If a command waits on a browser (`Awaiting authentication in web browser`) or authentication fails, stop and ask the user to sign in (`neon auth`) or mint an API key. Prefer that over Claimable Neon unless they say otherwise. If they cannot sign in or provide a key right now, ask before using Claimable Neon. Continue only after they say yes. That is a temporary workaround. If there is no Neon account yet, follow [references/claimable-neon.md](https://neon.com/docs/ai/skills/neon/references/claimable-neon.md). Do not run `neon init --agent` or `neon auth` on this path; those need a human Neon account. If `neon claim` is missing, the reference has the REST fallback. Unclaimed projects expire at `project_expires_at` (72 hours today). Claim codes expire in `expires_in` (15 minutes today). Add Auth or the Data API with `neon.ts` and `neon deploy` before or after claim. Requests for neon.new, Claimable Postgres, claimable.neon.tech, instant Postgres, or a no-signup database are the same path. ## Neon Infrastructure as Code `neon.ts` is Neon's branch config and infrastructure-as-code file: declare which Neon services your project's branches should have, get type-safe env vars, and program branch settings — all in TypeScript. It's the config layer for your Neon services, and it composes with the branch-first loop below. Add it with `@neon/config`: ```bash npm i @neon/config ``` ```typescript // neon.ts import { defineConfig } from "@neon/config/v1"; export default defineConfig({ preview: { aiGateway: true, buckets: { images: { access: "private", }, }, functions: { imagegen: { name: "AI SDK image agent", source: "src/index.ts", }, }, }, }); ``` ### Provision services with neon config Every project ships with Lakebase Postgres; `neon.ts` lets you also declare Neon Auth and the Data API today, with Functions, buckets, and the AI Gateway under a `preview` block — every service for the branch composes in one file: ```typescript // neon.ts export default defineConfig({ auth: true, dataApi: true, preview: { functions: {}, buckets: {}, aiGateway: true, // see the neon-ai-gateway skill }, }); ``` Reconcile the declaration from the CLI — the Neon equivalent of `terraform status` / `plan` / `apply`: ```bash neon status # print the branch's live config (read-only). Alias for `neon config status`. neon config plan # dry-run diff of what apply would change (read-only) neon deploy --env <file> # apply neon.ts. Pass --env when Function env reads process.env. Alias for `neon config apply` ``` `apply` / `deploy` provision the declared services **and then pull the branch's env into your local `.env.local`** (e.g. `Pulled 5 Neon variables into .env.local: DATABASE_URL, …`), so your local env always matches what's deployed. ### Function env and `neon deploy` `neon deploy` is the preferred full deployment: it applies `neon.ts` (services and functions) to the linked branch. `neon deploy --env <file>` loads that file into `process.env` before evaluating `neon.ts`, then uploads those values as Function env. Use it every time Function env reads `process.env`. `<file>` is the gitignored file `neon env pull` already writes (`.env` if that file exists, otherwise `.env.local`). Env pull writes Neon-managed vars only (`DATABASE_URL`, `NEON_AI_GATEWAY_*`, …). Add every key under `preview.functions.*.env` to that file yourself, then pass the same path to `--env`. Every declared Function env key must be a defined string. `undefined` (an unset `process.env.X`) means you listed a key you want written but the value is missing: `defineConfig` throws. Omit the key from `neon.ts` if you do not want to write it. Never coerce a missing `process.env` value to an empty string: that uploads `""` and deletes the live key. An empty assignment in the file (`KEY=`) is also `""`. If TypeScript needs a type assertion, use `process.env.X!` and make sure the file actually has the value. Use `neon functions deploy` when you are not applying `neon.ts`: a single function by slug, or a targeted `--env KEY=VALUE` update (that flag is not a file path). ### Type-safe env vars with parseEnv `@neon/env`'s `parseEnv` takes your `neon.ts` config object and returns a parsed, typed env object, validated against the services you declared. The shape of `env` follows your config, and missing variables are flagged with clear errors. ```bash npm i @neon/env ``` ```typescript import { parseEnv } from "@neon/env"; import config from "./neon"; const env = parseEnv(config); console.log(env.postgres.databaseUrl); console.log(env.auth.baseUrl); ``` By default `parseEnv` requires _every_ variable your config implies. When one of your apps only uses a subset, for example when you need to read `DATABASE_URL` but never the unpooled URL, pass an array of env-var keys to require and validate only those. The keys are typesafe: autocomplete only offers variables your config enables, and the returned shape is narrowed to exactly what you selected (so unselected variables are neither enforced nor present). ```typescript import { parseEnv } from "@neon/env"; import config from "./neon"; // Only DATABASE_URL is required and returned; DATABASE_URL_UNPOOLED is not enforced. const { postgres } = parseEnv(config, ["DATABASE_URL"]); console.log(postgres.databaseUrl); // Selecting across services — only these keys are validated. const env = parseEnv(config, ["DATABASE_URL", "NEON_AUTH_BASE_URL"]); console.log(env.postgres.databaseUrl, env.auth.baseUrl); ``` ### Branch configuration Beyond services, `neon.ts` can program what configuration _new_ branches receive via the `branch` property — a function of the branch being evaluated that returns its settings: ```typescript // neon.ts import { defineConfig } from "@neon/config/v1"; export default defineConfig({ auth: true, dataApi: true,