Provision instant temporary Postgres databases via Claimable Postgres by Neon (neon.new) with no login, signup, or credit card. Supports REST API, CLI, and SDK. Use when users ask for a quick Postgres environment, a throwaway DATABASE_URL for prototyping/tests, or "just give me a DB...
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Provision instant temporary Postgres databases via Claimable Postgres by Neon (neon.new) with no login, signup, or credit card. Supports REST API, CLI, and SDK. Use when users ask for a quick Postgres environment, a throwaway DATABASE_URL for prototyping/tests, or "just give me a DB...
Use this skill when you need provision instant temporary Postgres databases via Claimable Postgres by Neon (neon.new) with no login, signup, or credit card. Supports REST API, CLI, and SDK. Use when users ask for a quick Postgres environment, a throwaway DATABASE_URL for prototyping/tests, or "just give me a DB...
Instant Postgres databases for local development, demos, prototyping, and test environments. No account required. Databases expire after 72 hours unless claimed to a Neon account.
Tracking tag that identifies who provisioned the database. Use "agent-skills" when provisioning through this skill.
enable_logical_replication
No
Enable logical replication (default: false, cannot be disabled once enabled)
The connection_string returned by the API is a pooled connection URL. For a direct (non-pooled) connection (e.g. Prisma migrations), remove -pooler from the hostname. The CLI writes both pooled and direct URLs automatically.
Returns the same response shape. Status transitions: UNCLAIMED -> CLAIMING -> CLAIMED. After the database is claimed, connection_string returns null.
Error responses
Condition
HTTP
Message
Missing or empty ref
400
Missing referrer
Invalid database ID
400
Database not found
Invalid JSON body
500
Failed to create the database.
CLI
npx neon-new@latest --yes
Provisions a database and writes the connection string to .env in one step. Always use @latest and --yes (skips interactive prompts that would stall the agent).
Pre-run Check
Check if DATABASE_URL (or the chosen key) already exists in the target .env. The CLI exits without provisioning if it finds the key.
If the key exists, offer the user three options:
Remove or comment out the existing line, then rerun.
Use --env to write to a different file (e.g. --env .env.local).
Use --key to write under a different variable name.
Get confirmation before proceeding.
Options
Option
Alias
Description
Default
--yes
-y
Skip prompts, use defaults
false
--env
-e
.env file path
./.env
--key
-k
Connection string env var key
DATABASE_URL
--prefix
-p
Prefix for generated public env vars
PUBLIC_
--seed
-s
Path to seed SQL file
none
--logical-replication
-L
Enable logical replication
false
--ref
-r
Referrer id (use agent-skills when provisioning through this skill)
none
Alternative package managers: yarn dlx neon-new@latest, pnpm dlx neon-new@latest, bunx neon-new@latest, deno run -A neon-new@latest.
Output
The CLI writes to the target .env:
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://... # pooled (use for application queries)
DATABASE_URL_DIRECT=postgresql://... # direct (use for migrations, e.g. Prisma)
PUBLIC_POSTGRES_CLAIM_URL=https://neon.new/claim/...
SDK
Use for scripts and programmatic provisioning flows.
Returns databaseUrl (pooled), databaseUrlDirect (direct, for migrations), claimUrl, and claimExpiresAt (Date object). The referrer parameter is required.
Vite Plugin
For Vite projects, vite-plugin-neon-new auto-provisions a database on vite dev if DATABASE_URL is missing. Install with npm install -D vite-plugin-neon-new. See the Claimable Postgres docs for configuration.
Agent Workflow
API path
Confirm intent: If the request is ambiguous, confirm the user wants a temporary, no-signup database. Skip this if they explicitly asked for a quick or temporary database.
Provision: POST to https://neon.new/api/v1/database with {"ref": "agent-skills"}.
Parse response: Extract connection_string, claim_url, and expires_at from the JSON response.
Write .env: Write DATABASE_URL=<connection_string> to the project's .env (or the user's preferred file and key). Do not overwrite an existing key without confirmation.
Seed (if needed): If the user has a seed SQL file, run it against the new database:
psql "$DATABASE_URL" -f seed.sql
Report: Tell the user where the connection string was written, which key was used, and share the claim URL. Remind them: the database works now; claim within 72 hours to keep it permanently.
Optional: Offer a quick connection test (e.g. SELECT 1).
CLI path
Check .env: Check the target .env for an existing DATABASE_URL (or chosen key). If present, do not run. Offer remove, --env, or --key and get confirmation.
Confirm intent: If the request is ambiguous, confirm the user wants a temporary, no-signup database. Skip this if they explicitly asked for a quick or temporary database.
Gather options: Use defaults unless context suggests otherwise (e.g., user mentions a custom env file, seed SQL, or logical replication).
Run: Execute with @latest --yes plus the confirmed options. Always use @latest to avoid stale cached versions. --yes skips interactive prompts that would stall the agent.
Verify: Confirm the connection string was written to the intended file.
Report: Tell the user where the connection string was written, which key was used, and that a claim URL is in the env file. Remind them: the database works now; claim within 72 hours to keep it permanently.
Optional: Offer a quick connection test (e.g. SELECT 1).
Output Checklist
Always report:
Where the connection string was written (e.g. .env)
Which variable key was used (DATABASE_URL or custom key)
The claim URL (from .env or API response)
That unclaimed databases are temporary (72 hours)
Claiming
Claiming is optional. The database works immediately without it. To optionally claim, the user opens the claim URL in a browser, where they sign in or create a Neon account to claim the database.
API/SDK: Give the user the claim_url from the create response.
CLI:npx neon-new@latest claim reads the claim URL from .env and opens the browser automatically.
Users cannot claim into Vercel-linked orgs; they must choose another Neon org.
Neon Infrastructure as Code (neon.ts)
Claimable databases are deliberately throwaway and provisioned through neon.new (above), so they aren't managed by neon.ts. Once a user claims a database into a Neon account it becomes a normal Neon project — at which point neon.ts, Neon's infrastructure-as-code file, is how you manage it going forward (see the neon skill for the full reference): declare the services its branches should have, program per-branch compute, and get type-safe env vars.
npm i @neon/config
// neon.tsimport { defineConfig } from"@neon/config/v1";
exportdefaultdefineConfig({
auth: true, // Neon Auth, once you outgrow a bare connection stringdataApi: true, // Data APIbranch: (branch) => (branch.exists ? {} : { ttl: "7d" }), // ephemeral non-default branches
});
neon config apply # provision the declared services (neon deploy is an alias)
If a project needs branching, multiple services, or durable infrastructure tracked in version control, recommend claiming first and then adopting neon.ts — rather than re-provisioning throwaway claimable databases.
Defaults and Limits
Parameter
Value
Provider
AWS
Region
us-east-2
Postgres
17
Region cannot be changed for claimable databases. Unclaimed databases have stricter quotas. Claiming resets limits to free plan defaults.
Unclaimed
Claimed (Free plan)
Storage
100 MB
512 MB
Transfer
1 GB
~5 GB
Branches
No
Yes
Expiration
72 hours
None
Auto-provisioning
If the agent needs a database to fulfill a task (e.g. "build me a todo app with a real database") and the user has not provided a connection string, provision one via the API and inform the user. Include the claim URL so they can keep it.
Safety and UX Notes
Do not overwrite existing env vars. Check first, then use --env or --key (CLI) or skip writing (API) to avoid conflicts.
Ask before running destructive seed SQL (DROP, TRUNCATE, mass DELETE).
For production workloads, recommend standard Neon provisioning instead of temporary claimable databases.
If users need long-term persistence, instruct them to open the claim URL right away.
After writing credentials to an .env file, check that it's covered by .gitignore. If not, warn the user. Do not modify .gitignore without confirmation.
Limitations
Use this skill only when the task clearly matches its upstream product or API scope.
Verify commands, API behavior, pricing, quotas, credentials, and deployment effects against current official documentation before making changes.
Do not treat generated examples as a substitute for environment-specific tests, security review, or user approval for destructive or costly actions.
