# Connect a React Router application to Neon

[React Router](https://reactrouter.com/home) is a powerful routing library for React that also includes modern, full-stack framework features. This guide explains how to connect a React Router application to Neon using a server-side `loader` function.

To create a project on Neon and access it from a React Router application:

:::::steps
:::step{title="Create a Neon project"}
If you do not have one already, create a Neon project. Save your connection details including your password. They are required when defining connection settings.

1. Navigate to the [Projects](https://console.neon.tech/app/projects) page in the Neon Console.
2. Click **New Project**.
3. Specify your project settings and click **Create Project**.
:::

::::step{title="Create a React Router project and add dependencies"}
1. Create a React Router project using the following command:

   ```bash
   npx create-react-router@latest with-react-router --yes
   cd with-react-router
   ```

2. Add project dependencies using one of the following commands.

   :::code-group
   ```bash title="Neon serverless driver"
   npm install @neondatabase/serverless
   ```

   ```shell title="postgres.js"
   npm install postgres
   ```

   ```shell title="node-postgres"
   npm install pg
   ```
   :::
::::

:::step{title="Store your Neon credentials"}
Add a `.env` file to your project's root directory and add your Neon connection string to it. You can find the connection string for your database by clicking the **Connect** button in the Console nav. For more information, see [Connect from any application](/guides/postgres-connect-connect-from-any-app).

```bash
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://<user>:<password>@<endpoint_hostname>.neon.tech:<port>/<dbname>?sslmode=require&channel_binding=require"
```
:::

::::step{title="Configure the Postgres client"}
With React Router, data fetching is handled in "Route Modules". We will create a new route that connects to Neon in its `loader` function, which runs on the server.

### \1. Define the route

First, define a new route in `app/routes.ts`. This tells React Router to render our new component when a user visits the `/version` path.

```typescript title="app/routes.ts"
import { type RouteConfig, route, index } from '@react-router/dev/routes';

export default [
  index('./home.tsx'),
  route('version', './routes/version.tsx'),
] satisfies RouteConfig;
```

### \2. Create the route module

Create a new file at `app/routes/version.tsx`. This file will contain both the server-side data loader and the client-side React component. The `loader` function will connect to Neon, query the database version, and pass the result to the `Component` via the `loaderData` prop.

:::code-group
```tsx title="Neon serverless driver"
import { neon } from '@neondatabase/serverless';
import type { Route } from './+types/version';

// The loader function runs on the server
export async function loader() {
  const sql = neon(process.env.DATABASE_URL as string);
  const response = await sql`SELECT version()`;
  return { version: response[0].version };
}

// The component runs in the browser
export default function Version({ loaderData }: Route.ComponentProps) {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Database Version</h1>
      <p>{loaderData.version}</p>
    </div>
  );
}
```

```tsx filename=app/routes/version.tsx title="postgres.js"
import postgres from 'postgres';
import type { Route } from './+types/version';

// The loader function runs on the server
export async function loader() {
  const sql = postgres(process.env.DATABASE_URL as string);
  const response = await sql`SELECT version()`;
  return { version: response[0].version };
}

// The component runs in the browser
export default function Version({ loaderData }: Route.ComponentProps) {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Database Version</h1>
      <p>{loaderData.version}</p>
    </div>
  );
}
```

```tsx filename=app/routes/version.tsx title="node-postgres"
import { Pool } from 'pg';
import type { Route } from './+types/version';

// The loader function runs on the server
export async function loader() {
  const pool = new Pool({ connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL });
  const client = await pool.connect();
  try {
    const { rows } = await client.query('SELECT version()');
    return { version: rows[0].version };
  } finally {
    client.release();
    await pool.end();
  }
}

// The component runs in the browser
export default function Version({ loaderData }: Route.ComponentProps) {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Database Version</h1>
      <p>{loaderData.version}</p>
    </div>
  );
}
```
:::
::::

:::step{title="Run the app"}
### Generate types

Run the following command to generate types for your routes:

```bash
npm run typecheck
```

### Start the development server

With the types generated, start the development server:

```bash
npm run dev
```

Now, navigate to http://localhost:5173/version in your browser. You should see a page displaying the version of your database.

```
Database Version
PostgreSQL 17.5 (6bc9ef8) on aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Debian 12.2.0-14+deb12u1) 12.2.0, 64-bit
```
:::
:::::

## Next steps

- [Set up Managed Better Auth](/guides/auth-quick-start-react): Add managed authentication that branches with your database

## Need help?

Join our [Discord Server](https://neon.com/discord) to ask questions or see what others are doing with Neon. For paid plan support options, see [Support](/guides/postgres-introduction-support).

## Related pages

- [Connect Astro to Postgres on Neon](./neon-docs-guides-astro.md)
- [Connect a Bun application to Neon](./neon-docs-guides-bun.md)
- [Connect an Entity Framework application to Neon](./neon-docs-guides-dotnet-entity-framework.md)
- [Connect an Encore application to Neon](./neon-docs-guides-encore.md)
- [Connect an Express application to Neon](./neon-docs-guides-express.md)
- [Self-Host Medusa with Neon](./neon-docs-guides-medusajs.md)
- [Connect a Micronaut Kotlin application to Lakebase Postgres](./neon-docs-guides-micronaut-kotlin.md)
- [Connect a NestJS application to Neon](./neon-docs-guides-nestjs.md)
- [Connect a Next.js application to Neon](./neon-docs-guides-nextjs.md)
- [Connect a Node.js application to Neon](./neon-docs-guides-node.md)

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