Connecting to Neon works like any Postgres database. You use a standard connection string with your language or framework of choice. This guide shows you the essentials to get connected quickly.

## Get your connection string

Click **Connect** in the Console nav to open the **Connect to your branch** modal. Select your branch, database, and role. Your connection string appears automatically.

<img src="/current/media/t/75c5dc71-055f-4496-bcaf-6966eeb0b645/p/af70e81f-ccf2-4beb-9df8-efafa018b2a1/02f0b8578897ec0293f6d70d963b054565e505f99b4536d3fde50022915f0943.png/raw" alt="Connection details modal">

The connection string includes everything you need to connect:

```
postgresql://alex:AbC123dEf@ep-cool-darkness-a1b2c3d4.us-east-2.aws.neon.tech/dbname?sslmode=require
             ^    ^         ^                                                   ^
       role -|    |         |- hostname                                        |- database
                  |
                  |- password
```

:::callout{intent="note"}
Neon supports both pooled and direct connections. Use a pooled connection string (with `-pooler` in the hostname) if your application creates many concurrent connections. See [Connection pooling](/guides/postgres-connect-connection-pooling) for details.
:::

## Connect from your application

Use your connection string to connect from any application. Here are examples for various frameworks and languages:

:::code-group
```javascript title="Neon serverless driver"
// Works in Node.js, Next.js, serverless, and edge runtimes
import { neon } from '@neondatabase/serverless';

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

const users = await sql`SELECT * FROM users`;
```

```javascript title="Next.js"
// Next.js example
import postgres from 'postgres';

let { PGHOST, PGDATABASE, PGUSER, PGPASSWORD } = process.env;

const conn = postgres({
  host: PGHOST,
  database: PGDATABASE,
  username: PGUSER,
  password: PGPASSWORD,
  port: 5432,
  ssl: 'require',
});

const users = await conn`SELECT * FROM users`;
```

```javascript title="Drizzle"
// Drizzle example with the Neon serverless driver
import { neon } from '@neondatabase/serverless';
import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/neon-http';

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

const db = drizzle(sql);

const result = await db.select().from(...);
```

```javascript title="Prisma"
// Prisma example with the Neon serverless driver
import { neon } from '@neondatabase/serverless';
import { PrismaNeonHTTP } from '@prisma/adapter-neon';
import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';

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

const adapter = new PrismaNeonHTTP(sql);

const prisma = new PrismaClient({ adapter });
```

```python title="Python"
# Python example with psycopg2
import os
import psycopg2

# Load the environment variable
database_url = os.getenv('DATABASE_URL')

# Connect to the PostgreSQL database
conn = psycopg2.connect(database_url)

with conn.cursor() as cur:
    cur.execute("SELECT version()")
    print(cur.fetchone())

# Close the connection
conn.close()
```

```go title="Go"
// Go example
package main
import (
    "database/sql"
    "fmt"
    "log"
    "os"

    _ "github.com/lib/pq"
    "github.com/joho/godotenv"
)

func main() {
    err := godotenv.Load()
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Error loading .env file: %v", err)
    }

    connStr := os.Getenv("DATABASE_URL")
    if connStr == "" {
        panic("DATABASE_URL environment variable is not set")
    }

    db, err := sql.Open("postgres", connStr)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer db.Close()

    var version string
    if err := db.QueryRow("select version()").Scan(&version); err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    fmt.Printf("version=%s\n", version)
}
```

```csharp title=".NET"
# .NET example

## Connection string
"Host=ep-cool-darkness-123456.us-east-2.aws.neon.tech;Database=dbname;Username=alex;Password=AbC123dEf"

## with SSL
"Host=ep-cool-darkness-123456.us-east-2.aws.neon.tech;Database=dbname;Username=alex;Password=AbC123dEf;SSL Mode=Require;Trust Server Certificate=true"

## Entity Framework (appsettings.json)
{
  ...
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Host=ep-cool-darkness-123456.us-east-2.aws.neon.tech;Database=dbname;Username=alex;Password=AbC123dEf;SSL Mode=Require;Trust Server Certificate=true"
  },
  ...
}
```

```ruby title="Ruby"
# Ruby example
require 'pg'
require 'dotenv'

# Load environment variables from .env file
Dotenv.load

# Connect to the PostgreSQL database using the environment variable
conn = PG.connect(ENV['DATABASE_URL'])

# Execute a query
conn.exec("SELECT version()") do |result|
  result.each do |row|
    puts "Result = #{row['version']}"
  end
end

# Close the connection
conn.close
```

```rust title="Rust"
// Rust example
use postgres::Client;
use openssl::ssl::{SslConnector, SslMethod};
use postgres_openssl::MakeTlsConnector;
use std::error;
use std::env;
use dotenv::dotenv;

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn error::Error>> {
    // Load environment variables from .env file
    dotenv().ok();

    // Get the connection string from the environment variable
    let conn_str = env::var("DATABASE_URL")?;

    let builder = SslConnector::builder(SslMethod::tls())?;
    let connector = MakeTlsConnector::new(builder.build());
    let mut client = Client::connect(&conn_str, connector)?;

    for row in client.query("select version()", &[])? {
        let ret: String = row.get(0);
        println!("Result = {}", ret);
    }
    Ok(())
}
```

```bash title="psql"
# psql example connection string
psql postgresql://username:password@hostname:5432/database?sslmode=require&channel_binding=require
```
:::

Store your connection string in an environment variable (like `DATABASE_URL`) rather than hardcoding it in your application.

## Next steps

This covers the basics. For more connection options and detailed guidance:

::::card-grid
:::card{title="Connect documentation" href="/guides/postgres-connect-connect-intro"}
Comprehensive guide to all connection methods, troubleshooting, and security
:::

:::card{title="Framework guides" href="/guides/neon-docs-get-started-frameworks"}
Step-by-step guides for Next.js, Remix, Django, Rails, and more
:::

:::card{title="Language guides" href="/guides/neon-docs-get-started-languages"}
Connection examples for JavaScript, Python, Go, Rust, and other languages
:::

:::card{title="Serverless driver" href="/guides/postgres-serverless-serverless-driver"}
Connect from serverless and edge environments using HTTP or WebSockets
:::

:::card{title="Set up Auth" href="/guides/auth-index"}
Managed Better Auth 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

- [AI tools for Agents](./ai-agents-on-neon-index.md)
- [APIs & SDKs](./apis-sdks-index.md)
- [Changelog](../changelog.md)
- [Integrating with Neon](./building-on-neon-index.md)
- [Lakebase Postgres](./postgres-index.md)
- [Managed Better Auth](./auth-index.md)
- [More](./more-index.md)
- [Neon AI Gateway](./ai-gateway-index.md)
- [Neon community](./community-index.md)
- [Neon documentation](./neon-docs-index.md)

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