Summary: React Router full-stack integration with Lakebase Postgres runs database queries server-side inside a route loader function, keeping credentials and SQL out of the browser. Use this guide when building a React Router app that needs a serverless Postgres backend, with driver options for node-postgres, postgres.js, or the Neon serverless driver.

Set up a project on Neon in seconds and connect from a React Router application

React Router 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:

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 page in the Neon Console.
2. Click New Project.
3. Specify your project settings and click Create Project.

1. Create a React Router project using the following command:

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

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

   node-postgres

   npm install pg

   postgres.js

   npm install postgres

   Neon serverless driver

   npm install @neondatabase/serverless

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.

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

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.

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.

import { type RouteConfig, route, index } from '@react-router/dev/routes';export default [  index('./home.tsx'),  route('version', './routes/version.tsx'),] satisfies RouteConfig;

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.

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>
  );
}

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>
  );
}

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>
  );
}

Run the following command to generate types for your routes:

npm run typecheck

With the types generated, start the development server:

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

• Set up Managed Better Auth: Add managed authentication that branches with your database

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