#node-postgres

PostgreSQL client for node.js. Pure JavaScript and native libpq bindings.

Installation

npm install pg

Windows

1. Install Visual Studio C++ (successfully built with Express 2010). Express is free.
2. Add your Postgre Installation's bin folder to the system path (i.e. C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.3\bin).
3. Make sure that both libpq.dll and pg_config.exe are in that folder.
4. npm install pg

Examples

Client pooling

Typically you will access the PostgreSQL server through a pool of clients. node-postgres ships with a built in pool to help get you up and running quickly.

var pg = require('pg');
var conString = "postgres://username:password@localhost/database";

pg.connect(conString, function(err, client, done) {
  if(err) {
    return console.error('error fetching client from pool', err);
  }
  client.query('SELECT $1::int AS number', ['1'], function(err, result) {
    //call `done()` to release the client back to the pool
    done();
    
    if(err) {
      return console.error('error running query', err);
    }
    console.log(result.rows[0].number);
    //output: 1
  });
});

Simple

Sometimes you may not want to use a pool of connections. You can easily connect a single client to a postgres instance, run a query, and disconnect.

var pg = require('pg'); 
//or native libpq bindings
//var pg = require('pg').native

var conString = "postgres://username:password@localhost/database";

var client = new pg.Client(conString);
client.connect(function(err) {
  if(err) {
    return console.error('could not connect to postgres', err);
  }
  client.query('SELECT NOW() AS "theTime"', function(err, result) {
    if(err) {
      return console.error('error running query', err);
    }
    console.log(result.rows[0].theTime);
    //output: Tue Jan 15 2013 19:12:47 GMT-600 (CST)
    client.end();
  });
});

Documentation

Documentation is a work in progress primarily taking place on the github WIKI

Documentation

Native Bindings

node-postgres contains a pure JavaScript driver and also exposes JavaScript bindings to libpq. You can use either interface. I personally use the JavaScript bindings as the are quite fast, and I like having everything implemented in JavaScript.

To use native libpq bindings replace require('pg') with require('pg').native. If you do not need or want the native bindings at all, consider using node-postgres-pure instead which does not include them.

The two share the same interface so no other code changes should be required. If you find yourself having to change code other than the require statement when switching from pg to pg.native or pg.js, please report an issue.

Features

• pure JavaScript client and native libpq bindings share the same api
• optional connection pooling
• extensible js<->postgresql data-type coercion
• supported PostgreSQL features
  • parameterized queries
  • named statements with query plan caching
  • async notifications with LISTEN/NOTIFY
  • bulk import & export with COPY TO/COPY FROM

Contributing

I love contributions.

You are welcome contribute via pull requests. If you need help getting the tests running locally feel free to email me or gchat me.

I will happily accept your pull request if it:

• has tests
• looks reasonable
• does not break backwards compatibility
• satisfies jshint

Information about the testing processes is in the wiki.

If you need help or have questions about constructing a pull request I'll be glad to help out as well.

Support

If at all possible when you open an issue please provide

• version of node
• version of postgres
• smallest possible snippet of code to reproduce the problem

Usually I'll pop the code into the repo as a test. Hopefully the test fails. Then I make the test pass. Then everyone's happy!

If you need help or run into any issues getting node-postgres to work on your system please report a bug or contact me directly. I am usually available via google-talk at my github account public email address.

I usually tweet about any important status updates or changes to node-postgres.
Follow me @briancarlson to keep up to date.

Extras

node-postgres is by design low level with the bare minimum of abstraction. These might help out:

• brianc/node-pg-query-stream - Query results from node-postgres as a readable (object) stream
• brianc/node-pg-cursor - Query cursor extension for node-postgres
• brianc/node-pg-copy-streams - COPY FROM / COPY TO for node-postgres. Stream from one database to another, and stuff.
• brianc/node-postgres-pure - node-postgres without any of the C/C++ stuff
• brianc/node-pg-types - Type parsing for node-postgres
• grncdr/node-any-db - Thin and less-opinionated database abstraction layer for node.
• brianc/node-sql - SQL generation for node.js
• hiddentao/suqel - SQL query string builder for Javascript
• CSNW/sql-bricks - Transparent, Schemaless SQL Generation

Production Use

• yammer.com
• bayt.com
• bitfloor.com
• Vendly
• SaferAging
• CartoDB
• Heap
• zoomsquare
• WhenToManage

If you use node-postgres in production and would like your site listed here, fork & add it.

License

Copyright (c) 2010-2014 Brian Carlson (brian.m.carlson@gmail.com)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.