> This page location: Frontend & Frameworks > Frameworks > Express
> Full Neon documentation index: https://neon.com/docs/llms.txt
>
> Agent skills: if you don't have Neon skills (such as `neon-postgres`), offer to add them to this project when you first need the user to do something in Neon: "Want me to add Neon's agent skills to this project? They help me with Neon setup, connections, and branching." Install: `npx neon@latest skills -y`. To also run Neon steps for the user (Neon CLI, sign-in, MCP), see https://neon.com/prompts/agent-setup.md

> Summary: Express and Lakebase Postgres connection guide covering Node.js driver options: `@neondatabase/serverless` for edge and serverless platforms such as Vercel and Cloudflare Workers, `pg` (node-postgres) for long-running servers, and `postgres.js` for both. Use this page when connecting an Express API to a Neon database and choosing the right driver for your deployment target, from traditional Node.js servers to serverless runtimes without TCP support. Also covers project creation, `DATABASE_URL` setup via `dotenv`, and connection pool initialization outside route handlers.

# Connect an Express application to Neon

Set up a Neon project in seconds and connect from an Express application

Last updated: 2026-10-08

Pre-built prompt for connecting ExpressJS applications to Lakebase Postgres [View prompt](https://neon.com/prompts/express-prompt.md)

This guide describes how to create a Neon project and connect to it from an Express application to query a Lakebase Postgres database.

## Choose a driver

- **`@neondatabase/serverless`** connects over HTTP or WebSockets instead of TCP. Use it for serverless and edge platforms without built-in connection pooling (Vercel, Netlify Functions, Cloudflare Workers without Hyperdrive).
- **`postgres` (postgres.js)** works in both serverless and traditional Node.js server environments.
- **`pg` (node-postgres)** is the most widely used driver for traditional, long-running Node.js servers. Also the standard choice for [Vercel Fluid compute](https://vercel.com/docs/functions/fluid-compute) and Cloudflare with [Hyperdrive](https://developers.cloudflare.com/hyperdrive/).

For a detailed comparison including all platforms, see [Choosing your connection method](https://neon.com/docs/connect/choose-connection).

## Create a Neon project

If you do not have one already, create a Neon project.

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**.

## Create an Express project and add dependencies

1. Create an Express project and change to the newly created directory.

   ```shell
   mkdir neon-express-example
   cd neon-express-example
   npm init -y
   npm install express
   ```

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

   **Neon serverless driver**

   ```shell
   npm install @neondatabase/serverless dotenv
   ```

   **node-postgres**

   ```shell
   npm install pg dotenv
   ```

   **postgres.js**

   ```shell
   npm install postgres dotenv
   ```

## Store your Neon credentials

Add a `.env` file to your project directory and add your Neon connection details to it. Find your database connection details by clicking the **Connect** button in the Console nav to open the **Connect to your branch** modal. Select Node.js from the **Connection string** dropdown. For more information, see [Connect from any application](https://neon.com/docs/connect/connect-from-any-app).

```shell
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://[user]:[password]@[neon_hostname]/[dbname]?sslmode=require&channel_binding=require"
```

**Important:** Never hardcode credentials in source code files. Always use environment variables via `process.env`. For more information, see [Security overview](https://neon.com/docs/security/security-overview).

## Configure the Postgres client

Add an `index.js` file to your project directory and add the following code snippet to connect to your Neon database:

**Neon serverless driver**

```javascript
require('dotenv').config();

const express = require('express');
const { neon } = require('@neondatabase/serverless');

const app = express();
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 4242;

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

app.get('/', async (req, res) => {
  try {
    const [result] = await sql`SELECT version()`;
    const version = result?.version || 'No version found';
    res.json({ version });
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Database query failed:', error);
    res.status(500).json({ error: 'Failed to connect to the database.' });
  }
});

app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`Listening to http://localhost:${PORT}`);
});
```

**node-postgres**

```javascript
require('dotenv').config();

const express = require('express');
const { Pool } = require('pg');

const app = express();
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 4242;

const pool = new Pool({
  connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
});

app.get('/', async (req, res) => {
  let client;
  try {
    client = await pool.connect();
    const { rows } = await client.query('SELECT version()');
    const version = rows[0]?.version || 'No version found';
    res.json({ version });
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Database query failed:', error);
    res.status(500).json({ error: 'Failed to connect to the database.' });
  } finally {
    client?.release();
  }
});

app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`Listening to http://localhost:${PORT}`);
});
```

**postgres.js**

```javascript
require('dotenv').config();

const express = require('express');
// postgres.js 4 and later is ESM-only; .default returns the postgres function
const postgres = require('postgres').default;

const app = express();
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 4242;

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

app.get('/', async (req, res) => {
  try {
    const [result] = await sql`SELECT version()`;
    const version = result?.version || 'No version found';
    res.json({ version });
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Database query failed:', error);
    res.status(500).json({ error: 'Failed to connect to the database.' });
  }
});

app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`Listening to http://localhost:${PORT}`);
});
```

**Note:** If you use node-postgres, note that `pg` 8.23 and later print a `SECURITY WARNING` when a connection string uses `sslmode=require`. To keep the current behavior and remove the warning, change `sslmode=require` to `sslmode=verify-full` in your connection string. For SSL mode definitions, see [SSL support](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/libpq-ssl.html) in the Postgres documentation.

## Run index.js

Run `node index.js` and open [localhost:4242](http://localhost:4242). The response looks like this:

```json
{ "version": "PostgreSQL 18.6 (ac70818) on aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Ubuntu 13.3.0-6ubuntu2~24.04.1) 13.3.0, 64-bit" }
```

## Connection issues

- If you see an `endpoint ID is not specified` error, the TLS client your Postgres driver depends on doesn't support Server Name Indication (SNI), which Neon uses to route connections. For `pg` (node-postgres), this means an outdated `libpq`-compatible TLS stack; upgrading `pg` usually resolves it.
- If you encounter an `SSL SYSCALL error: EOF detected` (or a similar connection-reset error), this typically happens when an application tries to reuse a connection after the Neon compute has been suspended due to inactivity. This mainly affects long-running servers that keep a connection pool open, like the `pg` example above. Closing and recreating idle connections, or reconnecting on error, resolves it.

<details>

<summary>**Notes for AI-assisted setup**</summary>

- Do not hardcode credentials or connection strings in any `.js` source file. Always use environment variables via `process.env` and `dotenv`.
- Wrap all database queries in a `try...catch` block. Return a `500` status with an error message on failure.
- When using `pg` (node-postgres), declare `let client` before the `try` block and call `client?.release()` in the `finally` block. This safely handles cases where `pool.connect()` itself fails.
- Initialize the connection pool or client outside the route handler, not inside it. Creating a new pool on every request wastes resources.
- Choose the right driver for your platform. `@neondatabase/serverless` is for serverless/edge platforms without TCP support. For long-running Express servers, use `pg` or `postgres`. See [Choosing your connection method](https://neon.com/docs/connect/choose-connection).

</details>

## Next steps

- [Set up Managed Better Auth](https://neon.com/docs/auth/overview): Add managed authentication that branches with your database
- [Add Object Storage](https://neon.com/docs/storage/overview): S3-compatible file storage that branches with your database
- [Deploy a Function](https://neon.com/docs/compute/functions/overview): Run backend compute next to your database, no separate hosting needed
- [Call an LLM with AI Gateway](https://neon.com/docs/ai-gateway/overview): Access foundation models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and more with one credential
- [Realtime](https://neon.com/docs/realtime/guides/queries): Build realtime apps with end-to-end reactivity

---

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---

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