PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL (often just "Postgres") is a database — the place your app stores the information it needs to remember: user accounts, orders, posts, settings, and anything else that has to survive between visits.

It's the most common starting point for almost every app. If you're not sure whether you need a database, you almost certainly do.

When you need it

• You have users who sign up and log in.
• You store records that change over time (orders, bookings, messages).
• You need to query or report on your data ("how many orders this week?").

How it connects

Link Postgres to a service and StrictOps injects a ready-to-use connection string as:

DATABASE_URL=postgres://…

Your app reads DATABASE_URL and connects — no credentials to copy, and they're rotated for you. Most frameworks (Prisma, TypeORM, Django, Rails) pick this variable up automatically.

Settings explained

• Version — the Postgres major version. Stick with the newest (16) unless a library requires an older one.
• Plan — how much memory and CPU the database gets. Start with Starter; you can move up as traffic grows.
• Storage (GB) — how much disk space for your data. 10 GB is plenty to begin with and can be increased later.
• High availability — runs a standby copy so the database keeps working if the primary fails. Worth enabling for production; skip it for early prototypes to save cost.

Cost guidance

The Starter plan is the cheapest and fine for launch. The two things that increase cost are a larger plan (more memory) and high availability (a second instance). Begin small — you can scale up without losing data.