neon-drizzle

Neon and Drizzle Integration Guidelines

Overview

This guide covers the specific integration patterns, configurations, and optimizations for using Drizzle ORM with Neon Postgres. Follow these guidelines to ensure efficient, secure, and robust database operations in serverless and traditional environments.

Dependencies

For Neon with Drizzle ORM integration, include these specific dependencies. The ws package is required for persistent WebSocket connections in Node.js environments older than v22.

npm install drizzle-orm @neondatabase/serverless ws
npm install -D drizzle-kit dotenv @types/ws

Neon Connection String

Always use the Neon connection string format and store it in an environment file (.env, .env.local).

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

Connection Setup: Choosing the Right Driver Adapter

Neon's serverless driver offers two connection methods: HTTP and WebSocket. Drizzle has a specific adapter for each.

1. HTTP Adapter (Recommended for Serverless/Edge)

This method is ideal for short-lived, stateless environments like Vercel Edge Functions or AWS Lambda. It uses fetch for each query, resulting in very low latency for single operations.

• Use the neon client from @neondatabase/serverless.
• Use the drizzle adapter from drizzle-orm/neon-http.

// src/db.ts
import { drizzle } from "drizzle-orm/neon-http";
import { neon } from "@neondatabase/serverless";
import { config } from "dotenv";

config({ path: ".env" });

if (!process.env.DATABASE_URL) {
  throw new Error('DATABASE_URL is not defined');
}

const sql = neon(process.env.DATABASE_URL);
export const db = drizzle(sql);

2. WebSocket Adapter (for node-postgres compatibility)

This method is suitable for long-running applications (e.g., a standard Node.js server) or when you need support for interactive transactions. It maintains a persistent WebSocket connection.