PostgreSQL

Official documentation and software

• For full information about PostgreSQL, refer to the official documentation.

• To download PostgreSQL database software, refer to the official software downloads.

Connect to a PostgreSQL database

1. To connect to the database, create a data source that will store your connection details. You can do this using one of the following ways:

   • In the main menu, go to File | New | Data Source and select PostgreSQL.

   • In the Database tool window ( View | Tool Windows | Database) , click the New icon () in the toolbar. Navigate to Data Source and select PostgreSQL.

   

2. In the General tab of Data Sources and Drivers dialog right pane, specify the driver and connection type.

   1. In the Driver list, leave the default driver option, unless another driver is required for your connection.

   2. From the Connection type list, select the connection type depending on the connection details that you have:

      • default: connect by using Host, Port, Database, and URL.

      • URL only: connect by using only the URL.

      For the URL only connection type, the JDBC URL that you enter is used and as is, including the database credentials.

      For the other connection types, the JDBC URL is broken down into connection details. You can either specify them separately and use the automatically generated URL, or you can enter the URL directly in the corresponding field.

   

3. Check if there is a Download missing driver files link at the bottom of the connection settings area. Click this link to download drivers that are required to interact with a database. For a direct download link, refer to the JetBrains JDBC drivers page.

   Location for the downloaded JDBC drivers is the WebStorm configuration directory.

   

   You can also use your drivers for the database instead of the provided ones. For more information about connecting to a database with your driver, refer to Add a user driver to an existing connection.

   If there is no Download missing driver files link, then you already have the required drivers.

4. Specify the database connection details. Alternatively, paste the JDBC URL in the URL field.

   1. In the Host field, type your server address.

   2. In the Port field, type the port of PostgreSQL. The default port is 5432.

   3. From the Authentication list, select the authentication method that you want to use to authenticate the connection. The following options are available:

      • pgpass: by using the pgpass file. You can store this file in the user's home directory. You can read more about the password file and its location in The Password File at postgresql.org.

      • User & Password: by using your login and password.

      • No auth: authentication is not required.

   4. In the User and Password fields, type your user credentials.

      To use no password, leave the Password field empty.

      To delete a once entered password, right-click the Password field and select Set Empty.

      

   5. In the Database field, type the database name to which you want to connect.

   6. In the URL field, WebStorm generates the JDBC URL automatically using the values of other connection settings.

      If you need to use a JDBC URL with certain additional settings, paste it in the URL field. The general URL to use is as follows:

      • Format: jdbc:postgresql://<host_address>:<port_number>/<database_name>

      • Example: jdbc:postgresql://127.0.0.1:5432/myDatabase

      For more information about the URL format, refer to the PostgreSQL official documentation.

   

   1. From the Authentication list, select the authentication method that you want to use to authenticate the connection. The following options are available:

      • User & Password: by using your login and password.

      • No auth: authentication is not required.

   2. In the User and Password fields, type your user credentials.

      To use no password, leave the Password field empty.

      To delete a once entered password, right-click the Password field and select Set Empty.

      

   3. In the URL field, WebStorm generates the JDBC URL automatically using the values of other connection settings.

      If you need to use a JDBC URL with certain additional settings, paste it in the URL field.

      For more information about the URL format, refer to the PostgreSQL official documentation.

   

   For the reference information about connection settings and properties on the General and other tabs of Data Sources and Drivers dialog, see Connection settings and DBMS-specific properties.

5. Ensure that the connection to the database can be established using the provided details. To do that, click the Test Connection link at the bottom of the connection details area.

   

   In case of any connection issues, refer to the Cannot connect to a database page.

6. (Optional) By default, only the default database and schema are introspected and available to work with. If you also want to work with other databases and schemas, in the Schemas tab, select them for the introspection.

   

7. Click OK to create the data source.

8. Find your new data source in the Database tool window (⌘ 1) .

   • For more information about the Database tool window, see the corresponding reference topic.

   • For more information about working with database objects in WebStorm, refer to Database objects.

   • To write and run queries, open the default query console by clicking the data source and pressing F4.

   • To view and edit data of a database object, open Data editor and viewer by double-clicking the object.