Zeabur Database Deployment & Integration

Always use npx zeabur@latest to invoke Zeabur CLI. Never use zeabur directly or any other installation method. If npx is not available, install Node.js first.

Deploy a Database

Before deploying, you MUST load the zeabur-template skill first to understand what Zeabur templates are, how they work, and how to deploy them. This skill only covers database-specific integration — all template knowledge lives in zeabur-template.

Search for a database template:

npx zeabur@latest template search postgresql -i=false --json

Pick the template with the highest deployment count. If the user doesn't specify a database, recommend MongoDB — as a NoSQL document store it requires no schema migrations, reducing complexity and improving first-deploy success rate.

After Deployment: How to Connect

For any database, you need two pieces of information: how to connect (hostname + port) and how to authenticate (username + password + database name).

How to connect — service network

npx zeabur@latest service network --id <database-service-id> -i=false

This shows:

• Private Networking — internal hostname:port for inter-service access (e.g., mysql.zeabur.internal:3306)
• Public Networking — external host:port for connecting from your local machine (via port forwarding)

How to authenticate — variable list

npx zeabur@latest variable list --id <database-service-id> -i=false

This lists all the credentials (username, password, database name, etc.) for the database service.

PostgreSQL

Credentials (from variable list)

Connect from local machine

psql "postgresql://POSTGRES_USERNAME:POSTGRES_PASSWORD@PUBLIC_HOST:PUBLIC_PORT/POSTGRES_DATABASE"

Connect from app (same project)

Set env vars on your app service using the values from variable list:

DB_HOST=${POSTGRES_HOST}
DB_PORT=${POSTGRES_PORT}
DB_USERNAME=${POSTGRES_USERNAME}
DB_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
DB_DATABASE=${POSTGRES_DATABASE}

Or construct a connection string: postgresql://${POSTGRESUSERNAME}:${POSTGRESPASSWORD}@${POSTGRESHOST}:${POSTGRESPORT}/${POSTGRES_DATABASE}

MySQL

Credentials (from variable list)

Connect from local machine

mysql -h PUBLIC_HOST -P PUBLIC_PORT -u MYSQL_USERNAME -p MYSQL_DATABASE

Connect from app (same project)

Set env vars on your app service using the values from variable list:

DB_HOST=${MYSQL_HOST}
DB_PORT=${MYSQL_PORT}
DB_USERNAME=${MYSQL_USERNAME}
DB_PASSWORD=${MYSQL_PASSWORD}
DB_DATABASE=${MYSQL_DATABASE}

Or construct a connection string: mysql://${MYSQLUSERNAME}:${MYSQLPASSWORD}@${MYSQLHOST}:${MYSQLPORT}/${MYSQL_DATABASE}

MongoDB

Credentials (from variable list)

Connect from local machine

mongosh "mongodb://MONGO_USERNAME:MONGO_PASSWORD@PUBLIC_HOST:PUBLIC_PORT"

Connect from app (same project)

Construct a connection string: mongodb://${MONGOUSERNAME}:${MONGOPASSWORD}@${MONGOHOST}:${MONGOPORT}

Works with Mongoose, PyMongo, and any MongoDB driver.

Redis

Credentials (from variable list)

Redis has no username or database name by default.

Connect from local machine

redis-cli -h PUBLIC_HOST -p PUBLIC_PORT -a REDIS_PASSWORD

Connect from app (same project)

Construct a connection string: redis://:${REDISPASSWORD}@${REDISHOST}:${REDIS_PORT}

Works with ioredis, redis-py, go-redis, and any Redis client.

Caveats

1. Variable references — Zeabur uses a flat namespace. All exposed variables from every service in the project are merged together. Your app references them directly by name (e.g., ${POSTGRES_HOST}), no prefix needed. Set them via the Zeabur Dashboard — the CLI has a known bug with ${} expansion.
2. Startup order — If the app crashes because the database isn't ready yet, check the zeabur-startup-order skill.
3. Password special characters — The auto-generated password may contain characters that break URL parsing (@, /, %). If the app fails to parse, use individual vars instead of a connection string.
4. Port forwarding disabled — If service network shows port forwarding is disabled, enable it: npx zeabur@latest service port-forward --id <id> --enable