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porsager/postgres

★ 8,641JavaScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5Setup · moderate

TLDR

A fast JavaScript library for querying PostgreSQL from Node.js, Deno, Bun, or Cloudflare Workers using template literals that automatically prevent SQL injection and handle connection pooling.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((postgres.js))
    What it does
      PostgreSQL client
      SQL injection safe
      Connection pooling
    Features
      Tagged template queries
      Transactions
      Real-time NOTIFY
      TypeScript support
    Runtimes
      Node.js
      Deno
      Bun
      Cloudflare Workers
    Audience
      Backend developers
      API builders
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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Connect a Node.js backend to a PostgreSQL database and run queries with embedded JavaScript variables without risking SQL injection.

USE CASE 2

Build a server-side API on Bun or Cloudflare Workers that reads and writes to PostgreSQL using a minimal, high-performance client.

USE CASE 3

Handle database transactions, real-time notifications, and custom data types in a single dependency with no additional configuration.

Tech stack

JavaScriptTypeScriptNode.jsDenoBunPostgreSQL

Getting it running

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires a running PostgreSQL server to connect to, the library itself installs with one npm command.

In plain English

Postgres.js is a JavaScript library for connecting to and querying a PostgreSQL database from server-side JavaScript environments, specifically Node.js, Deno, Bun, and Cloudflare Workers. PostgreSQL is a popular open-source database, and a client library like this one is the piece of code that lets your JavaScript application send queries to it and receive results. The library's distinguishing design choice is how it handles queries. Instead of passing query strings as plain text, you write them using a special JavaScript syntax called tagged template literals, where the SQL sits directly in your code with JavaScript variables embedded inline. The library automatically separates the variable values from the SQL text and sends them to the database separately, which prevents a common security problem called SQL injection where user-supplied data can accidentally change the meaning of a query. The README covers a wide range of database operations: selecting rows, inserting single or multiple records, updating data, running transactions, listening for real-time database notifications, handling custom data types, and managing connection pools. For each topic there are short code examples showing exactly what the method call looks like and what result to expect. There is also TypeScript support described for teams that want type checking. Performance is presented as a core motivation. The project links to benchmark results showing it ahead of other PostgreSQL clients for Node.js. The connection setup is minimal: you provide your database credentials either as a URL or a configuration object, and the library handles pooling connections for you by default. The library is published on npm and installs with a single command. It targets JavaScript developers who are building backend applications or server-side scripts and need to read from or write to a PostgreSQL database. No prior experience with database drivers is required, but familiarity with async JavaScript and basic SQL is assumed. The full README is longer than what was shown.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Using the postgres.js library, write me a Node.js function that inserts a new user record with name and email into a users table using tagged template literals.
Prompt 2
Show me how to run a database transaction with postgres.js that transfers money between two accounts and rolls back automatically if either update fails.
Prompt 3
I need to listen for real-time PostgreSQL NOTIFY events in a Node.js app using postgres.js. Write the connection setup and the listener code.
Prompt 4
How do I configure postgres.js connection pooling for a high-traffic API? Show me the options object and explain what max, idle_timeout, and connect_timeout do.
Prompt 5
Write a postgres.js query that inserts multiple rows from a JavaScript array in a single round-trip to the database.
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