Summary: Connect a Hono application to Lakebase Postgres using node-postgres, postgres.js, or the Neon serverless driver (@neondatabase/serverless). Covers DATABASE_URL setup and route-level query code for Hono on Node.js, Bun, Deno, and Edge runtimes. Each driver option includes a complete TypeScript route handler with Postgres query examples.

Set up a Neon project in seconds and connect from a Hono application

Pre-built prompt for connecting Hono applications to Lakebase Postgres View prompt

Hono is a lightweight, multi-runtime web framework for the Edge, Node.js, Deno, Bun, and other runtimes. This topic describes how to create a Neon project and access it from a Hono application.

To create a Neon project and access it from a Hono application:

If you do not have one already, create a Neon project. Save your connection details including your password. They are required when defining connection settings.

1. Navigate to the Projects page in the Neon Console.
2. Click New Project.
3. Specify your project settings and click Create Project.

1. Create a Hono project if you do not have one. For instructions, see Quick Start, in the Hono documentation.

2. Add project dependencies using one of the following commands:

node-postgres

npm install pg

postgres.js

npm install postgres

Neon serverless driver

npm install @neondatabase/serverless

Add a .env file to your project directory and add your Neon connection string to it. You can find your connection details by clicking Connect in the Console nav. For more information, see Connect from any application.

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://<user>:<password>@<endpoint_hostname>.neon.tech:<port>/<dbname>?sslmode=require&channel_binding=require"

In your Hono application (for example, in src/index.ts or a specific route file), import the driver and use it within your route handlers.

Here's how you can set up a simple route to query the database:

node-postgres

import { Pool } from 'pg';
import { Hono } from 'hono';
import { serve } from '@hono/node-server';

const app = new Hono();
const pool = new Pool({
  connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
  ssl: true,
});

app.get('/', async (c) => {
  const client = await pool.connect();
  try {
    const { rows } = await client.query('SELECT version()');
    return c.json({ version: rows[0].version });
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Database query failed:', error);
    return c.text('Failed to connect to database', 500);
  } finally {
    client.release();
  }
});

serve(app);

postgres.js

import { Hono } from 'hono';
import postgres from 'postgres';
import { serve } from '@hono/node-server';

const app = new Hono();

app.get('/', async (c) => {
  try {
    const sql = postgres(process.env.DATABASE_URL, { ssl: 'require' });
    const response = await sql`SELECT version()`;
    return c.json({ version: response[0].version });
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Database query failed:', error);
    return c.text('Failed to connect to database', 500);
  }
});

serve(app);

Neon serverless driver

import { Hono } from 'hono';
import { serve } from '@hono/node-server';
import { neon } from '@neondatabase/serverless';

const app = new Hono();

app.get('/', async (c) => {
  try {
    const sql = neon(process.env.DATABASE_URL);
    const response = await sql`SELECT version()`;
    return c.json({ version: response[0]?.version });
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Database query failed:', error);
    return c.text('Failed to connect to database', 500);
  }
});

serve(app);

Start your Hono development server. You can use the following command:

npm run dev

Navigate to your application's URL (localhost:3000). You should see a JSON response with the PostgreSQL version:

{
  "version": "PostgreSQL 17.4 on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Debian 12.2.0-14) 12.2.0, 64-bit"
}

The specific version may vary depending on the PostgreSQL version you are using.

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