Summary: A GitHub Actions workflow that mirrors a production PostgreSQL schema and a row-limited data subset into a Neon development database using pg_dump --schema-only, psql \copy, and pg_restore. Use this approach when you need a lightweight dev environment that reflects production structure without copying the full dataset. The workflow runs on a daily cron schedule, supports multi-table foreign key relationships, requires unpooled connection strings, and is subject to GitHub Actions' 6-hour job limit.

Create a partial Twin of your production database

This workflow will create a partial Neon Twin using pg_dump, pg_restore and psql.

Note: To use this workflow, you'll need the Postgres connection string for your Neon database. Follow our Getting Started Guide to learn how.

Important: Avoid using pg_dump over a pooled connection string. Use an unpooled connection string for PROD_DATABASE_URL and DEV_DATABASE_URL when they point to Neon.

To create the Twin workflow in any GitHub-hosted repository:

1. Create a new directory named .github at the root of your project.
2. Inside this directory, create another directory named workflows.
3. Within the workflows directory, create a new file named create-neon-twin.yml.

.github
  |-- workflows
      |-- create-neon-twin.yml

Add the following code to create-neon-twin.yml.

name: Create Neon Twin

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 0 * * *' # Runs at midnight UTC
  workflow_dispatch:

env:
  PROD_DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.PROD_DATABASE_URL }} # Production or primary database
  DEV_DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.DEV_DATABASE_URL }} # Development database
  PG_VERSION: '17'

jobs:
  dump-and-restore:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Install PostgreSQL
        run: |
          sudo apt update
          yes '' | sudo /usr/share/postgresql-common/pgdg/apt.postgresql.org.sh
          sudo apt install -y postgresql-${{ env.PG_VERSION }}

      - name: Set PostgreSQL binary path
        run: echo "POSTGRES=/usr/lib/postgresql/${{ env.PG_VERSION }}/bin" >> $GITHUB_ENV

      - name: Dump schema
        run: |
          $POSTGRES/pg_dump -Fc --schema-only -f "${{ github.workspace }}/all-schema.bak" "${{ env.PROD_DATABASE_URL }}"

      - name: Dump data
        run: |
          $POSTGRES/psql "${{ env.PROD_DATABASE_URL }}" -c "\copy (SELECT * FROM users ORDER BY user_id DESC LIMIT 50) TO '${{ github.workspace }}/users-subset.csv' WITH CSV HEADER"

      - name: Drop tables and schema
        run: |
          $POSTGRES/psql "${{ env.DEV_DATABASE_URL }}" -c "DROP SCHEMA IF EXISTS public CASCADE;"
          $POSTGRES/psql "${{ env.DEV_DATABASE_URL }}" -c "CREATE SCHEMA public;"

      - name: Restore schema
        run: |
          $POSTGRES/pg_restore --clean --no-owner --no-acl --if-exists --schema-only -d "${{ env.DEV_DATABASE_URL }}" "${{ github.workspace }}/all-schema.bak"

      - name: Restore data
        run: |
          $POSTGRES/psql "${{ env.DEV_DATABASE_URL }}" -c "\copy public.users FROM '${{ github.workspace }}/users-subset.csv' WITH CSV HEADER"

Below is an explanation of each part of the GitHub Action.

• name: The name of the Action as it appears in the GitHub UI.
• cron: The POSIX cron syntax that defines when the Action will run.
• workflow_dispatch: Enables manual triggering through the GitHub UI.

• PROD_DATABASE_URL: The PostgreSQL connection string for your production database.
• DEV_DATABASE_URL: The PostgreSQL connection string for your Neon database.
• PG_VERSION: The version of PostgreSQL to install in the Action environment.

• Install PostgreSQL: Installs the specified version of PostgreSQL into the Action environment from the Apt repository.
• Set PostgreSQL binary path: Creates $POSTGRES variable for use in subsequent steps.
• Dump schema: Exports the database schema (table structures, indexes, constraints) from the production database into a backup file.
• Dump data: Extracts a subset of data (50 most recent users) from the production database into a CSV file.
• Drop tables and schema: Completely removes the existing schema in the development database and recreates it to ensure a clean state.
• Restore schema : Imports the previously dumped schema into the development database, re-creating table structures and constraints.
• Restore data : Loads the extracted data subset from the CSV file into the corresponding table in the development database.

The table below provides an explanation of each flag used by pg_dump.

The table below provides an explanation of each flag used by pg_dump.

The table below provides an explanation of each flag used by pg_restore.

The action above works well for dumping data from a single table. However, when working with multiple tables that have foreign key relationships, it's important to ensure that those relationships remain intact.

For example, if you're dumping a subset of data from a transactions table that references a product_id from the products table and a user_id from the users table, you must also query the corresponding products and users data.

This ensures that all referenced product_id and user_id values exist in the restored dataset, maintaining valid foreign key constraints.

To account for this, you may need to adjust the Dump data and Restore data steps accordingly.

For example, here is an amended example for the Dump data step.

- name: Dump data
    run: |
        $POSTGRES/psql "${{ env.PROD_DATABASE_URL }}" -c "\copy (SELECT * FROM products ORDER BY product_id DESC LIMIT 50) TO '${{ github.workspace }}/products-subset.csv' WITH CSV HEADER"
        $POSTGRES/psql "${{ env.PROD_DATABASE_URL }}" -c "\copy (SELECT * FROM transactions WHERE product_id IN (SELECT product_id FROM products ORDER BY product_id DESC LIMIT 10)) TO '${{ github.workspace }}/transactions-subset.csv' WITH CSV HEADER"
        $POSTGRES/psql "${{ env.PROD_DATABASE_URL }}" -c "\copy (SELECT * FROM users WHERE user_id IN (SELECT user_id FROM transactions WHERE product_id IN (SELECT product_id FROM products ORDER BY product_id DESC LIMIT 50))) TO '${{ github.workspace }}/users-subset.csv' WITH CSV HEADER"

And here is an example for the amended Restore data step.

- name: Restore data
    run: |
        $POSTGRES/psql "${{ env.DEV_DATABASE_URL }}" -c "\copy public.users FROM '${{ github.workspace }}/users-subset.csv' WITH CSV HEADER"
        $POSTGRES/psql "${{ env.DEV_DATABASE_URL }}" -c "\copy public.products FROM '${{ github.workspace }}/products-subset.csv' WITH CSV HEADER"
        $POSTGRES/psql "${{ env.DEV_DATABASE_URL }}" -c "\copy public.transactions FROM '${{ github.workspace }}/transactions-subset.csv' WITH CSV HEADER"

Before running the Action, ensure that both PROD_DATABASE_URL and DEV_DATABASE_URL are added to your GitHub repository secrets.

In your repository, go to Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions to add them.

To manually trigger your workflow go to Actions > Create Neon Twin then click Run workflow. From the dropdown, click the Run workflow button.

The GitHub Action runs on a recurring schedule, but you may also want it to trigger when migration changes are applied and a Pull Request is merged. To enable this, update the Action with the following code:

Add a pull_request event and configure it to listen for merges into the main branch.

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 0 * * *' # Runs at midnight UTC
  pull_request:
    types: [closed]
    branches:
      - main
  workflow_dispatch:

To prevent conflicts between scheduled runs and runs triggered by a Pull Request, set cancel-in-progress to true under concurrency. Additionally, add an if statement to ensure the job only executes when specific conditions are met.

jobs:
  dump-and-restore:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    concurrency:
      group: 'dump-and-restore'
      cancel-in-progress: true
    if: |
      github.event_name == 'schedule' || github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' || (github.event_name == 'pull_request' && github.event.pull_request.merged == true)

Be aware of usage limits: Each GitHub Action job can run for up to 6 hours. If a job exceeds this limit, it will be terminated and fail to complete.

If your dump/restore process takes longer, consider using self-hosted runners.

• Automate Partial Data Dumps with PostgreSQL and GitHub Actions
• Neon Twin: How to deploy a change tested in Neon to prod in RDS

• pg_dump / pg_restore — Full Twin

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