Get a Postgres database

Region availability

Lakebase Autoscaling is the latest version of Lakebase, with autoscaling compute, scale-to-zero, branching, and instant restore. For supported regions, see Region availability. If you are a Lakebase Provisioned user, see Lakebase Provisioned.

By the end of this guide, you'll have a running Postgres database with sample data, ready to connect to your application or integrate with the Databricks lakehouse.

Steps: ① Create a project → ② Connect → ③ Create a table

Step 1: Create your first project

Open the Lakebase App from the apps switcher.

Select Autoscaling to access the Lakebase Autoscaling UI.

Click New project. Give your project a name and select your Postgres version. Your project is created with a single production branch, a default databricks_postgres database, and compute resources configured for the branch.

It may take a few moments for your compute to activate. The compute for the production branch has scale-to-zero enabled by default with a 24-hour inactivity timeout, but you can configure this setting if needed.

The region for your project is automatically set to your workspace region.

Learn more: Create a project | Autoscaling | Scale to zero

Step 2: Connect to your database

From your project, select the production branch and click Connect. Connection strings work with any standard Postgres client (psql, pgAdmin, DBeaver, or application frameworks).

To connect with your Databricks identity, copy the psql snippet from the connection dialog and paste the OAuth token when prompted:

psql 'postgresql://your-email@databricks.com@ep-abc-123.databricks.com/databricks_postgres?sslmode=require'

Learn more: Connection quickstart | psql | pgAdmin | Postgres clients

Step 3: Create your first table

The Lakebase SQL Editor comes preloaded with sample SQL. From your project, select the production branch, open the SQL Editor, and run the provided statements to create a playing_with_lakebase table and insert sample data.

Learn more: SQL Editor | Tables Editor | Postgres clients

Next steps

Next step	Description
Serve lakehouse data	Sync Unity Catalog tables into Postgres for low-latency app reads.

Learn more

Resource	Description
Build an app	Deploy a Databricks App with automatic Lakebase connection.
Register in Unity Catalog	Unified governance, lineage, and cross-source queries.
Core concepts	Autoscaling, scale-to-zero, branching, and how they work.
What is Lakebase?	Architecture, branching model, and product overview.