From 787b817fa71c0a11d59fec69687be2200847b379 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Chris Parsons <438676+chrisparsons83@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2026 17:15:18 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] Add PgBouncer connection pooling support for Vultr managed
 PostgreSQL (#271)

Disables prepared statements when PGBOUNCER=true (required for PgBouncer
transaction mode). Adds DATABASE_DIRECT_URL so migrations always use a
direct connection, bypassing the pool.

Co-authored-by: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 .env.example        | 7 +++++++
 drizzle.config.ts   | 9 +++------
 scripts/migrate.mjs | 7 ++++---
 server/db.ts        | 4 +++-
 4 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 3afec4a..51e6cb5 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 NODE_ENV="development"
 DATABASE_URL=""
+# PgBouncer support (Vultr managed PostgreSQL)
+# Set PGBOUNCER=true when DATABASE_URL points to a PgBouncer endpoint (port 6432).
+# This disables prepared statements, required for PgBouncer transaction mode.
+# DATABASE_DIRECT_URL is used by migrations; it must be a direct connection (port 5432).
+# Leave both unset for local development with plain PostgreSQL.
+PGBOUNCER=
+DATABASE_DIRECT_URL=
 CLERK_SECRET_KEY=""
 CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=""
 CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET=""
diff --git a/drizzle.config.ts b/drizzle.config.ts
index 983a826..422ca07 100644
--- a/drizzle.config.ts
+++ b/drizzle.config.ts
@@ -1,14 +1,11 @@
 import { defineConfig } from "drizzle-kit";
 
-if (!process.env.DATABASE_URL) {
-  throw new Error("DATABASE_URL is required");
-}
+const url = process.env.DATABASE_DIRECT_URL || process.env.DATABASE_URL;
+if (!url) throw new Error("DATABASE_URL (or DATABASE_DIRECT_URL) is required");
 
 export default defineConfig({
   out: "./drizzle",
   schema: "./database/schema.ts",
   dialect: "postgresql",
-  dbCredentials: {
-    url: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
-  },
+  dbCredentials: { url },
 });
diff --git a/scripts/migrate.mjs b/scripts/migrate.mjs
index 09e89e6..d31e7c9 100644
--- a/scripts/migrate.mjs
+++ b/scripts/migrate.mjs
@@ -7,13 +7,14 @@ import path from "path";
 const __filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
 const __dirname = path.dirname(__filename);
 
-if (!process.env.DATABASE_URL) {
-  console.error("ERROR: DATABASE_URL is required");
+const migrationUrl = process.env.DATABASE_DIRECT_URL || process.env.DATABASE_URL;
+if (!migrationUrl) {
+  console.error("ERROR: DATABASE_URL (or DATABASE_DIRECT_URL) is required");
   process.exit(1);
 }
 
 console.log("Running database migrations...");
-const client = postgres(process.env.DATABASE_URL, {
+const client = postgres(migrationUrl, {
   max: 1,
   onnotice: () => {}, // suppress NOTICE messages (schema/table already exists, etc.)
 });
diff --git a/server/db.ts b/server/db.ts
index 911f809..dc4c194 100644
--- a/server/db.ts
+++ b/server/db.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,9 @@ declare global {
 function getDb() {
   if (!globalThis.__pgDb) {
     if (!process.env.DATABASE_URL) throw new Error("DATABASE_URL is required");
-    globalThis.__pgClient ??= postgres(process.env.DATABASE_URL);
+    globalThis.__pgClient ??= postgres(process.env.DATABASE_URL, {
+      prepare: process.env.PGBOUNCER !== "true",
+    });
     globalThis.__pgDb = drizzle(globalThis.__pgClient, { schema });
   }
   return globalThis.__pgDb;