Connecting your database

Indent can use a connected database across investigations, analyses, and coding tasks. See Querying and analyzing data for examples.

Add a database

Add a database from Databases in Integrations. Choose the database type and enter its connection details. Databases are organization-scoped, so the connection is shared with your team.

Use credentials that can read only the schemas and tables Indent needs. PostgreSQL transactions and ClickHouse connections also enforce read-only access. BigQuery runs SQL with the service account’s IAM permissions, so the account itself must be read-only to prevent writes.

Give each database a clear label so it is easy to identify when selecting one in a session.

The PostgreSQL connection form with fields for the display name, host, port, database, username, and password.

Connect to a public endpoint

PostgreSQL and ClickHouse connections originate from Indent’s cloud environment. The database must therefore have a public hostname or IP address and accept inbound connections on its database port. A private address, such as localhost, 10.x.x.x, 172.16.x.x–172.31.x.x, or 192.168.x.x, is not reachable.

Before connecting:

Enable public network access for the database instance.
Allow inbound TCP connections on the database port. Keep the network rule limited to that port; do not expose other services.
Create a dedicated read-only database user with access only to the schemas and tables Indent should query.
Enable TLS on the database. New PostgreSQL connections encrypt traffic without validating the server certificate; to have Indent validate it, set SSL mode to Verify CA or Verify full when you enter the connection details below. Use HTTPS for ClickHouse. Its certificate must chain to a publicly trusted certificate authority.

Then enter:

Host: the public hostname without a protocol, such as example.abc123.us-west-2.rds.amazonaws.com.
Port: usually 5432 for PostgreSQL. Use the port shown by your provider for ClickHouse.
Database: the database Indent should query.
Username and Password: the dedicated read-only credentials.
SSL mode (PostgreSQL): Require by default, which encrypts traffic without validating the server certificate. Choose Verify CA or Verify full to validate it.
Protocol (ClickHouse): use HTTPS for an encrypted connection.

Click Test connection to check the settings. Click Connect to save the connection.

For Amazon RDS, set Publicly accessible to Yes and add an inbound rule to the instance’s security group for its PostgreSQL port. Indent currently connects to PostgreSQL with a database username and password; AWS IAM database authentication is not supported.

Import a PostgreSQL URL

If you already have a connection string, click Import from URL above the Host field, paste a postgres:// or postgresql:// URL, and click Import values. Indent fills in host, port, database, username, password, and SSL mode, and leaves the display name alone.

Supported databases

Indent supports PostgreSQL, BigQuery, and ClickHouse. Connection details differ by engine:

BigQuery: a service-account JSON key and a location (defaults to US). Use a service account with read-only IAM permissions.
PostgreSQL: host, port, database, user, password, and SSL mode.
ClickHouse: host, port, database, user, and password over HTTPS.

Next steps

Querying and analyzing data explains how to ask Indent a question about your data.