In this tutorial, you'll create a simple Node.js and Express.js application and connect it to a PlanetScale database.

• Node.js
• PlanetScale CLI
• Authenticate the CLI with the following command:

Copied
pscale auth login

First, create a new database with the following command:

Copied
pscale database create <DATABASE_NAME>

Next, let's add some data to the database. You'll create a new table called users and add one record to it.

To do this, use the PlanetScale CLI shell to open a MySQL shell where you can manipulate your database. You may need to install the MySQL command line client if you haven't already.

Copied
pscale shell <DATABASE_NAME> <BRANCH_NAME>

Create the users table:

Copied
CREATE TABLE `users` (
  `id` int NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
  `email` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `first_name` varchar(255),
  `last_name` varchar(255)
);

Then, add a record to it with:

Copied
INSERT INTO `users` (id, email, first_name, last_name)
VALUES  (1, 'hp@example.com', 'Harry', 'Potter');

You can verify it was added with:

Copied
select * from users;

Copied
+----+----------------+------------+-----------+
| id | email          | first_name | last_name |
+----+----------------+------------+-----------+
|  1 | hp@example.com | Harry      | Potter    |
+----+----------------+------------+-----------+

Next, you'll set up the Express starter application.

Clone the starter repository:

Copied
git clone https://github.com/planetscale/express-example.git

Enter into the folder and install the dependencies with:

Copied
cd express-example
npm install

Now that your application is set up and the database is ready to be used, let's connect them.

There are two ways to connect your Express application to your PlanetScale database: using the PlanetScale proxy or using a connection string. Both options are covered below.

Use the following command to create a connection to your database and start the application:

Copied
pscale connect <DATABASE_NAME> <BRANCH_NAME> --execute 'node app.js'

Navigate to http://localhost:3000 and you'll see the data from your users table!

This section will show you how to create a username and password through the CLI to connect to your application. If you'd prefer to use the dashboard for this step, you can find those instructions in the Connection Strings documentation and then come back here to finish setup.

First, create your .env file by renaming the .env.example file to .env:

Copied
mv .env.example .env

Next, using the PlanetScale CLI, create a new username and password for the branch of your database:

Copied
pscale password create <DATABASE_NAME> <BRANCH_NAME> <PASSWORD_NAME>

Take note of the values returned to you, as you won't be able to see this password again.

Copied
Password production-password was successfully created.
Please save the values below as they will not be shown again

  NAME                  USERNAME       ACCESS HOST URL                     ROLE               PLAIN TEXT
 --------------------- -------------- ----------------------------------- ------------------ -------------------------------------------------------
  production-password   xxxxxxxxxxxxx   xxxxxx.us-east-2.psdb.cloud   Can Read & Write   pscale_pw_xxxxxxx

You'll use these properties to construct your connection string, which will be the value for DATABASE_URL in your .env file. Create your connection string in the following format:

Copied
mysql://<USERNAME>:<PLAIN_TEXT_PASSWORD>@<ACCESS_HOST_URL>/<DATABASE_NAME>?ssl={"rejectUnauthorized":true}

In the .env file, fill in the DATABASE_URL variable with the value you constructed. It should look something like this:

Copied
DATABASE_URL=mysql://xxxxxxxxxxxxx:pscale_pw_xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.us-east-2.psdb.cloud/express_database?ssl={"rejectUnauthorized":true}

Finally, run your Express application with:

Copied
node app.js

Navigate to http://localhost:3000 and you'll see the data from your users table!

Learn more about how PlanetScale allows you to make non-blocking schema changes to your database tables without locking or causing downtime for production databases. If you're interested in learning how to secure your application when connecting to PlanetScale, please read Connecting to PlanetScale securely.

Get help from PlanetScale's support team, or join our GitHub Discussion board to see how others are using PlanetScale.