How to connect SuperTokens to a MySQL or to a PostgreSQL database

This blog will take you through connecting the SuperTokens core service with a MySQL or a PostgreSQL database with and without Docker. This is only applicable if you are self-hosting the SuperTokens core service. There are several methods for how you might want to run SuperTokens along with a database. In this blog, we will cover: Running with MySQL: a) Running SuperTokens and MySQL without docker b) Running SuperTokens with Docker and MySQL without docker c) Running SuperTokens without Docker and MySQL with docker d) Running SuperTokens and MySQL with docker, but without docker-compose e) Running SuperTokens and MySQL with docker, with docker-compose Running with PostgreSQL: a) Running SuperTokens and PostgreSQL without docker b) Running SuperTokens with Docker and PostgreSQL without docker c) Running SuperTokens without Docker and PostgreSQL with docker d) Running SuperTokens and PostgreSQL with docker, but without docker-compose e) Running SuperTokens and PostgreSQL with docker, with docker-compose Please feel free to navigate to the correct section based on your setup. In each section, we will be linking to the SuperTokens documentation wherever applicable so that this blog is not very lengthy. All the sections below assume that you will be using a Linux based operating system. For Windows, the syntax for some of the steps might be different, but the overall steps that need to be performed will be the same. 1a) Running SuperTokens and MySQL without docker Install SuperTokens on your local machine by following the . self-hosted, without docker, instructions in the SuperTokens’ documentation Connect to the MySQL server on your local machine and create a database for SuperTokens to write to: create database supertokens; If you already have a database for your application and want SuperTokens to create tables in that, you can skip this step. Create a MySQL user that has full access to the database created in the previous step. This user will be used by SuperTokens to create and write to the database tables: CREATE USER 'supertokens_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'somePassword'; GRANT ALL ON supertokens.* TO 'supertokens_user'@'localhost'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES; Notice that we only allow this user to work via . This would only work if the SuperTokens core is running locally as well. If you are running the core in a different location, then you would need to replace in the above with . 'localhost' 'localhost' '%' Edit the SuperTokens file (located in ) to add the following config: config.yaml /usr/lib/supertokens/config.yaml mysql_connection_uri: "mysql://supertokens_user:[email protected]:3306/supertokens" Make sure that you put in the right values for the user, password, database name and location of your MySQL instance in the above connection uri string. Run SuperTokens by running on your terminal: supertokens start supertokens start Loading storage layer. Loading MySQL config. ... Started SuperTokens on localhost:3567 with PID: ... Verify that it is setup correctly by querying the core service: curl http://localhost:3567/hello If you get back a reply, the core setup is done! Hello 1b) Running SuperTokens with Docker and MySQL without docker For this setup to work, we must connect SuperTokens and MySQL via the host machine’s network. For this, we will have to expose the MySQL db to the local IP. Start by pulling the SuperTokens docker image that is compatible with MySQL: docker pull registry.supertokens.io/supertokens/supertokens-mysql Expose MySQL server to all network interfaces on your machine. To do this, edit the file (MySQL config file) to include: my.cnf bind-address = 0.0.0.0 Be sure to restart your MySQL server after saving the file. Connect to the MySQL server on your local machine and create a database for SuperTokens to write to: create database supertokens; If you already have a database for your application and want SuperTokens to create tables in that, you can skip this step. Create a MySQL user that has full access to the database created in the previous step. This user will be used by SuperTokens to create and write to the database tables: REATE USER 'supertokens_user'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'somePassword'; GRANT ALL ON supertokens.* TO 'supertokens_user'@'%'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES; Run the SuperTokens docker image with the env var specifying the MySQL connection URI: docker run \ -p 3567:3567 \ --network=host \ -e MYSQL_CONNECTION_URI="mysql://supertokens_user:[email protected]:3306/supertokens" \ -d registry.supertokens.io/supertokens/supertokens-mysql Be sure to replace with the correct IP of your system. 192.168.1.1 This will start the docker image in the background. You can find it by running: docker ps If you want to run it in the foreground, you can remove the option from the command. -d docker run Verify that it is setup correctly by querying the core service: curl http://localhost:3567/hello If you get back a reply, the core setup is done! Hello 1c) Running SuperTokens without Docker and MySQL with docker Install SuperTokens on your local machine by following the . self-hosted, without docker, instructions in the SuperTokens’ documentation Start the MySQL docker container: docker run \ -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=root \ -e MYSQL_USER=supertokens_user \ -e MYSQL_PASSWORD=somePassword \ -e MYSQL_DATABASE=supertokens \ --network=host \ -p 3306:3306 \ -d mysql The above will start the mysql db with a new database called . SuperTokens core will store the data in this database. If you want the data to be stored in an existing db, please provide that db’s name instead. supertokens Edit the SuperTokens file (located in ) to add the following config: config.yaml /usr/lib/supertokens/config.yaml mysql_connection_uri: "mysql://supertokens_user:[email protected]:3306/supertokens" Make sure that you put in the right values for the user, password, database name and location of your MySQL instance in the above connection uri string. Run SuperTokens by running on your terminal: supertokens start supertokens start Loading storage layer. Loading MySQL config. ... Started SuperTokens on localhost:3567 with PID: ... Verify that it is setup correctly by querying the core service: curl http://localhost:3567/hello If you get back a reply, the core setup is done! Hello 1d) Running SuperTokens and MySQL with docker, but without docker-compose Start by pulling the SuperTokens docker image that is compatible with MySQL: docker pull registry.supertokens.io/supertokens/supertokens-mysql Start the MySQL docker container: docker run \ -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=root \ -e MYSQL_USER=supertokens_user \ -e MYSQL_PASSWORD=somePassword \ -e MYSQL_DATABASE=supertokens \ --network=host \ -p 3306:3306 \ -d mysql The above will start the mysql db with a new database called . SuperTokens core will store the data in this database. If you want the data to be stored in an existing db, please provide that db’s name instead. supertokens Run the SuperTokens docker image with the env var specifying the MySQL connection URI: docker run \ -p 3567:3567 \ --network=host \ -e MYSQL_CONNECTION_URI="mysql://supertokens_user:[email protected]:3306/supertokens" \ -d registry.supertokens.io/supertokens/supertokens-mysql Be sure to replace with the correct IP of your system. 192.168.1.1 This will start the docker image in the background. You can find it by running: docker ps If you want to run it in the foreground, you can remove the option from the command. -d docker run Verify that it is setup correctly by querying the core service: curl http://localhost:3567/hello If you get back a reply, the core setup is done! Hello 1e) Running SuperTokens and MySQL with docker, with docker-compose Use the following docker compose file. You can call it docker-compose.yaml version: '3' services: db: image: mysql:latest environment: MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: root MYSQL_USER: supertokens_user MYSQL_PASSWORD: somePassword MYSQL_DATABASE: supertokens ports: - 3306:3306 networks: - app_network restart: unless-stopped healthcheck: test: [ "CMD", "mysqladmin", "ping", "-h", "localhost" ] timeout: 20s retries: 10 supertokens: image: registry.supertokens.io/supertokens/supertokens-mysql depends_on: - db ports: - 3567:3567 environment: MYSQL_CONNECTION_URI: mysql://supertokens_user:[email protected]:3306/supertokens networks: - app_network restart: unless-stopped healthcheck: test: > bash -c 'exec 3<>/dev/tcp/127.0.0.1/3567 && echo -e "GET /hello HTTP/1.1\r\nhost: 127.0.0.1:3567\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n" >&3 && cat <&3 | grep "Hello"' interval: 10s timeout: 5s retries: 5 networks: app_network: driver: bridge You can run the following command to start the service: docker-compose up Verify that it is setup correctly by querying the core service: curl http://localhost:3567/hello If you get back a reply, the core setup is done! Hello 2a) Running SuperTokens and PostgreSQL without docker Install SuperTokens on your local machine by following the . self-hosted, without docker, instructions in the SuperTokens’ documentation Connect to the PostgreSQL server on your local machine and create a database for SuperTokens to write to: CREATE DATABASE supertokens; If you already have a database for your application and want SuperTokens to create tables in that, you can skip this step. Create a PostgreSQL user that has full access to the database created in the previous step. This user will be used by SuperTokens to create and write to the database tables: CREATE USER supertokens_user WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'somePassword'; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE supertokens TO supertokens_user; Edit the SuperTokens file (located in ) to add the following config: config.yaml /usr/lib/supertokens/config.yaml postgresql_connection_uri: "postgresql://supertokens_user:[email protected]:5432/supertokens" Make sure that you put in the right values for the user, password, database name and location of your postgreSQL instance in the above connection uri string. Run SuperTokens by running supertokens start on your terminal: supertokens start Loading storage layer. Loading PostgreSQL config. ... Started SuperTokens on localhost:3567 with PID: ... Verify that it is setup correctly by querying the core service: curl http://localhost:3567/hello If you get back a reply, the core setup is done! Hello 2b) Running SuperTokens with Docker and PostgreSQL without docker For this setup to work, we must connect SuperTokens and PostgreSQL via the host machine’s network. For this, we will have to allow PostgreSQL to allow incomming client connections over the network. Start by pulling the SuperTokens docker image that is compatible with PostgreSQL: docker pull registry.supertokens.io/supertokens/supertokens-postgresql Allow incoming client connections to your PostgreSQL database over your network by adding the following lines to the and file. postgresql.conf pg_hba.conf postgresql.conf listen_addresses = '0.0.0.0' pg_hba.conf host all all 0.0.0.0/0 md5 Connect to the PostgreSQL server on your local machine and create a database for SuperTokens to write to: CREATE DATABASE supertokens; If you already have a database for your application and want SuperTokens to create tables in that, you can skip this step. Create a PostgreSQL user with full access to the database created in the previous step. This user will be used by SuperTokens to create and write to the database tables: CREATE USER supertokens_user with encrypted password 'somePassword'; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE supertokens TO supertokens_user; Run the SuperTokens docker image with the env var specifying the PostgreSQL connection URI: docker run \ -p 3567:3567 \ --network=host \ -e POSTGRESQL_CONNECTION_URI="postgresql://supertokens_user:[email protected]:5432/supertokens" \ -d registry.supertokens.io/supertokens/supertokens-postgresql Be sure to replace with the correct IP of your system. 192.168.1.1 This will start the docker image in the background. You can find it by running: docker ps If you want to run it in the foreground, you can remove the option from the command. -d docker run Verify that it is setup correctly by querying the core service: curl http://localhost:3567/hello If you get back a reply, the core setup is done! Hello 2c) Running SuperTokens without Docker and PostgreSQL with docker Install SuperTokens on your local machine by following the . self-hosted, without docker, instructions in the SuperTokens’ documentation Start the PostgreSQL docker container: docker run \ -e POSTGRES_USER=root \ -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=root \ --network=host \ -p 5432:5432 \ -d postgres \ -c listen_addresses=0.0.0.0 The above will start the PostgreSQL db. You will need to connect to the database and create a user with the privileges. CREATE DATABASE supertokens; If you already have a database for your application and want SuperTokens to create tables in that, you can skip this step. Create a PostgreSQL user with full access to the database created in the previous step. This user will be used by SuperTokens to create and write to the database tables: CREATE USER supertokens_user with encrypted password 'somePassword'; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE supertokens TO supertokens_user; Edit the SuperTokens file (located in ) to add the following config: config.yaml /usr/lib/supertokens/config.yaml postgresql_connection_uri: "postgresql://supertokens_user:[email protected]:5432/supertokens" Make sure that you put in the right values for the user, password, database name and location of your PostgreSQL instance in the above connection uri string. Run SuperTokens by running on your terminal: supertokens start supertokens start Loading storage layer. Loading PostgreSQL config. ... Started SuperTokens on localhost:3567 with PID: ... Verify that it is setup correctly by querying the core service: curl http://localhost:3567/hello If you get back a reply, the core setup is done! Hello 2d) Running SuperTokens and PostgreSQL with docker, but without docker-compose Start by pulling the SuperTokens docker image that is compatible with PostgreSQL: docker pull registry.supertokens.io/supertokens/supertokens-postgresql Start the PostgreSQL docker container: docker run \ -e POSTGRES_USER=root \ -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=root \ --network=host \ -p 5432:5432 \ -d postgres \ -c listen_addresses=0.0.0.0 The above will start the PostgreSQL db. You will need to connect to the database and create a user with the privileges. CREATE DATABASE supertokens; If you already have a database for your application and want SuperTokens to create tables in that, you can skip this step. Create a PostgreSQL user that has full access to the database created in the previous step. This user will be used by SuperTokens to create and write to the database tables: CREATE USER supertokens_user with encrypted password 'somePassword'; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE supertokens TO supertokens_user; Run the SuperTokens docker image with the env var specifying the PostgreSQL connection URI: docker run \ -p 3567:3567 \ --network=host \ -e POSTGRESQL_CONNECTION_URI="postgresql://supertokens_user:[email protected]:5432/supertokens" \ -d registry.supertokens.io/supertokens/supertokens-postgresql Be sure to replace with the correct IP of your system. 192.168.1.1 This will start the docker image in the background. You can find it by running: docker ps If you want to run it in the foreground, you can remove the option from the command. -d docker run Verify that it is setup correctly by querying the core service: curl http://localhost:3567/hello If you get back a reply, the core setup is done! Hello 2e) Running SuperTokens and PostgreSQL with docker, with docker-compose Use the following docker compose file. You can call it docker-compose.yaml version: '3' services: db: image: 'postgres:latest' environment: POSTGRES_USER: supertokens_user POSTGRES_PASSWORD: somePassword POSTGRES_DB: supertokens ports: - 5432:5432 networks: - app_network restart: unless-stopped healthcheck: test: ['CMD', 'pg_isready -U supertokens_user'] interval: 5s timeout: 5s retries: 5 supertokens: image: registry.supertokens.io/supertokens/supertokens-postgresql depends_on: - db ports: - 3567:3567 environment: POSTGRESQL_CONNECTION_URI: "postgresql://supertokens_user:[email protected]:5432/supertokens" networks: - app_network restart: unless-stopped healthcheck: test: > bash -c 'exec 3<>/dev/tcp/127.0.0.1/3567 && echo -e "GET /hello HTTP/1.1\r\nhost: 127.0.0.1:3567\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n" >&3 && cat <&3 | grep "Hello"' interval: 10s timeout: 5s retries: 5 networks: app_network: driver: bridge You can run the following command to start the service: docker-compose up Verify that it is setup correctly by querying the core service: curl http://localhost:3567/hello If you get back a reply, the core setup is done! Hello Written by the Folks at — hope you enjoyed! We are always available on our . SuperTokens Discord server