gitlabhq/doc/development/database/database_lab_pgai.md

stage, group, info, title

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Data Access	Database Frameworks	Any user with at least the Maintainer role can merge updates to this content. For details, see https://docs.gitlab.com/development/development_processes/#development-guidelines-review.	Database Lab access using the `pgai` Ruby gem

@mbobin created the pgai Ruby Gem that greatly simplifies access to a database clone, with support for:

• Access to all database clones listed in the Postgres.ai instances page;
• Multiple psql sessions on the same clone.

If you have AllFeaturesUser psql access, you can follow the steps below to configure the pgai Gem:

1. To get started, you need to gather some values from the Postgres.ai instances page:

   1. Go to the instance that you want to configure and the on right side of the screen.

   2. Under Connection, select Connect. The menu might be collapsed.

      A dialog with everything that's needed for configuration appears, using this format:

      dblab init --url "http://127.0.0.1:<local-port>" --token TOKEN --environment-id <environment-id>
      

      ssh -NTML <local-port>:localhost:<instance-port> <instance-host> -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa
      

2. To configure ssh, follow the instruction at Access the console with psql, replacing ${USER} with your postgres.ai username.

3. Run the following commands:

   gem install pgai
   
   # Before running the following command,
   # grab an access token from https://console.postgres.ai/gitlab/tokens
   pgai config --prefix=<postgresai-user>
   
   # Grab the respective port values from https://console.postgres.ai/gitlab/instances
   # for the instances you'll be using (in this case, for the `main` database instance)
   pgai env add --alias main --id <instance-host> --port <instance-port> -n gitlabhq_dblab
   

4. Once this one-time configuration is done, you can use pgai connect to connect to a particular database. For instance, to connect to the main database:

   pgai connect main
   

5. Once done with the clone, you can destroy it:

   pgai destroy main