However, Heroku’s abstractions come with some limitations. Notably, you can’t create new database users directly in the database. So to connect a Heroku Postgres to Sequin, you need to create a database user using the Heroku CLI or dashboard. This guide will explain how to set up a Heroku Postgres database and connect it to Sequin.

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Create a Heroku Postgres database

First, you’ll provision a Heroku Postgres database. You can do this through the Heroku CLI or the Heroku dashboard. Here are the steps:
To use a Heroku Postgres instance with Sequin, you’ll need a “production-class” plan (i.e. Standard, Premium, Private, and Shield). At lower tiers, you can’t manage the credentials for your database, which is required for Sequin to work.

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Heroku CLI

Step 1: Create a new Heroku app by running the heroku create CLI command: 
$ heroku create example-app
Creating ⬢ example-app... done
https://example-app.herokuapp.com/ | https://git.heroku.com/example.git
Step 2: Provision a Heroku Postgres database by running the heroku addons:create command: 
$ heroku addons:create heroku-postgresql:<PLAN_NAME> -a example-app

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Heroku Dashboard

Step 1: Login to Heroku and create new Heroku app. Step 2: Navigate to the Resources tab of your new app and search for “Postgres”. Then select Heroku Postgres and select the plan you want to use: Create a new Heroku Postgres database in the Heroku dashboard

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Create a Sequin database user

With your Heroku Postgres instance provisioned, you’ll now create a database user for Sequin. As with provisioning the database, you can create a new user via the Heroku CLI or the Heroku dashboard.

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Heroku CLI

Step 1: Create a new database user by running the pg:credentials:create CLI command: 
$ heroku pg:credentials:create postgresql-addon-name --name sequin_user -a example-app
Creating credential sequin_user... done
You’ll replace postgresql-addon-name with the name of your Heroku Postgres add on. You can find this name by running the pg:info command.
Step 2: Check that the sequin_user was created by running the pg:credentials CLI command: 
$ heroku pg:credentials --app example-app

Credential                            State
────────────────────────────────────  ──────
default                               active
 └─ as DATABASE on ⬢ example-app
sequin_user                           active
Step 3: Once you’ve confirmed the sequin_user was created, you’ll need to grant the proper permissions to the user using the pg:psql CLI command and standard postgres permission grants: 
$ heroku pg:psql postgresql-addon-name -a example-app

--> Connecting to postgresql-addon-name
psql (13.2, server 11.12 (Ubuntu 11.12-1.pgdg16.04+1))
SSL connection (protocol: TLSv1.2, cipher: ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384, bits: 256, compression: off)
Type "help" for help.

example-app::CYAN=> grant connect, create on database YOUR_DB_NAME to sequin_user;
Step 4: Finally, retrieve the connection details (including password, host, database, and port) for the sequin_user by running the pg:credentials:url CLI command: 
$ heroku pg:credentials:url --name sequin_user --app example-app
Connection information for sequin_user credential.
Connection info string:
   "dbname=d3e6▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ host=▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒.compute-1.amazonaws.com port=5432 user=sequin_user password=▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ sslmode=require"
Connection URL:
   postgres://sequin_user:▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒@▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒.compute-1.amazonaws.com:5432/d3e6▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒

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Heroku Dashboard

Step 1: Navigate to the Resources tab and select your Heroku Postgres database. Step 2: Select the Credentials tab and click the Create Credential button. Step 3: Enter sequin_user for the Credential Name and click Create. It may take a couple minutes for Heroku to create the user: Create a new Postgres database user in the Heroku dashboard Step 4: Once the sequin_user is created, you’ll see it appear on the credentials page. Now, grant the sequin_user the proper permissions using the Heroku CLI (as described in Step 3 of the Heroku CLI instructions above) or by connecting to the database using another Postgres client (e.g. Postico) and running the following SQL: 
grant connect, create on database YOUR_DB_NAME to sequin_user;
Step 5: Finally, note the user, password, host, database, and port values for the sequin_user credential. You’ll need these to connect Sequin to your Heroku Postgres database: Get database user credentials in the Heroku dashboard

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Connect Sequin to Heroku Postgres

With your sequin_user created, you can now connect Sequin to your Heroku Postgres database. Step 1: Begin to create a new sync in the Sequin console (if you need more instruction, check out one of our step-by-step guides). After connecting your source and selecting the data you want to include in your sync, you’ll be prompted to connect your destination. Click Launch or Connect and choose Connect to start a new connection to your Heroku database. Step 2: On the screen that appears, enter the host and port that you noted down for your Heroku Postgres database and click the Continue button. Step 3: On the next page, click the Setup manually instead option. Since you’ve already created the Heroku user in the steps above, skip the instructions and scroll down to enter the database, user, and password that you noted for thesequin_user credential you created. Make sure you’ve checked Use SSL, then click the Verify & Setup button: Enter your Heroku database credentials in Sequin Step 4: Sequin will connect to your database and configure your database for your sync. You’ll see a success message and the option to give your database a name in Sequin. Click Continue to finish setting up your sync.

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Next steps

You are now set up to sync sources like Salesforce, Airtable, and HubSpot to your Heroku Postgres database. From here, you can begin to work with your source data right from your database. Check out one of our tutorials to start building. If you have any questions, please send us a note.