Working in the dashboard

Beta

Databases are in beta: everything described here works, but the interface and some features are still changing. More on the Databases page.

You work with a database on its page in the dashboard: Databases in the left menu → the database card. The left menu switches to the database menu, and a switcher appears above it — handy for jumping between the organization's databases without going back to the list.

Database menu sections:

Group	Sections
—	Overview, Monitoring, Settings
Database	Tables, SQL editor, Functions, Roles, Policies, Extensions, Backups
Services	API, Authentication, Files — this is the Data API

Database list

The Databases page shows all of the organization's databases as cards. On a card:

• name and price: "included in plan" for a shared database, "N ₽/mo" for a dedicated one;
• power: "Shared CPU" for a shared database, or cores and memory for a dedicated one;
• space: how much of the quota is used, as a bar;
• projects the database is given to, and a "Connect project" button.

The "⋮" menu on the card: open the database, get the connection string, rename, delete.

The database's state is shown right on the card:

What's on the card	What's happening
"Preparing the database" / "Bringing up the instance" and steps	the database is being created. The list updates itself, no F5 needed
"didn't come up" and a reason	creation failed; the money wasn't charged or has already been refunded. In the menu — "Order again" and "Remove from list"
"Restarting"	the configuration is changing, usually about half a minute
"Moving" and steps	the database is moving to a dedicated instance
"payment failed"	renewal didn't go through; the database works until the stated date. "Pay" button
"access closed"	the database is stopped for non-payment, and the deletion date is stated. "Pay" button
"deleted for non-payment"	the database is gone. If a backup was taken before deletion, it can be downloaded in the settings

What's behind the payment rows — on the "Pricing" page.

Overview

The database at a glance:

• type — the PostgreSQL version;
• configuration — "Shared CPU · 0.5 GB" or cores, memory, and disk;
• space — used out of the quota. The figure turns yellow from 75% and red from 90%;
• backups — when the last one was taken.

Below that — space and write charts for the day, the status of the services (API, authentication, files), and the Connected projects block.

Connected projects

Here you see which projects the database is given to and under which name the variable arrives. You can connect a project either from the database list or from the project page: Project → Database → Connect to database.

What a connected project gets:

• the LAYERO_DATABASE_URL variable with the connection string. If the project is connected to a second database — LAYERO_DATABASE_URL_<SLUG>;
• its own role in the database with owner rights: it creates and alters tables.

The variable appears in the application starting from the next deploy. The platform doesn't touch your own DATABASE_URL variable. More on the project role's rights — "What an application can do".

Disconnecting a project deletes its role. The tables and data remain.

Monitoring

Charts for an hour, a day, or a week, refreshed every 30 seconds:

Chart	What it shows
Space	how much is used. The dashed line is the quota: when space runs out, writes stop, but reads keep working
Connections	how many are open right now. The dashed line is the limit; from 80% the chart turns yellow
Writes per second	commits
Row changes	inserts, updates, and deletes
Rolled-back transactions	rollbacks: a spike usually means an error in the application
Temporary files	queries that didn't have enough memory for sorting
Reads from memory	the share of reads served from cache. Below 80% is a reason to look at the queries or the configuration
Deadlocks	transactions deadlocking each other

Under the charts — the Database space block: used, quota, and the five largest tables.

Tables

The database's contents by schema: on the left, a list of tables with search; on the right, the selected table. Table tabs:

• Structure — columns, types, nullability, default values, keys;
• Data — the rows themselves, loaded as you scroll.

The Diagram toggle shows the same tables as a picture — cards and the relationships between them. The view is saved in the page address: you can send the link to a colleague.

The section is read-only: rows can't be edited here. Create and alter tables in the SQL editor, with your application's migrations, or through the Data API.

SQL editor

Queries run right in the dashboard.

Bookmarks and history. There are two tabs on the left. Bookmarks hold three ready-made queries ("Tables and sizes", "Long-running queries", "Active queries") and your saved ones. A saved query is visible to everyone in the organization. History is the last 30 queries, and it's stored only in this browser.

Run as. At the top you choose the role the query runs as:

Role	What happens
Owner	the query runs for real, with the database owner's rights
Anonymous, Authenticated, Server	a trial run through the eyes of a Data API visitor: the query runs and is rolled back, and the button reads "Check"

A trial run is handy for checking access policies before a site visitor sees them.

Protection against accidents. Before a query that drops tables or changes their structure, and before an UPDATE or DELETE without WHERE, the editor asks for confirmation. Such a query can only be undone by restoring from a backup.

Limits. Multiple statements run as a single transaction. Postgres cancels a query that runs longer than 30 seconds on its own, and the response contains the first 500 rows. All of this is on the "Limits" page.

Functions

Code inside the database that is called by name from SQL or through the Data API. The list shows the function's arguments, the result type, and whether it runs with the owner's rights.

• Add function — a new function is created in the api schema, in the plpgsql or sql language. The "Run with the database owner's rights" checkbox makes it SECURITY DEFINER.
• Test call — run it with arguments and see the result. Changes are rolled back.
• Version history — every change is saved, and a previous version can be brought back with the "Restore this version" button.

Roles

Who connects to the database and with what rights. A project's role shows the project's label, the owner's role shows "owner", and a temporary role shows the date until which it lives.

Add role:

1. Set a name.
2. Optionally, a date in the "Valid until" field. Without a date, the role doesn't expire. Handy when an analyst or a contractor needs access for a week.
3. Write out the permissions as "command — schema — table" rows. The default is SELECT on everything. An asterisk in the table field also applies to tables that will appear later.
4. Save the password — it's shown once.

The role menu has "Reset password" and "Delete role". The owner role can't be deleted.

Policies

RLS policies decide which table rows a query returns. Every table has an RLS toggle and a "Create policy" button.

In the new policy dialog, you choose the table, the command, the roles the policy applies to, and the type — "Permissive" or "Restrictive". The USING and WITH CHECK conditions can be written by hand or taken from a template: "All rows", "Own rows only", "Authenticated only". At the bottom of the dialog you see the SQL that will be run.

⚠️ RLS enabled without a single policy closes the table to all roles except the owner. The dashboard shows such tables separately.

The project role acts on behalf of the owner, and RLS doesn't apply to it. If your application relies on policies, connect with a separate role — see "What an application can do".

Extensions

A list of extensions with toggles: you don't have to enable them through SQL. You can see the version, the schema the extension was installed into, and what it provides. Turning one off runs DROP EXTENSION.

The toggle enables pgcrypto, uuid-ossp, citext, pg_trgm, unaccent, btree_gin, and pgvector. A locked toggle explains why: the extension can only be enabled through support, or another extension is needed first. The list comes from the server: if an extension isn't in it, it isn't on the server either.

Backups

Backups, the schedule, restore, and dump download are on a separate page, "Backups".

Settings

Database name. Only visible in the dashboard. The slug in the connection string doesn't change when you rename the database, so applications won't notice anything.

Allowed addresses. Who can connect to the database from outside — from a laptop, from CI, from someone else's hosting. Your projects' applications on Layero can always connect; there's no need to add them to the list.

• After creation, a shared database lets in from outside only the address it was created from: the dashboard tells you so in a pop-up message. A dedicated database is open to everyone after creation (0.0.0.0/0), see "Who to let in".
• Add → an address or a subnet. There are quick options: "My address" and "Entire internet" (0.0.0.0/0). For the latter, the dashboard asks for confirmation.
• A rule can have a note on what it's for and an expiry in the "Valid until" field.
• Changes take effect within a minute.

Blocked addresses. After a series of wrong passwords, an address is blocked automatically so that brute-forcing doesn't reach the database. This section appears only when someone is blocked. The block lifts by itself, and you can unblock your own address with a button if the password has already been fixed.

Delete database — at the very bottom, see below.

Changing the configuration

For a dedicated database, the cores, memory, and disk are changed in the "⋮" menu on the overview → Change configuration. The tabs are the same as at creation: "Standard" and "Custom".

• Changing the cores or memory restarts the database, usually for half a minute. The dialog says so before you confirm: "restart about 30 s" or "no downtime".
• The disk can only grow; it can't be reduced.
• For a shared database, the same dialog moves it to a dedicated instance. You can move it back to its previous place within a day.

How the money is recalculated on a change — on the "Pricing" page.

Deleting a database

The "⋮" menu on the card or on the overview → Delete database, or Settings → Delete database. The dashboard asks you to type the database name to confirm.

⚠️ Deletion is irreversible: the data, roles, and all backups disappear immediately. If you need a backup, download it first in the "Backups" section.

For a dedicated database, the deletion dialog on the database page shows how much we'll refund for the unused days. How the refund is calculated — on the "Pricing" page.