Postgres Backup API

The Postgres Backup API is a lightweight Node.js service that allows you to securely download highly-compressed PostgreSQL database backups via a single HTTP endpoint. It streams the native pg_dump output directly to your browser or terminal without consuming any local disk space, ensuring fast, out-of-memory-safe database exports.

Features

• Zero Disk Usage: Streams the backup directly to the client via HTTP.
• Highly Compressed: Uses Postgres's custom format (-Fc) for minimal bandwidth.
• Token Security: Enforces optional API key authentication to keep your data safe.
• Dynamic Postgres Versions: Set the exact PG_VERSION to match your database.

About Hosting Postgres Backup API

Hosting this backup service involves deploying a lightweight container capable of running both Node.js and the native PostgreSQL client tools.

When deployed, the Express server listens for HTTP GET requests on the / route. Instead of saving large backup files to ephemeral storage, it directly pipes the data stream to the client. To ensure safety in a public cloud environment, the deployment relies on environment variables to establish the database connection and enforce token-based authentication for all backup requests.

Common Use Cases

• Automated off-site backups triggered by scheduled cron jobs (e.g., using curl or wget).
• Secure, one-click manual database snapshots for your team without distributing raw database credentials.
• Quickly pulling copies of production data down to your local machine for staging and development.

Environment Variables

To deploy this service successfully, you must configure the following environment variables:

Variable	Description	Required	Default
DATABASE_URL	The full connection string of the PostgreSQL database you want to back up.	Yes	-
SECRET_TOKEN	A secure passphrase used to authenticate requests. If set, backups can only be downloaded by appending ?token=YOUR_TOKEN to the URL.	No	-
PG_VERSION	Adjust this if you need a specific major version of the Postgres client tools to match your database.	No	18

How to Download a Backup

Once deployed, you can trigger a backup from your browser or terminal by sending a GET request to the / endpoint: