Problem PostgreSQL connections issue

[PulseDigitals]

Problem PostgreSQL connections using the connection details displayed by the Supabase Dashboard fail with: FATAL: (ENOTFOUND) tenant/user ******* not found

[nicholas-greenwood]

that error means the shared pooler couldn't match the host and username to a project. supabase's troubleshooting page covers the exact FATAL: (ENOTFOUND) tenant/user ... not found message

since you're already using the dashboard, i'd check that your client's host, port and username all match the same Session pooler or Transaction pooler string from Connect. copying the whole string and replacing only the password placeholder keeps those together

for the postgres role, shared pooling needs postgres.[PROJECT-REF]; direct connections and the dedicated pooler use plain postgres. the pooler host's cluster number matters too, so it can't be inferred from the region

[Hrushikesh-ramilla]

This error comes from Supavisor (Supabase's connection pooler) when it can't match your connection request to an active project tenant.

Even when grabbing details from the Supabase Dashboard, this usually happens due to one of three things:

1. Username format (postgres.[project-ref] vs postgres)
   If you are filling in connection fields individually in a tool like DBeaver, TablePlus, or pgAdmin, it's easy to accidentally set the user to just postgres. Direct connections use postgres, but Supavisor's shared pooler requires the project reference attached to the user so it knows which database to route to:

• User must be: postgres.[YOUR-PROJECT-REF]

2. Special characters in your database password
   If you're pasting the full URI into your app or .env file, characters like @, :, /, #, or % in your password break URI parsing. For instance, an @ inside the password makes the driver think the hostname started early, which mangles the username sent to the pooler.

• Make sure to URL-encode special characters (e.g., @ -> %40, # -> %23).
• Also ensure the literal brackets from [YOUR-PASSWORD] were removed.

3. The project is currently paused
   If you're on the free tier and haven't queried the database in a while, Supabase automatically pauses the project. When paused, the pooler unmounts the tenant and rejects connections with tenant/user not found. Check your Supabase dashboard to verify if the project is paused—if it is, click Restore project and wait a minute or two for it to spin back up.

Quick Reference for Pooler Strings:

• Transaction Pooler (Port 6543):
  postgresql://postgres.[YOUR-PROJECT-REF]:[YOUR-PASSWORD]@aws-0-[REGION].pooler.supabase.com:6543/postgres

• Session Pooler (Port 5432):
  postgresql://postgres.[YOUR-PROJECT-REF]:[YOUR-PASSWORD]@aws-0-[REGION].pooler.supabase.com:5432/postgres

(Make sure to use the exact pooler host shown in your project's Connect dialog, as the cluster prefix like aws-0 or aws-1 depends on your region and project setup.)

If this solves the connection error, please mark it as the answer so others running into this can find it easily!