Neon Postgres Security Guide for Vibe Coders

Published on January 23, 2026 - 12 min read

Why Neon Security Matters for Vibe Coding

Neon is a serverless Postgres platform that separates storage and compute, allowing instant branching and autoscaling. When AI tools generate database code for Neon, they often miss critical security patterns like Row Level Security, proper connection pooling configuration, and role-based access control.

Since Neon gives you full Postgres, you have access to powerful security features like RLS that serverless databases like Supabase already implement by default. The key is knowing how to use them.

Connection String Security

Neon provides connection strings that include credentials. Handle them carefully.

Connection String Types

# Direct connection (for long-running processes)
DATABASE_URL="postgres://user:pass@ep-xxx.us-east-2.aws.neon.tech/neondb?sslmode=require"

# Pooled connection (for serverless functions)
DATABASE_URL="postgres://user:pass@ep-xxx-pooler.us-east-2.aws.neon.tech/neondb?sslmode=require"

Environment Configuration

# .env.local (never commit)
DATABASE_URL="postgres://user:pass@ep-xxx-pooler.us-east-2.aws.neon.tech/neondb"

# For migrations (needs direct connection)
DIRECT_DATABASE_URL="postgres://user:pass@ep-xxx.us-east-2.aws.neon.tech/neondb"

// schema.prisma
datasource db {
  provider  = "postgresql"
  url       = env("DATABASE_URL")
  directUrl = env("DIRECT_DATABASE_URL")
}

Row Level Security (RLS)

RLS is the most powerful security feature Postgres offers. It enforces access control at the database level, making it impossible to bypass even if your application code has bugs.

Basic RLS Setup

-- Enable RLS on a table
ALTER TABLE documents ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;

-- Create a policy for tenant isolation
CREATE POLICY tenant_isolation ON documents
  FOR ALL
  USING (tenant_id = current_setting('app.current_tenant')::uuid);

-- Force RLS even for table owners
ALTER TABLE documents FORCE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;

Setting Context in Your Application

// With Prisma and raw SQL for setting context
async function withTenant<T>(
  tenantId: string,
  operation: () => Promise<T>
): Promise<T> {
  // Set the tenant context
  await prisma.$executeRaw`SELECT set_config('app.current_tenant', ${tenantId}, true)`;

  // Execute the operation
  return operation();
}

// Usage
const documents = await withTenant(user.tenantId, () =>
  prisma.document.findMany()
);
// RLS automatically filters to only this tenant's documents

User-Based RLS

-- Policy for user ownership
CREATE POLICY user_owns_row ON user_data
  FOR ALL
  USING (user_id = current_setting('app.current_user')::uuid);

-- Separate policies for different operations
CREATE POLICY users_can_read ON posts
  FOR SELECT
  USING (published = true OR author_id = current_setting('app.current_user')::uuid);

CREATE POLICY users_can_insert ON posts
  FOR INSERT
  WITH CHECK (author_id = current_setting('app.current_user')::uuid);

CREATE POLICY users_can_update ON posts
  FOR UPDATE
  USING (author_id = current_setting('app.current_user')::uuid);

CREATE POLICY users_can_delete ON posts
  FOR DELETE
  USING (author_id = current_setting('app.current_user')::uuid);

Database Roles and Permissions

Create roles with minimal necessary permissions instead of using the default superuser role.

Role Hierarchy

-- Create application role (limited permissions)
CREATE ROLE app_user WITH LOGIN PASSWORD 'secure_password';

-- Grant only necessary permissions
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA public TO app_user;
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO app_user;
GRANT USAGE, SELECT ON ALL SEQUENCES IN SCHEMA public TO app_user;

-- Create read-only role for analytics
CREATE ROLE analytics_user WITH LOGIN PASSWORD 'another_password';
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA public TO analytics_user;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO analytics_user;

-- Create migration role (for schema changes)
CREATE ROLE migration_user WITH LOGIN PASSWORD 'migration_password';
GRANT ALL ON SCHEMA public TO migration_user;
GRANT ALL ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO migration_user;

Connection Strings Per Role

# .env for different environments
# Application (limited permissions)
DATABASE_URL="postgres://app_user:pass@ep-xxx-pooler.../neondb"

# Analytics dashboards (read-only)
ANALYTICS_DATABASE_URL="postgres://analytics_user:pass@ep-xxx-pooler.../neondb"

# Migrations (elevated permissions, short-lived)
MIGRATION_DATABASE_URL="postgres://migration_user:pass@ep-xxx.../neondb"

Branch Security

Neon's branching feature creates instant copies of your database for development and testing.

Safe Branching Practices

# Create a branch for development
neon branches create --name dev --parent main

# Create a branch for a specific feature
neon branches create --name feature-xyz --parent main

# List branches
neon branches list

Branch-Specific Credentials

# Each branch can have its own credentials
# Generate new password for a branch
neon roles reset-password --branch dev --role app_user

# Use different connection strings per branch
DEV_DATABASE_URL="postgres://app_user:dev_pass@ep-dev-xxx.../neondb"
PROD_DATABASE_URL="postgres://app_user:prod_pass@ep-prod-xxx.../neondb"

Query Security

Even with RLS, you still need to parameterize queries to prevent SQL injection.

Safe Query Patterns

// With Prisma - automatically parameterized
const users = await prisma.user.findMany({
  where: { email: { contains: searchInput } }
});

// Raw SQL with Prisma - use tagged template
const results = await prisma.$queryRaw`
  SELECT * FROM users
  WHERE email ILIKE ${'%' + searchInput + '%'}
`;

// With node-postgres - use parameterized queries
const { rows } = await pool.query(
  'SELECT * FROM users WHERE email ILIKE $1',
  [`%${searchInput}%`]
);

Serverless Function Configuration

Configure your serverless functions to handle database connections properly.

// Next.js API route with proper connection handling
import { neon } from '@neondatabase/serverless';

const sql = neon(process.env.DATABASE_URL!);

export async function GET(request: Request) {
  // Set security context
  const userId = await getUserId(request);

  await sql`SELECT set_config('app.current_user', ${userId}, true)`;

  // RLS now enforces access control
  const documents = await sql`SELECT * FROM documents`;

  return Response.json(documents);
}

// With Drizzle ORM
import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/neon-http';
import { neon } from '@neondatabase/serverless';

const sql = neon(process.env.DATABASE_URL!);
const db = drizzle(sql);

// Queries are automatically parameterized
const users = await db.select().from(users).where(eq(users.id, userId));

Neon Security Checklist

• Connection strings stored in environment variables
• Pooled connections used for serverless functions
• Direct connections used only for migrations
• Row Level Security enabled on all user-data tables
• RLS policies created for all access patterns
• FORCE ROW LEVEL SECURITY enabled on sensitive tables
• Separate database roles created (app, analytics, migration)
• Minimal permissions granted to each role
• Branch credentials rotated and separated
• Production data anonymized in development branches
• All queries use parameterization
• SSL mode set to require in connection strings

IP Allowlisting

Neon supports IP restrictions for additional security:

# In Neon dashboard: Project Settings > IP Allow
# Add specific IPs that should have access:
# - Production server IPs
# - CI/CD runner IPs
# - VPN exit IPs for developers

Audit Logging

Implement audit logging at the database level:

-- Create audit table
CREATE TABLE audit_log (
  id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
  table_name TEXT NOT NULL,
  operation TEXT NOT NULL,
  old_data JSONB,
  new_data JSONB,
  user_id UUID,
  timestamp TIMESTAMPTZ DEFAULT NOW()
);

-- Create audit trigger function
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION audit_trigger()
RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$
BEGIN
  INSERT INTO audit_log (table_name, operation, old_data, new_data, user_id)
  VALUES (
    TG_TABLE_NAME,
    TG_OP,
    CASE WHEN TG_OP IN ('UPDATE', 'DELETE') THEN to_jsonb(OLD) END,
    CASE WHEN TG_OP IN ('INSERT', 'UPDATE') THEN to_jsonb(NEW) END,
    current_setting('app.current_user', true)::uuid
  );
  RETURN COALESCE(NEW, OLD);
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

-- Attach to tables
CREATE TRIGGER audit_users
  AFTER INSERT OR UPDATE OR DELETE ON users
  FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE FUNCTION audit_trigger();

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What CheckYourVibe Detects

When scanning your Neon-connected project, CheckYourVibe identifies:

• Hardcoded database connection strings
• Missing pooled connections in serverless functions
• Tables without Row Level Security
• Raw SQL queries vulnerable to injection
• Missing SSL in connection strings
• Overly permissive database role usage

Run npx checkyourvibe scan to catch these issues before they reach production.