database

A database is a managed Postgres or MySQL server with one database on it, reachable only from inside the project's network. Its password is generated by the cloud and kept in the cloud's secret manager; it never appears in your file, in Ackee, or in a deploy log.

ackee 1
​
project "shop" {
  cloud  = "aws"
  region = "us-east-1"
}
​
service "web" {
  image = "public.ecr.aws/nginx/nginx:latest"
  port  = 80
  size  = "medium"
}
​
database "orders" {
  engine = "mysql"
  size   = "medium"
}
​
connect env "web" -> "orders"

Fields

Anything else — a specific instance class, a version, high availability — is a provider setting: declare the database with node and its exact type, which the error for an unknown field names for you.

Sizes

small is a development size on every cloud. Changing the size resizes the instance in place; the plan shows it as an update, not a replacement.

Connecting a service

A service reaches a database through an env connection, which hands the service everything it needs to connect as environment variables named after the database:

The prefix is the database's name in upper case, with dashes as underscores: database "orders" gives ORDERS_. On AWS the connection also opens the database's firewall to that one service, and grants it permission to read the password.

What it becomes

AWS

An Amazon RDS instance with encrypted storage, no public address, its own security group and subnet group, and its password managed by RDS in AWS Secrets Manager.

Google Cloud

A Cloud SQL instance on a private IP only, peered into the project's network, with a generated password stored in Secret Manager. The password is written once and is never kept in Ackee's records of what it built.

Azure

An Azure Database flexible server in a delegated subnet of the project's network, with seven days of backups and a generated password stored in Key Vault.