Database Types¶

Appliku can provision and manage several database engines as Docker containers running alongside your application on the same server. This page is a quick reference for all supported types.

Overview¶

Engine	Type Key	Versions	Category	Backup Support
PostgreSQL	`postgresql_17`	17	Relational	Automatic backups
PostgreSQL	`postgresql_16`	16	Relational	Automatic backups
PostgreSQL	`postgresql_15`	15	Relational	Automatic backups
PostgreSQL	`postgresql_12`	12	Relational	Automatic backups
PostGIS	`postgis_16_34`	16 + PostGIS 3.4	Spatial/Relational	Automatic backups
pgvector	`postgresql_16_pgvector`	16 + pgvector	Vector/Relational	Automatic backups
TimescaleDB	`timescale_db_15`	15	Time-series	Automatic backups
MySQL	`mysql_8`	8	Relational	Manual backups
Redis	`redis_7`	7	Cache/Broker	No persistence
Redis	`redis_6`	6	Cache/Broker	No persistence
RabbitMQ	`rabbitmq`	Latest	Message Broker	No persistence
Elasticsearch	`elasticsearch_8_17`	8.17	Search Engine	Manual backups

Relational Databases¶

PostgreSQL¶

The recommended database for most applications. Fully featured relational database with excellent performance and reliability.

Available versions: 17, 16, 15, 12

Use cases: - Web application backends (Django, Rails, Node.js) - APIs and microservices - Any application needing ACID-compliant storage

Backup support: Automatic backups via pg_dump. Configure backup schedules from the database management page.

Tip

Use PostgreSQL 17 for new projects. It includes the latest performance improvements and features. Older versions are available for compatibility with existing applications.

PostGIS (PostgreSQL + PostGIS)¶

PostgreSQL with the PostGIS spatial extension for geographic data.

Type key: postgis_16_34 (PostgreSQL 16 + PostGIS 3.4)

Use cases: - Location-based applications - Geographic information systems (GIS) - Applications that need spatial queries, distance calculations, or geometry operations

pgvector (PostgreSQL + pgvector)¶

PostgreSQL with the pgvector extension for vector similarity search.

Type key: postgresql_16_pgvector

Use cases: - AI/ML applications with embedding storage - Semantic search - Recommendation engines - RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) applications

TimescaleDB¶

PostgreSQL with the TimescaleDB extension for time-series data.

Type key: timescale_db_15 (based on PostgreSQL 15)

Use cases: - IoT data collection - Metrics and monitoring - Financial data - Any application with time-series workloads

MySQL¶

General-purpose relational database.

Type key: mysql_8

Use cases: - Applications that specifically require MySQL - WordPress, Drupal, and other CMS platforms - Legacy application compatibility

Backup support: Manual backups via mysqldump. Run backup commands through the server's Run Commands feature.

Cache and Message Brokers¶

Redis¶

In-memory data store used primarily as a cache or message broker.

Available versions: 7, 6

Use cases: - Application caching (session storage, query caching) - Celery task broker - Real-time features (pub/sub) - Rate limiting

Note

Redis instances provisioned by Appliku do not persist data to disk by default. If the container restarts, cached data will be lost. This is appropriate for caching and message brokering but not for primary data storage.

RabbitMQ¶

Advanced message broker supporting multiple messaging protocols.

Type key: rabbitmq

Use cases: - Task queues (Celery with RabbitMQ backend) - Event-driven architectures - Microservice communication - Applications needing message acknowledgment, routing, or priority queues

Search Engines¶

Elasticsearch¶

Distributed search and analytics engine.

Type key: elasticsearch_8_17

Use cases: - Full-text search - Log aggregation and analysis - Application search features - Analytics and reporting

Warning

Elasticsearch requires significant memory. Allocate at least 1 GB of RAM on your server for Elasticsearch in addition to your application's requirements.

External Connections¶

All database types support the allow_external_connections setting, which controls whether the database port is published on the server's public IP. Defaults to true. Set to false to restrict access to the internal Docker network only.

See External Connections for details, restrictions, and impact on backups.

Using Database Types in appliku.yml¶

databases:
  db:
    type: postgresql_17
    allow_external_connections: false
  cache:
    type: redis_7
  search:
    type: elasticsearch_8_17

Reference databases in your environment variables:

build_settings:
  environment_variables:
    - name: DATABASE_URL
      from_database:
        name: db
        property: private_connection_url
    - name: REDIS_URL
      from_database:
        name: cache
        property: connection_url