This tutorial shows you how build a simple Node.js application with CockroachDB and the Node.js pg driver.
We have tested the Node.js pg driver enough to claim beta-level support. If you encounter problems, please open an issue with details to help us make progress toward full support.
Step 1. Start CockroachDB
- If you haven't already, download the CockroachDB binary.
- Run the - cockroach democommand:- $ cockroach demo \ --empty- This starts a temporary, in-memory cluster and opens an interactive SQL shell to the cluster. 
- Take note of the - (sql/tcp)connection string in the SQL shell welcome text:- # Connection parameters: # (console) http://127.0.0.1:61009 # (sql) postgres://root:admin@?host=%2Fvar%2Ffolders%2Fk1%2Fr048yqpd7_9337rgxm9vb_gw0000gn%2FT%2Fdemo255013852&port=26257 # (sql/tcp) postgres://root:admin@127.0.0.1:61011?sslmode=require- You will use it in your application code later. 
Step 2. Create a database
- In the SQL shell, create the - bankdatabase that your application will use:- > CREATE DATABASE bank;
- Create a SQL user for your app: - > CREATE USER <username> WITH PASSWORD <password>;- Take note of the username and password. You will use it in your application code later. 
- Give the user the necessary permissions: - > GRANT ALL ON DATABASE bank TO <username>;
Step 3. Install client driver
To let your application communicate with CockroachDB, install the Node.js pg driver:
$ npm install pg
Step 4. Get the code
Download the sample code directly, or clone the code's GitHub repository.
Step 5. Update the connection parameters
Open the app.js file, and edit the connection configuration parameters:
- Replace the value for userwith the user you created earlier.
- Replace the value for passwordwith the password you created for your user.
- Replace the value for portwith the port to your cluster.
- At the top of the file, uncomment the - const fs = require('fs');line.- This line imports the - fsNode module, which enables you to read in the CA cert that you downloaded from the CockroachDB Cloud Console.
- Replace the value for - userwith the user you created earlier.
- Replace the value for - passwordwith the password you created for your user.
- Replace the value for - hostwith the name of the CockroachDB Serverless host (e.g.,- host: 'free-tier.gcp-us-central1.cockroachlabs.cloud').
- Replace the value for - portwith the port to your cluster.
- Replace the value for - databasewith the database that you created earlier, suffixed with the name of the cluster (e.g.,- database: '{cluster_name}.bank').
- Remove the existing - sslobject and its contents.
- Uncomment the - sslobject with the- cakey-value pair, and edit the- fs.readFileSync('/certs/ca.crt').toString()call to use the path to the- cc-ca.crtfile that you downloaded from the CockroachDB Cloud Console.
Step 6. Run the code
The sample code creates a table, inserts some rows, and then reads and updates values as an atomic transaction.
Here are the contents of app.js:
const { Pool } = require("pg");
const { v4: uuidv4 } = require("uuid");
var accountValues = Array(3);
// Wrapper for a transaction.  This automatically re-calls the operation with
// the client as an argument as long as the database server asks for
// the transaction to be retried.
async function retryTxn(n, max, client, operation, callback) {
  const backoffInterval = 100; // millis
  const maxTries = 5;
  let tries = 0;
  while (true) {
    await client.query('BEGIN;');
    tries++;
    try {
      const result = await operation(client, callback);
      await client.query('COMMIT;');
      return result;
    } catch (err) {
      await client.query('ROLLBACK;');
      if (err.code !== '40001' || tries == maxTries) {
        throw err;
      } else {
        console.log('Transaction failed. Retrying.');
        console.log(err.message);
        await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, tries * backoffInterval));
      }
    }
  }
}
// This function is called within the first transaction. It inserts some initial values into the "accounts" table.
async function initTable(client, callback) {
  let i = 0;
  while (i < accountValues.length) {
    accountValues[i] = await uuidv4();
    i++;
  }
  const insertStatement =
    "INSERT INTO accounts (id, balance) VALUES ($1, 1000), ($2, 250), ($3, 0);";
  await client.query(insertStatement, accountValues, callback);
  const selectBalanceStatement = "SELECT id, balance FROM accounts;";
  await client.query(selectBalanceStatement, callback);
}
// This function updates the values of two rows, simulating a "transfer" of funds.
async function transferFunds(client, callback) {
  const from = accountValues[0];
  const to = accountValues[1];
  const amount = 100;
  const selectFromBalanceStatement =
    "SELECT balance FROM accounts WHERE id = $1;";
  const selectFromValues = [from];
  await client.query(
    selectFromBalanceStatement,
    selectFromValues,
    (err, res) => {
      if (err) {
        return callback(err);
      } else if (res.rows.length === 0) {
        console.log("account not found in table");
        return callback(err);
      }
      var acctBal = res.rows[0].balance;
      if (acctBal < amount) {
        return callback(new Error("insufficient funds"));
      }
    }
  );
  const updateFromBalanceStatement =
    "UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance - $1 WHERE id = $2;";
  const updateFromValues = [amount, from];
  await client.query(updateFromBalanceStatement, updateFromValues, callback);
  const updateToBalanceStatement =
    "UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance + $1 WHERE id = $2;";
  const updateToValues = [amount, to];
  await client.query(updateToBalanceStatement, updateToValues, callback);
  const selectBalanceStatement = "SELECT id, balance FROM accounts;";
  await client.query(selectBalanceStatement, callback);
}
// This function deletes the third row in the accounts table.
async function deleteAccounts(client, callback) {
  const deleteStatement = "DELETE FROM accounts WHERE id = $1;";
  await client.query(deleteStatement, [accountValues[2]], callback);
  const selectBalanceStatement = "SELECT id, balance FROM accounts;";
  await client.query(selectBalanceStatement, callback);
}
// Run the transactions in the connection pool
(async () => {
  const connectionString = process.env.DATABASE_URL;
  const pool = new Pool({
    connectionString,
    application_name: "$ docs_simplecrud_node-postgres",
  });
  // Connect to database
  const client = await pool.connect();
  // Callback
  function cb(err, res) {
    if (err) throw err;
    if (res.rows.length > 0) {
      console.log("New account balances:");
      res.rows.forEach((row) => {
        console.log(row);
      });
    }
  }
  // Initialize table in transaction retry wrapper
  console.log("Initializing accounts table...");
  await retryTxn(0, 15, client, initTable, cb);
  // Transfer funds in transaction retry wrapper
  console.log("Transferring funds...");
  await retryTxn(0, 15, client, transferFunds, cb);
  // Delete a row in transaction retry wrapper
  console.log("Deleting a row...");
  await retryTxn(0, 15, client, deleteAccounts, cb);
  // Exit program
  process.exit();
})().catch((err) => console.log(err.stack));
Note that all of the database operations are wrapped in the retryTxn function. This function attempts to commit statements in the context of an explicit transaction. If a retry error is thrown, the wrapper will retry committing the transaction, with exponential backoff, until the maximum number of retries is reached (by default, 15).
To run the code:
$ node app.js
The output should be:
Initializing table...
New account balances:
{ id: '1', balance: '1000' }
{ id: '2', balance: '250' }
Transferring funds...
New account balances:
{ id: '1', balance: '900' }
{ id: '2', balance: '350' }
What's next?
Read more about using the Node.js pg driver.
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