--- title: >- NoSQL Postgres: Add MongoDB compatibility to your Supabase projects with FerretDB description: >- NoSQL Postgres: Add MongoDB compatibility to your Supabase projects with FerretDB author: thor_schaeff date: '2024-01-31' tags: - postgres - developers - mongodb categories: - engineering --- [FerretDB](https://www.ferretdb.com/) is an open source document database that adds MongoDB compatibility to other database backends, such as [Postgres](https://www.postgresql.org/) and [SQLite](https://www.sqlite.org/). By using FerretDB, developers can [access familiar MongoDB features and tools using the same syntax and commands](https://blog.ferretdb.io/mongodb-crud-operations-with-ferretdb/) for many of their use cases. In this post, we'll start from scratch, running FerretDB locally via Docker, trying out the connection with `mongosh` and the MongoDB Node.js client, and finally deploy FerretDB to [Fly.io](https://fly.io/) for a production ready set up. If you prefer video guide, you can follow along below. And make sure to subscribe to the [Supabase YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNTVzV1InxHV-YR0fSajqPQ?view_as=subscriber\&sub_confirmation=1)! ## Prerequisites - A Supabase project. Create yours here: [database.new](https://database.new). - [Docker](https://www.docker.com/) or [Orbstack](https://orbstack.dev/). - \[Optional] A [Fly.io](https://fly.io/) account for production deployment. ## Run FerretDB locally with Docker FerretDB provides a [Docker image](https://github.com/ferretdb/FerretDB/pkgs/container/ferretdb) allowing us to run it locally, for example via [Orbstack](https://orbstack.dev/), with a couple simple commands. FerretDB only requires the Postgres database URI to be provided as the `FERRETDB_POSTGRESQL_URL` environment variable. Every Supabase project comes with a full Postgres database. You can find the connection URI string in your [Supabase Dashboard](https://supabase.com/dashboard/project/_/database/settings). Make sure **Use connection pooling** is checked and **Session mode** is selected. Then copy the URI. Replace the password placeholder with your saved database password. > **TIP** > > If your network supports IPv6 connections, you can also use the direct connection string. Uncheck **Use connection pooling** and copy the new URI. ```bash Terminal # Set the required environment variables export DB_USER=postgres export DB_PASSWORD= export SUPA_PROJECT_REF= export SUPA_REGION= export DB_URL=postgres://$DB_USER.$SUPA_PROJECT_REF:$DB_PASSWORD@$SUPA_REGION.pooler.supabase.com:5432/postgres # Run FerretDB in docker container docker run -p 27017:27017 -p 8080:8080 -e FERRETDB_POSTGRESQL_URL=$DB_URL ghcr.io/ferretdb/ferretdb ``` FerretDB runs on the default MongoDB port `27017` and also spins up some monitoring tools on port `8080`. Once up and running you can access these at [localhost:8080](http://localhost:8080). Once up and running, constructing the MongoDB URI is easil: ```bash Terminal export MONGODB_URL=mongodb://$DB_USER.$SUPA_PROJECT_REF:$DB_PASSWORD@127.0.0.1:27017/ferretdb?authMechanism=PLAIN ``` ## Test with `mongosh` If you have MongoDB installed locally on your machine, you can test via `mongosh`, the MongoDB shell. ```bash Terminal mongosh '$MONGODB_URL' ``` If you don't have MongoDB installed locally, you can run the shell via a Docker container: ```bash Terminal docker run --rm -it --entrypoint=mongosh mongo \ "$MONGODB_URL" ``` ### Insert documents into FerretDB With `mongosh` running, let's try to insert some documents into our FerretDB instance. You are going to insert two footballer data into a `players` collection. ```json5 ferretdb> db.players.insertMany([ { futbin_id: 3, player_name: "Giggs", player_extended_name: "Ryan Giggs", quality: "Gold - Rare", overall: 92, nationality: "Wales", position: "LM", pace: 90, dribbling: 91, shooting: 80, passing: 90, defending: 44, physicality: 67 }, { futbin_id: 4, player_name: "Scholes", player_extended_name: "Paul Scholes", quality: "Gold - Rare", overall: 91, nationality: "England", position: "CM", pace: 72, dribbling: 80, shooting: 87, passing: 91, defending: 64, physicality: 82, base_id: 246 } ]); ``` Great! Now when you run `db.players.find()`, it should return all the documents stored in the collection. ### Update document record in FerretDB Next, you need to update "Giggs" record to reflect his current position as a `CM`. To do this, we can just run an `updateOne` command to target just that particular player: ```json5 ferretdb> db.players.updateOne( { player_name: "Giggs" }, { $set: { position: "CM" } } ); ``` Let's query the collection to see if the changes have been made: ```json5 ferretdb> db.players.find({player_name: "Giggs"}) ``` You can run many MongoDB operations on FerretDB. See the [list of supported commands](https://docs.ferretdb.io/reference/supported-commands/) in the FerretDB documentation for more. ## Inspect the JSONB data in the Supabase Dashboard FerretDB stores each collection in a table on the `ferretdb` schema, each document represented by a JSONB entry. You can inspect this in the [Table Editor](https://supabase.com/dashboard/project/_/editor) in your Supabase Dashboard. ![Supabase Dashboard Table Editor Screenshot](/images/blog/getting-started/ferretdb/table-editor.png) ## Deploy to Fly.io For production use cases, you can easily deploy FerretDB on Fly. Simply create a `fly.toml` file (make sure to [update `primary_region`](https://fly.io/docs/reference/regions/)) ```toml fly.toml app = "supa-ferretdb-" primary_region = "bos" [build] image = "ghcr.io/ferretdb/ferretdb" [[services]] internal_port = 27017 protocol = "tcp" [[services.ports]] port = "27017" [[vm]] cpu_kind = "shared" cpus = 1 memory_mb = 1024 ``` And follow these [flyctl](https://fly.io/docs/hands-on/install-flyctl/) commands: - fly launch --no-deploy - An existing fly.toml file was found for app supa-ferretdb? - Would you like to copy its configuration to the new app? (y/N) > y - fly secrets set FERRETDB\_POSTGRESQL\_URL=$DB\_URL - fly deploy - fly ips allocate-v4 - Note: this is a paid feature! You can test it for free as long as you [release the dedicated IPv4](https://community.fly.io/t/we-are-going-to-start-charging-for-dedicated-ipv4-in-january-1st/15970#how-not-to-be-billed-2) before the end of the billing period! Now simply replace `127.0.0.1` in the `MONGODB_URL` with your dedicated IPv4 address and you're ready to roll! ## Conclusion FerretDB allows you to run MongoDB workloads on Postgres and SQLite. This flexibility means you can easily add MongoDB compatibility to your Supabase projects, while avoiding vendor lock-in and retaining control of your data architecture. To get started with FerretDB, check out the [FerretDB quickstart guide](https://docs.ferretdb.io/quickstart-guide/). ## More Supabase - [Migration guides](/docs/guides/resources#migrate-to-supabase) - [Options for connecting to your Postgres database](/docs/guides/database/connecting-to-postgres)