Retool Database quickstart
This guide serves as an introduction to Retool Database. It covers many of the concepts and terminology you would come across when working with data in Retool Database. After reading this page, you should have a good understanding of the fundamentals for Retool Database.
Introduction
Retool Database is a fast, secure solution for saving and editing data to use in Retool apps. It combines a PostgreSQL database with a spreadsheet-like interface to manage your data. On Retool Cloud, the underlying database is managed by Retool. On Self-hosted deployments, you host your own PostgreSQL database.
Features
With Retool Database, you can:
- Store tables of data in a securely hosted PostgreSQL database that's only available as a resource within your Retool organization.
- Visually interact with data using a spreadsheet-like interface to edit, search, filter, and sort records.
- Import or export data in CSV format.
- Build apps and write queries to interact with Retool Database like any other resource.
- Make use of multiple environments, such as staging and production.
- Configure resource permissions to control access to Retool Database within your organization.
- Capture form submissions for forms created in Retool.
Retool Database is available to all cloud-hosted organizations. Self-hosted organizations can follow the configuration guide to configure Retool Database, backed by your own PostgreSQL database.
Retool Database for cloud-hosted organizations are connected to the internet and can be accessed using the provided connection string. Retool's security guide provides detailed information about data storage and security for provisioned databases hosted by Retool. Within your Retool organization, you can control who has access by configuring user permissions.
Retool Database is designed to be a convenient way to store data to use within or outside of Retool. It is not designed to be a highly-available, scalable database service, and you should use a separate managed database provider if your use case requires these guarantees.
Usage and limits
Cloud-hosted organizations can store the equivalent of 1GB of PostgreSQL data, with a maximum limit of 100,000 table rows. The amount of storage space your data uses is dependent on how many records, fields, and tables you use, and the size of values. If you exceed your storage limits, reach out to Retool to request a limit increase.
Data redundancy
Retool Database stores and continually backs up your data in a PostgreSQL cluster managed by our cloud provider. Retool uses multiple levels of redundancy, which include daily backups of all data. If you have any questions or would like to know more, contact Retool Support.
Staging data
Any changes you make with data in Retool Database cannot be reverted. Retool recommends using multiple environments with staging data to avoid accidental loss of data.