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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:

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 5GB of PostgreSQL data, with unlimited tables and 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 uses multiple levels of redundancy, which include daily backups of all data in a PostgreSQL cluster managed by our cloud provider. Retool retains each of these backups for 7 days. Retool recommends implementing a secondary backup process that stores and retains data for a longer period of time as an additional guardrail.

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.