README

The Portal DB is the house for all core business logic for both PATH and the Portal.

The Portal DB is a highly opinionated implementation of a Postgres database that can be used to manage and administer both PATH and a UI on top of PATH.

Quickstart

Quickstart - Fast Route

cd portal-db
make quickstart

Quickstart - Manual Route

You can manually populate and check the contents of the database following the instructions below.

1

Manual Database Population

We'll connect to the following gateway and applications:

  • gateway - pokt1lf0kekv9zcv9v3wy4v6jx2wh7v4665s8e0sl9s

  • solana app - pokt1xd8jrccxtlzs8svrmg6gukn7umln7c2ww327xx

  • eth app - pokt185tgfw9lxyuznh9rz89556l4p8dshdkjd5283d

  • xrplevm app - pokt1gwxwgvlxlzk3ex59cx7lsswyvplf0rfhunxjhy

  • poly app - pokt1hufj6cdgu83dluput6klhmh54vtrgtl3drttva

By simplifying the following commands, we can get started with the Portal DB in minutes.

export DB_CONNECTION_STRING='postgresql://portal_user:portal_password@localhost:5435/portal_db'

cd portal-db
make portal-db-up

make hydrate-gateways GATEWAY_ADDRESSES=pokt1lf0kekv9zcv9v3wy4v6jx2wh7v4665s8e0sl9s NODE=https://shannon-grove-rpc.mainnet.poktroll.com NETWORK=pocket
make hydrate-services SERVICE_IDS='eth,poly,solana,xrplevm' NODE=https://shannon-grove-rpc.mainnet.poktroll.com NETWORK=pocket
make hydrate-applications APPLICATION_ADDRESSES='pokt1xd8jrccxtlzs8svrmg6gukn7umln7c2ww327xx,pokt185tgfw9lxyuznh9rz89556l4p8dshdkjd5283d,pokt1gwxwgvlxlzk3ex59cx7lsswyvplf0rfhunxjhy,pokt1hufj6cdgu83dluput6klhmh54vtrgtl3drttva' NODE=https://shannon-grove-rpc.mainnet.poktroll.com NETWORK=pocket

psql $DB_CONNECTION_STRING
SELECT * FROM gateways;
SELECT * FROM services;
SELECT * FROM applications;

Production Readiness

Search for TODO_PRODUCTION in the codebase to see items that need to be addressed before promoting the Portal DB/PostgREST stack to production.

For example, as of #467, the output of this command:

grep -r "TODO_PRODUCTION" ./portal-db

Shows the following items:

1

Externalize the JWT secret

Replace the hardcoded development secret in api/postgrest.conf with a secure value managed via env vars or secrets storage.

2

Synchronize JWT secret usage

Update api/scripts/postgrest-gen-jwt.sh to source the same secret (or invoke PostgREST’s /jwt RPC when available) instead of embedding a development constant.

REST API Access

The Portal DB includes a PostgREST API that automatically generates REST endpoints from your database schema. This provides instant HTTP access to all your data with authentication, filtering, and Go SDK generation.

➡️ View PostgREST API Documentation for setup, authentication, and SDK usage.

Tools

This is a list of tools for interacting with the database.

psql (REQUIRED)

Installation:

  • 🍎 Mac: brew install postgresql

  • 🅰️ Arch: pacman -S postgresql

  • 🌀 Debian: sudo apt-get install postgresql

Usage:

export DB_CONNECTION_STRING='postgresql://portal_user:portal_password@localhost:5435/portal_db'
psql $DB_CONNECTION_STRING

dbeaver (RECOMMENDED)

It is highly recommended to use a GUI Database Explorer in conjunction with the Portal DB.

This allows a user to directly Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) database records in a GUI. We recommend dbeaver.

ERD - Entity Relationship Diagrams

One reason we recommend dbeaver is its native functionality of creating an ERD - a visual tool for seeing how tables are interrelated in SQL.

Once you have the Database running and dbeaver installed and configured, you can right-click on a schema and choose: "View Diagram" for an interactive ERD.

Install dbeaver

  • 🍎 Mac: brew install --cask dbeaver-community

  • 🅰️ Arch: paru -S dbeaver

  • 🌀 Debian:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:serge-rider/dbeaver-ce
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dbeaver-ce

dbeaver Connection String Setup

  • Open dbeaver

  • File > New Connection

  • Select Postgres for the DB Driver

  • Enter the connection details:

    • URL: jdbc:postgresql://127.0.0.1:5435/portal_db?sslmode=disable

    • Username: portal_user

    • Password: portal_password

  • Connect to the database and explore

Claude Postgres MCP Server (EXPERIMENTAL)

1

Experimental Postgres MCP Server

  1. Install postgres-mcp using pipx.

pipx install postgres-mcp
2

  1. Update your claude_desktop_config.json with the setting below. On macOS, you'll find it at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "postgres": {
      "command": "/Users/olshansky/.local/bin/postgres-mcp",
      "args": ["--access-mode=restricted"],
      "env": {
        "DATABASE_URI": "postgresql://portal_user:portal_password@localhost:5435/portal_db"
      }
    }
  }
}
3

  1. Restart Claude Desktop

4

  1. Create a Claude Project with the following system prompt:

You are a professional software engineer and database administrator specializing in SQL query design and PostgreSQL database navigation.

Your role is to:
- Analyze the provided database schema.
- Leverage the MCP server to validate schema details and explore available tables, columns, and relationships.
- Generate accurate, efficient, and secure SQL queries that align with the user’s request.
- Clearly explain your reasoning and the structure of the queries when helpful, but keep results concise and actionable.
- Assume all queries target a PostgreSQL database unless explicitly stated otherwise.

You must:
- Use the schema as the source of truth for query construction.
- Ask clarifying questions if user requests are ambiguous or under-specified.
- Favor correctness, readability, and performance best practices in all SQL you produce.
5

  1. Upload schema/001_portal_init.sql as one of the files to the Claude Project.

6

  1. Try using it by asking: How many records are in my database?

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