Connect to bit.io
How to connect to bit.io with your favorite SQL client
SQL Client Support
bit.io allows you to easily connect to your preferred Postgres client. Here we've outlined our support for some of the most popular clients.
Name | Supported | Limitations | Guides |
---|---|---|---|
✅ |
| ||
✅ | |||
✅ | only supported via JDBC | ||
PowerBI (native postgres) | ❌ | ||
PowerBI (via ODBC) | ✅ | only connects successfully without database name specified | |
ODBC (generally) | ✅ | only connects successfully without database name specified | |
JDBC (generally) | ✅ | ||
✅ | |||
R DBI/RStudio | ✅ | ||
Python DB API | ✅ | Must use bitdotio python library or enable autocommit | |
✅ | Must use Custom SQL due to known limitations | ||
✅ | |||
✅ | |||
iPython/Jupyter | ✅ | ||
✅ | |||
❌ | Currently incompatible with bit.io, as it attempts to create multiple database instances (bit.io doesn't support | ||
Python libraries (tested on SQLAlchemy and pandas) | ✅ | ||
✅ | |||
✅ | |||
Microsoft Analysis Services via ODBC | ✅ https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/analysis-services/analysis-services-datasource | Follow a similar approach to Connecting via PowerBI | |
✅ | |||
✅ | |||
✅ | |||
✅ | |||
✅ |
Connecting with a SQL client
Every repo on bit.io is a real Postgres database, which means you can connect to any repo using your favorite Postgres-compatible client!
To connect, the credentials you'll need are:
- Hostname, which is
db.bit.io
- Your database password, which is NOT the password you use to log into bit.io
You can find these credentials in the "Connect" dialog, opened by clicking "Connect" on the left side of the repo page.


Now we can use these credentials to connect to our repo using Postico, a fantastic SQL editor for OS X. All we need to fill in here is the hostname and your password, and click connect. The database and username are actually ignored - bit.io knows them from your password - so you can set them to whatever you want.


postico connection dialog
After you connect you can run any query you want:


Sometimes it's faster to use the whole postgres url:


We're still in beta, so some clients don't work yet - if you find an issue, send us feedback at [email protected] and we'll jump right on it!
Connection Timeouts
During a system update, SQL connections will expire in 30 minutes.
Updated 10 months ago