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
psql	✅	`dt+` support pending	Connecting through psql
PopSQL	✅		Connecting through PopSQL
Tableau Desktop	✅	only supported via JDBC	Connecting through Tableau
PowerBI (native postgres)	❌
PowerBI (via ODBC)	✅	only connects successfully without database name specified	Connecting via PowerBI
ODBC (generally)	✅	only connects successfully without database name specified
JDBC (generally)	✅
DataGrip	✅		Connecting through DataGrip
R DBI/RStudio (Tested on RPostgres)	✅		Connecting via R with RPostgres
Python DB API (Tested on psycopg2)	✅	Must use bitdotio python library or enable autocommit	Connecting via psycopg2
Google Data Studio	✅	Must use Custom SQL due to known limitations
pgcli	✅
DBeaver	✅
iPython/Jupyter	✅
Deepnote	✅
Hasura	❌	Currently incompatible with bit.io, as it attempts to create multiple database instances (bit.io doesn't support `create database`)
Python libraries (tested on SQLAlchemy and pandas)	✅		Connecting via SQLAlchemy Connecting via pandas
LibOQ.jl - Julia `libbq` binding	✅
Metabase	✅
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
Kangaroo	✅
Datazenit	✅
JackDB	✅
Beekeeper Studio	✅
Navicat	✅

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.

Screen Shot 2021-09-01 at 2.39.21 PM.png

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.

After you connect you can run any query you want:

Screen Shot 2021-03-25 at 9.45.29 PM.png

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

Screen Shot 2021-03-25 at 9.48.54 PM.png

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.