# Managed Postgres, explained

Managed Postgres means someone else runs the database while your app uses it. You get a connection string and a console. The host handles provisioning, patching, storage and backups. This page lists what good managed means so you can judge any host, including us, against it.

## What the host handles

- Provisioning: a running Postgres at a pinned major version, reachable over TLS.
- Patching: minor versions applied without changing your data or your connection string.
- Storage: disk sized to the plan, with room for write ahead log during heavy writes.
- Backups: scheduled base backups plus write ahead log, tested by restoring. See [Backups](/docs/backups).
- Access: usernames, passwords and connection strings issued per target, revocable separately.

## Connection strings

```
postgres://app:PASSWORD@db.example.internal:5432/appdb
```

The string holds host, port, database, user and password in one value. Your app reads it from an env key such as DATABASE_URL. On Kraftify the agent records that the key is set without ever sending the value to us, so there is no copy to leak. See [A database for your app](/docs/database) and [What we store](/docs/data).

## Questions to ask any host

- Who can read my data: does the host store connection values, or only hashes like Kraftify does.
- Point in time recovery: can you restore to last Tuesday 14:00, or only to the last nightly snapshot.
- Version pinning: does a restart ever change the major version under you.
- Egress: is traffic to your app metered, and at what rate. Ours is published in [Billing](/docs/billing).
- Region: where the data physically sits, and whether you can pick it.

> No region is funded yet, so there is no Postgres to provision here. The checklist above is how to judge us once there is. See Region status.

## Sources

- [PostgreSQL documentation](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/). The official manuals for every supported version.
- [A database for your app](/docs/database). Kraftify docs. The two step setup from an agent or a terminal.
- [What we store](/docs/data). Kraftify docs. Exactly what an account holds, including env hashes.