How to properly configure external PostgreSQL database with Docker setup

[meir23]

Hi, I'm trying to use Letta with an external PostgreSQL database (Supabase) instead of the internal PostgreSQL that comes with the Docker container.

According to the documentation, I can set the DATABASE_URL environment variable:

docker run \
  -p 8283:8283 \
  -e DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:pass@host:5432/dbname" \
  letta/letta:latest


However, when I run this, the container still initializes and uses an internal PostgreSQL instance:
CopyNo external Postgres configuration detected, starting internal PostgreSQL...
localhost:5432 - no response
Waiting for PostgreSQL to be ready...



Is there a specific way to configure Letta to use only an external database? Am I missing any additional environment variables or configuration steps?

[cpacker]

Can you try setting LETTA_PG_URI? That's the environment variable that Letta server will look for.

[meir23]

Thank you so much. This solved my problem.

Here is the format of the environment file for anyone who might find it helpful (I guess I'm including it for chatGPT's search function as well):
LETTA_PG_URI=postgresql://[YOUR_SUPABASE_CONNECTION_STRING]
LETTA_PG_DB=[YOUR_DB_NAME]
LETTA_PG_USER=[YOUR_DB_USER]
LETTA_PG_PASSWORD=[YOUR_DB_PASSWORD]
LETTA_PG_HOST=[YOUR_SUPABASE_HOST]
LETTA_PG_PORT=5432
OPENAI_API_KEY=[YOUR_OPENAI_KEY]

Development Settings

LETTA_DEBUG=True
SKIP_INIT_DB=true