Overview
Where your data lives on Groundfloor, and how your code reaches it.
Every workspace comes with a PostgreSQL database, ready to use: no setup and nothing to deploy. You can also create dedicated PostgreSQL databases of your own, and store files alongside your data.
Where your data can live
| Option | What it is | Set up |
|---|---|---|
| Shared database | A PostgreSQL database every workspace gets, run by Groundfloor. Your workspace's tables are kept separate from every other workspace's | Nothing: it's already there |
| Managed database | A dedicated PostgreSQL database for this workspace only, with its own size, backups and point-in-time restore | Create it under Data → Databases |
| Files | Storage for uploads, documents and images | Nothing: it's already there |
PostgreSQL is the database engine offered today.
How you work with data
- Data Vault is where you browse, query and edit your tables, called collections, in the Client Portal, and decide who can use each one.
- The data API lets your code read and write the same collections. Groundfloor's data API is called Dataplane: it sits in front of your databases, so your code calls one API, with permissions applied, whether the table is in the shared database or a managed one.
How your code reaches it
| Your code | How it connects |
|---|---|
| A Shell app, in the browser | The data API, with the signed-in user's token |
| A Coderunner | The data API, with the Coderunner's M2M token. Or, for a managed database, connect to PostgreSQL directly with its credentials from Secrets |
| Your own scripts | The data API, with gf token |
Next steps
- Data Vault — create a collection and add records.
- Managed databases — when you need a database of your own.
- Data Vault API — every request.