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Every Powabase project surfaces all of its connection details in one place: the Connect modal in the Studio. It gives you the Project URL, both API keys (Anon and Service Role), the JWT Secret, the Database URL, and ready-to-paste Postgres connection strings in nine driver formats. Open it once, copy what you need, and you’re ready to call any part of the platform.

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Open the Connect modal

In the Studio at app.powabase.ai, click the Connect button in the top-right of your project header.
Powabase Studio header with the Connect button highlighted in the top-right corner
The dialog has two tabs. API Keys lists everything you need to authenticate HTTP and Postgres clients. Connection Strings ships pre-filled snippets for psql, the generic URI, Node.js (pg), Python (psycopg2), Go (database/sql), JDBC, .NET, PHP, and SQLAlchemy — nine in all. Copy buttons sit next to every value, and secret fields hide by default — click the eye icon to reveal.
Connect to your project modal, API Keys tab. Shows Project URL, Anon (Publishable) Key, and three masked fields: Service Role (Secret) Key, JWT Secret, and Database URL.
You can also open the modal by appending ?showConnect=true to any project URL — handy for deep-linking from internal docs.

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What’s in the modal, and where to use each value

FieldUse it forSafe to ship to clients?
Project URLThe BASE_URL for every HTTP call — /api/*, /rest/v1/*, /auth/*, /storage/*Yes
Anon (Publishable) KeyClient-side calls to PostgREST and Storage that respect Row Level SecurityYes
Service Role (Secret) KeyServer-side calls to /api/* (AI surface) and any RLS-bypassing PostgREST accessNo — server only
JWT SecretVerifying user-signed JWTs on your own backendNo — server only
Database URLDirect Postgres access (psql, migrations, ORMs, BI tools)No — server only
The rest of this guide uses the Service Role (Secret) Key as API_KEY — it authenticates every endpoint under /api/*, which is what most of the platform docs assume.
Never expose the Service Role key, JWT Secret, or Database URL to a browser, mobile app, or any environment outside your control. The Anon key is the only field in the modal safe to bundle into a client.

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Use it from code

1

Set your Base URL and headers

Every request to /api/* and /rest/v1/* needs both an apikey header and an Authorization: Bearer header, set to the same key. Use the Service Role (Secret) Key for /api/* and server-side PostgREST.Endpoint: Headers: apikey + Authorization
Sending only one of the two headers is the most common cause of 401 errors — PostgREST and Kong both reject the request.
import requests

BASE_URL = "{BASE_URL}"   # Connect modal -> Project URL
API_KEY = "{API_KEY}"     # Connect modal -> Service Role (Secret) Key

headers = {
    "apikey": API_KEY,
    "Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}",
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
}
2

Verify your setup

Hit a cheap, idempotent endpoint to confirm the credentials work end-to-end. An empty array and a populated array both count as success.Endpoint: GET /api/agents
response = requests.get(
    f"{BASE_URL}/api/agents",
    headers=headers,
)
print(response.json())
Response:
{
  "agents": [
    {
      "id": "uuid-here",
      "name": "My Agent",
      "model": "gpt-4o",
      "created_at": "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z"
    }
  ],
  "total": 1,
  "limit": 50,
  "offset": 0
}
3

Connect directly to Postgres (optional)

For migrations, dashboards, ORMs, or any tool that speaks the Postgres wire protocol, grab the Database URL from the API Keys tab — or open the Connection Strings tab and copy a pre-built snippet in your language. Use this from servers and trusted environments only.Endpoint: Postgres wire protocol
The Database URL embeds the database password in cleartext. Treat it like the Service Role key: never commit it, never expose it client-side, and rotate the database password (Studio → Settings → Database) if it leaks.
# Python (psycopg2) — from Connection Strings -> Python
import psycopg2

conn = psycopg2.connect("{POSTGRES_URL}")  # Database URL from the Connect modal
with conn.cursor() as cur:
    cur.execute("select count(*) from public.users")
    print(cur.fetchone())

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What’s Next

Quickstart

Build an end-to-end RAG agent in 5 minutes.

Database Access

AI schema vs public schema, plus PostgREST and direct Postgres usage.

Architecture

How Kong routes /api/, /rest/v1/, /auth/, and /storage/ to your project’s stack.