claude-skills/neon-postgres/references/features.md

Neon Features

Overview of Neon's key platform features. For detailed information, fetch the official docs.

Branching

Create instant, copy-on-write clones of your database at any point in time. Branches are isolated environments perfect for development, testing, and preview deployments.

curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://neon.com/docs/introduction/branching

Key Points:

• Branches are instant (no data copying)
• Copy-on-write means branches only store changes from parent
• Use for: dev environments, staging, testing, preview deployments
• Branches can have their own compute endpoint

Use Cases:

Use Case	Description
Development	Each developer gets isolated branch
Preview Deployments	Branch per PR/preview URL
Testing	Reset test data by recreating branch
Schema Migrations	Test migrations on branch before production

If the Neon MCP server is available, you can use it to list and create branches. Otherwise, refer to the Neon CLI or Platform API.

Autoscaling

Neon automatically scales compute resources based on workload demand.

curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://neon.com/docs/introduction/autoscaling

Key Points:

• Scales between min and max compute units (CUs)
• Responds to CPU and memory pressure
• No manual intervention required
• Configure limits per project or endpoint

Scale to Zero

Databases automatically suspend after a period of inactivity, reducing costs to storage-only.

curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://neon.com/docs/introduction/scale-to-zero

Key Points:

• Default suspend after 5 minutes of inactivity (configurable)
• First query after suspend has ~500ms cold start
• Storage is always maintained
• Perfect for dev/staging environments with intermittent use

Instant Restore

Restore your database to any point within your retention window without backups.

curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://neon.com/docs/introduction/branch-restore

Key Points:

• Point-in-time recovery without pre-configured backups
• Restore window depends on plan (7-30 days)
• Create branches from any point in history
• Time Travel queries to view historical data

Read Replicas

Create read-only compute endpoints to scale read workloads.

curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://neon.com/docs/introduction/read-replicas

Key Points:

• Read replicas share storage with primary (no data duplication)
• Instant creation
• Independent scaling from primary
• Use for: analytics, reporting, read-heavy workloads

Connection Pooling

Built-in connection pooling via PgBouncer for efficient connection management.

curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://neon.com/docs/connect/connection-pooling

Key Points:

• Enabled by adding -pooler to endpoint hostname
• Transaction mode by default
• Supports up to 10,000 concurrent connections
• Essential for serverless environments

IP Allow Lists

Restrict database access to specific IP addresses or ranges.

curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://neon.com/docs/introduction/ip-allow

Logical Replication

Replicate data to/from external Postgres databases.

curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://neon.com/docs/guides/logical-replication-guide

Neon Auth

Managed authentication that branches with your database.

curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://neon.com/docs/auth/overview

Key Points:

• Sign-in/sign-up with email, social providers (Google, GitHub)
• Session management
• UI components included
• Branches with your database

For setup, see neon-auth.md. For auth + data API, see neon-js.md.

Feature Documentation Reference

Feature	Documentation	Resource
Branching	https://neon.com/docs/introduction/branching	-
Autoscaling	https://neon.com/docs/introduction/autoscaling	-
Scale to Zero	https://neon.com/docs/introduction/scale-to-zero	-
Instant Restore	https://neon.com/docs/introduction/branch-restore	-
Read Replicas	https://neon.com/docs/introduction/read-replicas	-
Connection Pooling	https://neon.com/docs/connect/connection-pooling	-
IP Allow	https://neon.com/docs/introduction/ip-allow	-
Logical Replication	https://neon.com/docs/guides/logical-replication-guide	-
Neon Auth	https://neon.com/docs/auth/overview	neon-auth.md
Data API	https://neon.com/docs/data-api/overview	neon-js.md