How to Connect to Cloud SQL using Node.js?

Connecting to Cloud SQL using Node.js is not always straightforward.

Depending on the context, sometimes you have to connect to a Unix domain socket, allow-list IP addresses for TCP connections, run the Cloud SQL Auth proxy locally. Making these connections secure is yet another challenge: you might have to manage SSL certificates, firewalls rules, IP addresses, etc.

Is there a recommended way to Connect to Cloud SQL in a secure and easy way using Node.js?

Yes there indeed is, the Cloud SQL Node.js Connector, a Node.js package that makes connecting to Cloud SQL both easy and secure for all three supported database engines (Postgres, MySQL, and SQL Server), from anywhere (local machine, Cloud Run, App Engine, Cloud Functions, etc.)

The Node.js Connector is one of the Cloud SQL connector libraries (also available in Python, Java and Go).

How is a connector different from the other methods?

The Cloud SQL connector libraries provide the following benefits:

• IAM Authorization: the connectors use IAM permissions to control who and what can connect to your Cloud SQL instances.
• Improved Security: the connectors use robust, updated TLS 1.3 encryption and identity verification between the client connector and the server-side proxy, independent of the database protocol.
• Convenience: the connectors remove the requirement to use and distribute SSL certificates, manage firewalls or source/destination IP addresses.
• IAM Database Authentication (optional): the connectors provide support for Cloud SQL’s automatic IAM database authentication feature.

How do I use the Node.js Connector ... what does the code look like?

Basic Usage (using pg)

import pg from 'pg';
import {Connector} from '@google-cloud/cloud-sql-connector';
const {Pool} = pg;

const connector = new Connector();
const clientOpts = await connector.getOptions({
  instanceConnectionName: 'my-project:region:my-instance',
  ipType: 'PUBLIC', 
});
const pool = new Pool({
  ...clientOpts,
  user: 'my-user',
  password: 'my-password',
  database: 'db-name',
  max: 5
});
const {rows} = await pool.query('SELECT NOW()');
console.table(rows); // prints returned time value from server

await pool.end();
connector.close();

For further usage examples (MySQL, SQL Server, automatic IAM AuthN), please see the Cloud SQL Node.js Connector's detailed README.