Connect to Postgres and Run the App

Create a database

Using a local Postgres install, or a free hosted instance (Neon, Supabase,
Railway all work), create a database for this project:

bash

createdb contactbook

If you’re using a hosted provider, create the database through their
dashboard instead and grab the connection string they give you.

Configure the connection

In the starter project, copy the example environment file:

bash

cp .env.example .env.local

Open .env.local and set DATABASE_URL to your connection string:

text

DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/contactbook

If your hosted provider requires SSL, the connection string usually needs
?sslmode=require on the end. We’ll handle that automatically once we
write the database connection code in Module 2 — for now, just get the
string into .env.local.

Install dependencies and apply the schema

bash

npm install
npm run db:init

db:init runs db/init.js, which reads db/schema.sql and executes it
against DATABASE_URL. Right now that just creates one table:

sql

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS contacts (
  id UUID PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
  name TEXT NOT NULL,
  phone TEXT,
  email TEXT,
  company TEXT,
  notes TEXT,
  favorite BOOLEAN NOT NULL DEFAULT FALSE,
  created_at TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL DEFAULT now(),
  updated_at TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL DEFAULT now()
);

You’ll extend this file yourself later, in the Groups module.

Start the dev server

bash

npm run dev

Visit http://localhost:3000.

Checkpoint

You should see the “Contact Book” nav bar, fully styled, with working links
to Home, Favorites, Groups, and Settings. Each page shows a styled
placeholder box naming the module that will implement it. If a page
crashes instead of showing the placeholder, double-check DATABASE_URL in
.env.local — npm run db:init needs a reachable database, even though
the pages themselves don’t query it yet.