How to Connect to AWS RDS PostgreSQL Database Using FastAPI | Step-by-Step Guide

In this hands-on tutorial, you’ll learn **how to connect your FastAPI application to an AWS RDS PostgreSQL database** step-by-step. Whether you’re building a simple API or a large-scale production backend, integrating FastAPI with AWS RDS will help you store, retrieve, and manage your application data in a scalable, secure way.

AWS RDS (Relational Database Service) allows you to host a fully managed PostgreSQL database in the cloud, while **FastAPI** provides a high-performance Python framework for building APIs. By combining these two, you can create a **robust backend with a cloud-hosted database** in just a few steps.

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**What You’ll Learn in This Video:**

* How to create an AWS RDS PostgreSQL instance
* Configuring security groups and inbound rules to allow database access
* Installing PostgreSQL dependencies for FastAPI
* Setting up database connection strings securely using environment variables
* Connecting to AWS RDS from FastAPI with SQLAlchemy / asyncpg
* Testing the database connection
* Running sample queries from FastAPI endpoints

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**Step-by-Step Process:**

1⃣ **Create AWS RDS PostgreSQL Instance**

* Log into AWS Console → RDS → Create Database → Choose PostgreSQL
* Set up DB name, username, password, and instance size
* Configure security groups to allow inbound traffic on **port 5432**

2⃣ **Install Required Packages in FastAPI**

```bash
pip install fastapi uvicorn psycopg2-binary sqlalchemy python-dotenv
```

3⃣ **Store Database Credentials in `.env` File**

```
DB_HOST=your-rds-endpoint.amazonaws.com
DB_PORT=5432
DB_NAME=your_database
DB_USER=your_username
DB_PASSWORD=your_password
```

4⃣ **Create a Database Connection in FastAPI**

```python
from sqlalchemy import create_engine
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()

DATABASE_URL = f"postgresql://{os.getenv('DB_USER')}:{os.getenv('DB_PASSWORD')}@{os.getenv('DB_HOST')}:{os.getenv('DB_PORT')}/{os.getenv('DB_NAME')}"
engine = create_engine(DATABASE_URL)
```

5⃣ **Test the Connection**

* Run FastAPI and call an endpoint that queries the database.

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**Pro Tips:**

* Always use **environment variables** to store DB credentials.
* Restrict RDS access to your application’s IP only.
* Enable automated backups in AWS RDS for data safety.

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