Can't you use the public endpoint of your production db for that? Not something I would recommend but still...

From my understanding, it sounds like you're trying to have your staging backend use the same database as production.

Railway mentions environments are “isolated instances of all services,” which might mean internal networking doesn’t work across staging/prod — I haven’t personally tested that though.

I'd try:

-Check logs + connection settings first — see if the request is actually reaching the DB. If it is but failing, it could be limits or config (PgBouncer might help in that case)

-If it’s not reaching at all, try using the public DATABASE_URL from prod instead

Why it’s not connecting

Most likely causes:

1. Your staging service does not have DATABASE_URL set
2. You didn’t link the Postgres service variable properly
3. You’re using a different environment (staging vs production) without shared variables

The correct way to share the database (Railway)

Step 1 — Go to your PostgreSQL service

• Open your Railway project
• Click on your Postgres service
• Go to Variables or Connect

You will see something like:

DATABASE_URL = postgresql://postgres:Your_Password@Identifiant.co:5432/db

Step 2 — Link it to your staging service

Go to your backend (staging) service → Variables

Add:

DATABASE_URL = ${{ Postgres.DATABASE_URL }}

IMPORTANT:

• Postgres = exact name of your database service
• This links dynamically to the same DB

Step 3 — Redeploy

After adding the variable:

Click Deploy → Redeploy

(or push a commit)

Optional (recommended)

If you want BOTH environments to share the same DB:

• Use the same DATABASE_URL in:
  • Production service
  • Staging service

Test it

After deploy:

• Check logs → you should see:

PostgreSQL connected

• Try an API call → data should match PROD

⚠ Common mistakes

ProblemFixUsing .env locallyRailway ignores it → use Variables tabTypo in ${{ Postgres.DATABASE_URL }}Must match service name exactlyForgot redeployAlways redeploy after adding variablesUsing different DBMake sure both point to same URL

How to make the staging environment and production environment use the same PostgreSQL database in a Railway project

For your project's staging environment and production environment use the same Postgres database service, your staging environment will have to use the public URL of your production environment's Postgres database service. I outline the procedure in the steps below.

• In your project canvas, click the Environments dropdown in the top left corner. Select production under Environments.
• Select the Postgres service.
• Select the Variables tab.
• Look for the DATABASE_PUBLIC_URL variable. Hover over it. Click the Copy icon to copy the DATABASE_PUBLIC_URL value.
• Click the Environments dropdown in the top left corner. Select staging under Environments.
• Select the service that will connect to the Postgres service.
• Select the Variables tab.
• Look for the variable that uses the public URL of the Postgres service. Hover over the variable. Click the ⋮ vertical ellipsis icon.
• Click Edit.
• Delete the current value.
• Paste in the value of DATABASE_PUBLIC_URL. The one you copied from the production environment.
• Click ✓ to save.
• Click Deploy.
• Wait for your service to build and be deployed then test to see if your staging service is using the same database as your production service.

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I believe your request to make the both the staging environment and the production environment use the same database has been fulfilled using the guide I have provided.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

If you believe that this answer is satisfactory, please approve.