i need more info to help properly:

1. what exact command are you running that gives this error?
2. can you share a screenshot of your postgres service variables tab? (hidepassword values)
3. are you running commands from your local machine or from inside a container?

the official way to connect is railway connect <service-name> from your local terminal (needs psql installed), but without knowing your setup i can't say why it's failing

Have you tried connecting to the database via public URL from a db client such as Datagrip?

Also, if you’re trying to connect to the db via psql , you’ll need to specify host, port, user, password, and database. Otherwise, it’ll assume you’re trying to access the database railway locally.