To connect RisingWave to a Neon database for Change Data Capture (CDC), you first need to configure your Neon project.

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1. Create a Neon project

If you haven’t already, sign up for a Neon account and create a project. This will provision a new serverless PostgreSQL database. Note your project’s connection details.

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2. Enable logical replication

Connect to your Neon database using the provided SQL Editor or any compatible psql client. Run the following command to set the wal_level to logical, which is required for CDC. 
ALTER SYSTEM SET wal_level = logical;
Your Neon project may need to restart for this change to apply.

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3. Configure a replication user

Create or alter a user, granting them the necessary roles for replication. 
-- Create a new user with a secure password
CREATE USER <user_name> WITH REPLICATION LOGIN PASSWORD '<your_password>';

-- Or, assign attributes to an existing user
ALTER USER <user_name> WITH REPLICATION LOGIN;
You can verify the roles by running \du in psql.

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4. Grant required privileges

Finally, grant the user the necessary privileges on the database and schemas you want to capture changes from. 
-- Grant connection access to the database
GRANT CONNECT ON DATABASE <database_name> TO <user_name>;

-- Grant usage on the schema
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA <schema_name> TO <user_name>;

-- Grant select on all tables in the schema
GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA <schema_name> TO <user_name>;

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Next step

Now that your Neon database is configured, you can proceed to connect RisingWave. ➡️ Connect to PostgreSQL CDC