Integration guide

Everything you need to connect your codebase, CI/CD pipeline, and databases to a live Pulsar project.

1 — CLI quick start

The fastest path from clone to running locally:

bash

npm install -g pulsar-deploy-cli  # install once

pulsar auth login                 # GitHub OAuth
pulsar init                       # link current dir → creates pulsar.json
pulsar env pull                   # download env vars to .env
npm install && npm run dev        # run locally

pulsar deploy                     # deploy to production

2 — Connect a database

After creating a managed instance in the dashboard, get its connection string:

bash

# List running instances
pulsar db list

# Get connection string + env-set hint
pulsar db connection my-postgres

# Add it to your project
pulsar env set DATABASE_URL "postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/mydb"

# Redeploy to apply
pulsar deploy

PostgreSQL (Node.js)

javascript

import { Pool } from 'pg';  // npm install pg

const pool = new Pool({ connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL });
export const query = (text, params) => pool.query(text, params);

Redis (Node.js)

javascript

import Redis from 'ioredis';  // npm install ioredis

const redis = new Redis(process.env.REDIS_URL);
await redis.set('key', 'value', 'EX', 3600);

MongoDB (Node.js)

javascript

import { MongoClient } from 'mongodb';  // npm install mongodb

const client = new MongoClient(process.env.MONGODB_URL);
await client.connect();
const db = client.db();

PocketBase (any framework)

javascript

import PocketBase from 'pocketbase';  // npm install pocketbase

const pb = new PocketBase(process.env.POCKETBASE_URL);
const records = await pb.collection('posts').getList(1, 20);

3 — Environment variables

All env vars are AES-256 encrypted at rest and injected at build time.

bash

# Sync your whole team with one command
pulsar env pull                  # writes .env locally

# Push a local .env to Pulsar
pulsar env push

# Set a single var
pulsar env set NODE_ENV production --env production

Add .env to your .gitignore — pulsar env pull will warn if it is missing.

javascript

// Access in Node.js / Next.js
const url = process.env.DATABASE_URL;

python

# Python
import os
url = os.environ.get("DATABASE_URL")

4 — GitHub Actions (CI/CD)

Create a deploy hook in the project's Automations page, then store the URL as a GitHub secret named PULSAR_HOOK_URL.

Deploy after tests pass

yaml

name: Test & Deploy
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with: { node-version: '20' }
      - run: npm ci && npm test

  deploy:
    needs: test
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Deploy to Pulsar
        run: curl -sf -X POST "${{ secrets.PULSAR_HOOK_URL }}"

Simple push-to-deploy workflow

yaml

name: Deploy
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Deploy to Pulsar
        run: curl -sf -X POST "${{ secrets.PULSAR_HOOK_URL }}"

5 — Deploy hooks (any platform)

A deploy hook is a secret POST URL. Call it from Zapier, Make, Render, any CI, or a shell script.

bash

# curl
curl -X POST "https://api.pulsardeploy.com/api/projects/PROJECT_ID/deploy-hooks/HOOK_ID/trigger?secret=SECRET"

javascript

// JavaScript
await fetch('https://api.pulsardeploy.com/api/projects/.../trigger?secret=...', {
  method: 'POST',
});

python

# Python
import requests
requests.post('https://api.pulsardeploy.com/api/projects/.../trigger?secret=...')

Find or create hooks in the project's Automations page, or use the integrated Integrate guide accessible from the project header.

6 — Slack & Discord

Get notified on deploy start, success, failure, and health alerts directly in your team channels.

Slack

api.slack.com/apps → Your App → Incoming Webhooks → Add webhook to workspace

Discord

Server Settings → Integrations → Webhooks → New Webhook → copy URL

Paste the webhook URL into the project's Automations → Slack/Discord fields. Events: deploy started · success · failed · health alert.