Connect to DB

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT/DB_NAME"

You can upload the file as environment variables using the `env:import` command:

netlify env:import .env

site: my-very-very-cool-site ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------. Imported environment variables | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Key | Value | --------------|------------------------------------------------------------------| DATABASE_URL | postgresql://postgres:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT/DB_NAME | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------'

**If you are not using an .env file**

If you are storing your database connection string and other environment variables in a different method, you will need to manually upload your environment variables to Netlify. These options are [discussed in Netlify's documentation](https://docs.netlify.com/environment-variables/get-started/) and one method, uploading via the UI, is described below.

1.  Open the Netlify admin UI for the site. You can use Netlify CLI as follows:
    
    ```
    netlify open --admin
    ```
    
2.  Click **Site settings**: ![Netlify admin UI](/docs/img/orm/prisma-client/deployment/serverless/images/500-06-deploy-to-netlify-site-settings.png)
3.  Navigate to **Build & deploy** in the sidebar on the left and select **Environment**.
4.  Click **Edit variables** and create a variable with the key `DATABASE_URL` and set its value to your database connection string. ![Netlify environment variables](/docs/img/orm/prisma-client/deployment/serverless/images/500-07-deploy-to-netlify-environment-variables-settings.png)
5.  Click **Save**.

Now start a new Netlify build and deployment so that the new build can use the newly uploaded environment variables.

netlify deploy

You can now test the deployed application.

When you use a Function-as-a-Service provider, like Netlify, it is beneficial to pool database connections for performance reasons. This is because every function invocation may result in a new connection to your database which can quickly run out of open connections.

You can use [Prisma Postgres](https://www.prisma.io/docs/postgres), which has built-in connection pooling, to reduce your Prisma Client bundle size, and to avoid cold starts.

For more information on connection management for serverless environments, refer to our [connection management guide](../../../setup-and-configuration/databases-connections/index.md#serverless-environments-faas).