# Connecting with pgAdmin

**pgAdmin** is a widely used graphical interface for Hydra that allows you to manage, connect to, and run queries on your databases with ease.

### **Variables**

To connect using `pgAdmin`, you'll need the following connection parameters. When you deploy a Hydra service on Elestio, you also get a pgAdmin dashboard configured for you to use with these variables. These details are available in the **Elestio service overview page**:

<div class="overflow-x-auto contain-inline-size" id="bkmrk-variable-description"><table border="1" data-end="1422" data-start="642" style="width: 68.6905%; border-collapse: collapse; border-width: 1px; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><thead data-end="723" data-start="642"><tr data-end="723" data-start="642"><th data-end="657" data-start="642" style="width: 15.2757%; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Variable</th><th data-end="712" data-start="657" style="width: 23.4396%; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Description</th><th data-end="723" data-start="712" style="width: 61.2847%; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Purpose</th></tr></thead><tbody data-end="1422" data-start="806"><tr data-end="932" data-start="806"><td style="width: 15.2757%; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">`<strong data-end="816" data-start="808">USER</strong>`</td><td style="width: 23.4396%; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">pgAdmin username</td><td style="width: 61.2847%; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Identifies the pgAdmin user with access permission.</td></tr><tr data-end="1041" data-start="933"><td style="width: 15.2757%; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">`<strong data-end="947" data-start="935">PASSWORD</strong>`</td><td style="width: 23.4396%; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">pgAdmin password</td><td style="width: 61.2847%; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Authentication key for the `USER`.</td></tr></tbody></table>

</div>You can find these values in your Elestio project dashboard under **Admin** section.

[![Screenshot 2025-05-07 at 10.08.35 PM.jpg](https://docs.elest.io/uploads/images/gallery/2025-05/scaled-1680-/screenshot-2025-05-07-at-10-08-35-pm.jpg)](https://docs.elest.io/uploads/images/gallery/2025-05/screenshot-2025-05-07-at-10-08-35-pm.jpg)

### **Prerequisites**

Make sure the **Hydra** service is correctly deployed on Elestio and you are able to access the Admin section like the one in the image above.

### **Setting Up the Connection**

1. Launch **pgAdmin** from the Admin UI URL and log in with the credentials acquired in the steps before. ![Screenshot 2025-04-01 at 3.51.28 PM.jpg](https://docs.elest.io/uploads/images/gallery/2025-04/scaled-1680-/screenshot-2025-04-01-at-3-51-28-pm.jpg)
2. Click on **"Create"** and select **"Server…"** from the dropdown, or find **Add New Server** from the quick links![Screenshot 2025-04-01 at 3.55.59 PM.jpg](https://docs.elest.io/uploads/images/gallery/2025-04/scaled-1680-/screenshot-2025-04-01-at-3-55-59-pm.jpg)
3. In the **General** tab:
    
    
    - Enter a name for your connection (e.g., `Trial pgAdmin Connection`).![image.png](https://docs.elest.io/uploads/images/gallery/2025-04/scaled-1680-/image.png)
4. Go to the **Connection** tab and enter the following details:
    
    
    - **Host name/address**: `HOSTNAME`
    - **Port**: `PORT`
    - **Maintenance database**: `DATABASE`
    - **Username**: `USERNAME`
    - **Password**: `PASSWORD`

![image.png](https://docs.elest.io/uploads/images/gallery/2025-04/scaled-1680-/6v6image.png)