Connecting with Python

This guide explains how to connect a Python application to a TimescaleDB database using the 
psycopg2-binary package. It covers environment setup, configuration, and execution of a simple query to test connectivity.
Variables
To connect to a TimescaleDB database, you only need one environment variable — the connection URI.
Variable
Description
Purpose
TIMESCALE_URI
Full TimescaleDB (PostgreSQL-compatible) connection string from the Elestio service overview
Provides all credentials and connection details in a single URI
A typical URI format looks like:
postgresql://<USER>:<PASSWORD>@<HOST>:<PORT>/<DATABASE>
You can find the details needed in the URI from the Elestio service overview details. Copy and replace the variables carefully in the URI example provided above.
Prerequisites
Install Python
Check if Python is installed:
python --version
If not installed, download it from https://python.org.
Install 
psycopg2-binary
Install the PostgreSQL driver for Python:
pip install psycopg2-binary
Code
Once all prerequisites are set up, create a new file named 
tdb.py and add the following code and replace the 
TIMESCALE_URI with actual link or in environment setup as you wish:
import psycopg2
import os
def get_db_version():
    try:
        # Use the TimescaleDB URI from environment variable
        connection_uri = os.getenv('TIMESCALE_URI', 'POSTGRESQL_URI')
        db_connection = psycopg2.connect(connection_uri)
        db_cursor = db_connection.cursor()
        db_cursor.execute('SELECT VERSION()')
        db_version = db_cursor.fetchone()[0]
        return db_version
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Database connection error: {e}")
        return None
    finally:
        if 'db_cursor' in locals():
            db_cursor.close()
        if 'db_connection' in locals():
            db_connection.close()
def display_version():
    version = get_db_version()
    if version:
        print(f"Connected to TimescaleDB: {version}")
if __name__ == "__main__":
    display_version()
🔐 Tip: Save your URI in an .env file or set it in your terminal session like this:
export TIMESCALE_URI=postgresql://user:password@host:port/database
To execute the script, open the terminal or command prompt and navigate to the directory where 
tdb.py. Once in the correct directory, run the script with the command
python tdb.py
If the connection is successful, you’ll see:
Connected to TimescaleDB: PostgreSQL 14.13 (Debian 14.13-1.pgdg120+1) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Debian 12.2.0-14) 12.2.0, 64-bit