I'm having trouble connecting to my PostgreSQL container. I set it up according to the instructions in my README, but whenever I try to run an initial migration, I get stuck with no connection. I've already changed the credentials multiple times, deleted all containers and images, reset Docker Desktop, and even rebooted my Windows 11 machine, but nothing seems to work. To troubleshoot, I even created a Python script to test the connection, thinking it might be a problem with NestJS, but I got the same error. I'm at my wit's end!
3 Answers
Double-check the username and password you're using!. It could be a simple typo that’s blocking your connection. It’s always the little things that trip us up, right?
From my experience, if you're using Docker Desktop on Windows, you might also need to use `host.docker.internal` instead of `localhost` when connecting to your PostgreSQL instance from WSL or other environments. Checking the logs with `docker container logs {your_container_name}` might also help you see if there's an issue with the connection attempts.
It looks like your connection issue might be from using `localhost` as your DB_HOST. From inside a Docker container, `localhost` refers to that container only, which can create a loop. If your NestJS app is running outside of the container, make sure the port for your PostgreSQL container is correctly mapped to your Docker host. You could also try using the Docker host IP instead of `localhost`. If your app is inside another container, you'll need to set up proper networking for it to access the PostgreSQL container.
Thanks for the tip! Just to clarify, my NestJS app is running in the terminal, not in a container. I'll definitely try the Docker host IP.