> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.stackshift.cloud/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Temporary PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Redis services
> Create, inspect, sleep, resume, snapshot, and delete managed sandbox database sidecars.
Temporary services are first-class sandbox resources backed by dedicated encrypted `sidecar` volumes. StackShift currently supports PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Redis. Each service has its own desired state, observed state, durable operation, runtime identity, resource limits, safe connection metadata, and failure details.
Services are temporary dependencies, not production databases. Deployment handoff excludes their data and credentials.
## Create a service
The sandbox must exist and its capability policy must allow the engine and capacity. Names are DNS-safe lowercase identifiers; capacity is between the account/platform minimum and maximum.
```bash theme={null}
stackshift --timeout 10m --output json sandbox services create \
--name app-db \
--engine postgres \
--capacity-gib 10 \
--wait
```
Equivalent engine values are `mysql` and `redis`. Creation allocates the service resource and encrypted sidecar volume, then returns a mutation containing both the service and its operation.
List or inspect services without exposing credentials:
```bash theme={null}
stackshift sandbox services list
stackshift --output json sandbox services get
```
## Connect from the sandbox
`connection_metadata` contains only safe fields: host, port, database, username, the environment key (`DATABASE_URL`, `MYSQL_URL`, or `REDIS_URL`), and credential delivery mode. The generated connection URL is written to the sandbox's volatile sidecar environment file and is not returned by list/get APIs or rendered in the dashboard.
Read the environment from a newly started execution rather than copying a credential into source:
```bash theme={null}
stackshift sandbox exec -- sh -lc 'test -n "$DATABASE_URL" && npm run migrate'
```
The explicit shell is required because `$DATABASE_URL` expansion is shell behavior. Do not print the variable, include it in errors, or write it to `.env`. Existing processes do not automatically gain newly created or rotated service credentials; restart them.
## Lifecycle
Service states are `queued`, `provisioning`, `starting`, `ready`, `sleeping`, `stopping`, `deleting`, `deleted`, or `failed`. `desired_state` is separate and may be `running`, `sleeping`, or `deleted`.
```bash theme={null}
stackshift --timeout 5m sandbox services sleep --wait
stackshift --timeout 5m sandbox services start --wait
```
Starting is idempotent when the service is already converging to or in the requested state. If an operation fails, inspect both its failure and the service's `failure_code`/`failure_message`; do not create a duplicate service to hide an unresolved failure.
## Snapshot database state
Use a `group` snapshot when the sandbox workspace and declared sidecars must form one recovery point:
```bash theme={null}
stackshift --timeout 15m sandbox snapshots create \
--name before-schema-change \
--type group \
--retention-seconds 604800 \
--wait
```
The platform quiesces the workload, snapshots the workspace and sidecar members, records the quiesce result and member checksums, and resumes the workload. Check that the snapshot reaches `ready` before relying on it. Snapshot manifests exclude volatile service credentials; restored services receive fresh credential material.
Restore replaces data in a sleeping target. Keep the default safety snapshot unless you have a deliberate reason not to:
```bash theme={null}
stackshift sandbox sleep --wait
stackshift --timeout 15m sandbox snapshots restore \
\
--safety-snapshot \
--wait
```
## Delete a service
Deletion permanently removes the service and its owned sidecar volume. Snapshot or export required data, inspect the service ID, then confirm explicitly:
```bash theme={null}
stackshift --yes --timeout 10m sandbox services delete \
--wait
```
Deleting a sandbox also revokes service access and schedules owned resources for cleanup. An independently retained snapshot is not deleted merely because its source sandbox is destroyed.
Understand encryption, sleep, snapshots, and deletion.
Resolve readiness, capacity, snapshot, and recovery failures.