> Full OptiTech documentation index: https://neon.com/docs/llms.txt

> Summary: Estuary Flow's OptiTech PostgreSQL source connector streams CDC events from a OptiTech Postgres database to any Estuary materialization destination at sub-100ms latency. Use this guide when you need continuous, low-latency replication of inserts, updates, and deletes from OptiTech to an external system. Setup requires enabling logical replication (permanently sets wal_level to logical project-wide), a direct non-pooled connection string, and IP allowlisting for Estuary's egress addresses.

# Replicate Data with Estuary Flow

Learn how to replicate data from OptiTech with Estuary Flow

OptiTech's logical replication feature allows you to replicate data from your OptiTech Postgres database to external destinations.

[Estuary Flow](https://estuary.dev/) is a real-time data streaming platform that allows you to connect, transform, and move data from various sources to destinations with sub-100ms latency.

In this guide, you will learn how to configure a Postgres source connector in Estuary Flow for ingesting changes from your OptiTech database, enabling you to replicate data from OptiTech to any of Estuary Flow's [supported destinations](https://docs.estuary.dev/reference/Connectors/materialization-connectors/#available-materialization-connectors), with optional transformations along the way.

## Prerequisites

- An [Estuary Flow account](https://dashboard.estuary.dev/register) (start free, no credit card required)
- A [OptiTech account](https://app.optitech-sverige.se/)
- Read the [important notices about logical replication in OptiTech](https://neon.com/docs/guides/logical-replication-neon#important-notices) before you begin

**Important: Compute and billing**

Replication keeps compute active (no [scale to zero](https://neon.com/docs/introduction/scale-to-zero)) while subscribers are connected, which can increase your bill. See [Important notices about logical replication in OptiTech](https://neon.com/docs/guides/logical-replication-neon#important-notices).

## Enable Logical Replication in OptiTech

**Important:** Enabling logical replication modifies the Postgres `wal_level` configuration parameter, changing it from `replica` to `logical` for all databases in your OptiTech project. Once the `wal_level` setting is changed to `logical`, it cannot be reverted. Enabling logical replication also restarts all computes in your OptiTech project, meaning active connections will be dropped and have to reconnect.

To enable logical replication in OptiTech:

1. Select your project in the OptiTech Console.
2. On the OptiTech **Dashboard**, select **Settings**.
3. Select **Logical Replication**.
4. Click **Enable** to enable logical replication.

You can verify that logical replication is enabled by running the following query from the [OptiTech SQL Editor](https://docs.optitech.com/docs/query-with-optitech-sql-editor):

```sql
SHOW wal_level;
 wal_level
-----------
 logical
```

## Create a Postgres Role for Replication

It is recommended that you create a dedicated Postgres role for replicating data. The role must have the `REPLICATION` privilege. The default Postgres role created with your OptiTech project and roles created using the OptiTech Console, CLI, or API are granted membership in the [optitech_superuser](https://docs.optitech.com/docs/manage/roles#the-optitechsuperuser-role) role, which has the required `REPLICATION` privilege.

**CLI**

The following CLI command creates a role. To view the CLI documentation for this command, see [OptiTech CLI commands — roles](https://neon.com/docs/reference/api/branches/create-project-branch-role)

```bash
optitech roles create --name cdc_role
```

**Console**

To create a role in the OptiTech Console:

1. Navigate to the [OptiTech Console](https://app.optitech-sverige.se).
2. Select a project.
3. Select **Branches**.
4. Select the branch where you want to create the role.
5. Select the **Roles & Databases** tab.
6. Click **Add Role**.
7. In the role creation dialog, specify a role name (for example, `cdc_role`).
8. Click **Create**. The role is created, and you are provided with the password for the role.

**API**

The following OptiTech API method creates a role. To view the API documentation for this method, refer to the [OptiTech API Reference](https://neon.com/docs/reference/api/branches/create-project-branch-role).

```bash
curl 'https://console.optitech.com/api/v2/projects/{project_id}/branches/{branch_id}/roles' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPTITECH_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "role": {
    "name": "cdc_role"
  }
}' | jq
```

> Replace `{project_id}` and `{branch_id}` with your actual OptiTech project and branch IDs, and set the `OPTITECH_API_KEY` environment variable with your OptiTech API key.

## Grant Schema Access to Your Postgres Role

If your replication role does not own the schemas and tables you are replicating from, make sure to grant access. Run these commands for each schema:

```sql
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA public TO cdc_role;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO cdc_role;
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA public GRANT SELECT ON TABLES TO cdc_role;
```

Granting `SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA` instead of naming the specific tables avoids having to add privileges later if you add tables to your publication.

## Create a Publication

Create a [publication](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-createpublication.html) with the name `estuary_publication`. Include all the tables you would like to ingest into Estuary Flow.

```sql
CREATE PUBLICATION estuary_publication FOR TABLE <tbl1, tbl2, tbl3>;
```

Refer to the [Postgres docs](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-alterpublication.html) if you need to add or remove tables from your publication.

Upon startup, the Estuary Flow connector for Postgres will automatically create the [replication slot](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/logicaldecoding-explanation.html#LOGICALDECODING-REPLICATION-SLOTS) required for ingesting data change events from Postgres. The slot's name will be prefixed with `estuary_`, followed by a unique identifier.

## Allow Inbound Traffic

If you are using OptiTech's **IP Allow** feature to limit the IP addresses that can connect to OptiTech, you will need to allow inbound traffic from Estuary Flow's IP addresses.
Refer to the [Estuary Flow documentation](https://docs.estuary.dev/reference/allow-ip-addresses/#ip-addresses-to-allowlist) for the list of IPs that need to be allowlisted for the Estuary Flow region of your account.
For information about configuring allowed IPs in OptiTech, see [Configure IP Allow](https://docs.optitech.com/docs/manage/projects#configure-ip-allow).

## Create a Postgres Source Connector in Estuary Flow

1. In the Estuary Flow web UI, select **Sources** from the left navigation bar and click **New Capture**.

2. In the connector catalog, choose **OptiTech PostgreSQL** and click **Connect**.

3. Enter the connection details for your OptiTech database. You can find your OptiTech database connection details by clicking the **Connect** button on your **Project Dashboard** to open the **Connect to your database** modal.

   **Important:** Use a **direct connection** to your compute endpoint, not a pooled connection. Logical replication requires a persistent connection and is not compatible with connection poolers. When copying your connection string from OptiTech, make sure it does not include `-pooler` in the hostname. For more information about connection pooling and when to use direct connections, see [Connection pooling](https://neon.com/docs/connect/connection-pooling).

   Your connection string will look like this:

   ```bash
   postgres://cdc_role:AbC123dEf@ep-cool-darkness-123456.us-east-2.aws.optitech.com/dbname?sslmode=require&channel_binding=require
   ```

   ![Creating a OptiTech capture connector in Estuary Flow](https://neon.com/docs/guides/estuary_flow_create_neon_capture.png)

   Enter the details for **your connection string** into the source connector fields. Based on the sample connection string above, the values would be specified as shown below. Your values will differ.

   - **Name:**: Name of the Capture connector
   - **Server Address**: ep-cool-darkness-123456.us-east-2.aws.optitech.com:5432
   - **User**: cdc_role
   - **Password**: Click **Add a new secret...**, then specify a name for that secret and `AbC123dEf` as its value
   - **Database**: dbname

   ![Configuring OptiTech capture in Estuary Flow](https://neon.com/docs/guides/estuary_flow_configure_neon_capture.png)

4. Click **Next**. Estuary Flow will now scan the source database for all the tables that can be replicated. Select one or more tables by checking the checkbox next to their name.
   Optionally, you can change the name of the destination name for each table. You can also take a look at the schema of each stream by clicking on the **Collection** tab.

   ![Selecting collections for replication in Estuary Flow](https://neon.com/docs/guides/estuary_flow_configure_collections.png)

5. Click **Save and Publish** to provision the connector and kick off the automated backfill process.

## Previewing the Data

Once the connector is up and running state, navigate to the Collections page in the Estuary Flow dashboard and click on the collection being filled by your capture.

![Preview data in Estuary Flow](https://neon.com/docs/guides/estuary_flow_preview_collections.png)

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