---
title: 'Neon for AI Agent Platforms'
subtitle: Build full-stack agents on a serverless Postgres backend
enableTableOfContents: true
updatedOn: '2025-07-26T09:00:00.000Z'
image: '/images/social-previews/use-cases/ai-agents.jpg'
---

<MegaLink tag="80% of Neon databases are deployed by agents." title="Platforms like Replit Agent run their backend on Neon because it fits how agents operate: a serverless Postgres data layer that’s instant, branchable, and invisible to end users." url="https://neon.com/use-cases/ai-agents#serverless-postgres-api-first" />

<LogosSection containerClassName='py-3' logos={[
'anything',
'replit',
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<ProgramForm type="agent" />

**[Learn more about the Neon Agent Plan](https://neon.com/programs/agents#agent-plan-pricing) >**

<QuoteBlock quote="The combination of flexible resource limits and nearly instant database provisioning made Neon a no-brainer." author="lincoln-bergeson" role="Infrastructure Engineer at Replit" />

## The Neon Stack For Agents

The Neon architecture aligns with how agents work:

**Serverless Postgres at the core.**
Neon’s backend is powered by a serverless Postgres engine built on separated compute and storage. It provisions instantly, scales automatically, and idles to zero when not in use - perfect for the bursty, on-demand workloads that agents create.

**With integrated services for full-stack backends.**
Around that core, Neon includes Auth and a PostgREST-compatible Data API, so agents and developers can assemble complete, production-ready backends without stitching multiple services together.

**All API-first and programmable.**
Every capability - provisioning, quotas, branching, and fleet management - is exposed through the Neon API, giving developers and agents precise control over their environments and usage at scale.

**And version-aware by design.**
Neon’s copy-on-write storage makes time travel effortless. Branching, snapshots, and point-in-time recovery enable undo, checkpoints, and safe experimentation across millions of databases.

## Serverless Postgres, API-first

At the core of Neon is a serverless Postgres architecture that [separates compute from storage](https://neon.com/blog/architecture-decisions-in-neon). Each database runs on ephemeral computes while the data itself lives on durable, high-performance storage.

**This architecture makes it possible for agents to provision databases instantly on demand, operate them at massive scale, and still keep costs under control.** Tens of thousands of projects can spin up and idle as users create apps, all programmatically, without intervention from you.

<MegaLink tag="Tested at scale" title="A popular developer platform managed over 300k Postgres instances on Neon with only a single engineer. That’s how simple and efficient it is. " url="https://neon.com/blog/how-retool-uses-retool-and-the-neon-api-to-manage-300k-postgres-databases" />

## Instant Autoscaling and Scale-to-Zero

Traditional database management falls apart when every agent action can trigger new infrastructure. Neon serverless model handles this complexity automatically:

- [Compute scales up and down in real time based on workload](https://neon.com/docs/introduction/autoscaling)
- [Scale-to-zero ensures that idle databases cost you nothing](https://neon.com/docs/introduction/scale-to-zero) while remaining instantly accessible

This combination gives agent builders a sustainable model for large fleets: **you can create thousands of databases without worrying about resource exhaustion or runaway bills.**

<QuoteBlock quote="The speed of provisioning and serverless scale-to-zero of Neon is critical for us" author="dhruv-amin" role="Co-founder at Anything" />

## Auth That Speaks Postgres

Every app needs authentication, and agents shouldn’t have to reinvent it. **[Neon Auth](https://neon.com/docs/neon-auth/overview) lets you build secure, multi-tenant systems [without extra glue code](https://neon.com/blog/databutton-neon-integration)**.

It issues JWTs that your agent or front-end can use directly in database queries or through the [Neon Data API](https://neon.com/docs/data-api/get-started). Each token maps to a Postgres role, enforcing granular access at the data level. And because Neon Auth supports standard JWKS configuration, you can also plug in external providers.

<QuoteBlock quote="Our AI agent can now create, manage, and debug the entire stack, not just code." author="martin-skow-røed" role="CTO and co-founder of Databutton" />

## A PostgREST-Compatible Data API, Built In

Giving your agents direct access to the database is simple with the [Neon Data API](https://neon.com/docs/data-api/get-started). It exposes each database (and every branch) as a REST endpoint you can query over HTTPS. Fully PostgREST-compatible.

Under the hood, Neon’s Data API is a [Rust-based re-implementation of PostgREST that runs natively in our proxy fleet](https://neon.com/blog/a-postgrest-compatible-data-api-now-on-neon). It’s lean, multi-tenant, and designed to scale across thousands of databases efficiently. Every Neon branch has its own API endpoint, perfect for preview environments, checkpoints, or dev branches.

## Building Checkpoints with Snapshots and Branching

**Vibe coders experiment constantly, going back and forward between versions - and sometimes breaking things. Neon’s [branching](https://neon.com/docs/introduction/branching) and [snapshots API](https://neon.com/docs/ai/ai-database-versioning) turn this into a feature, not a risk.**

Branching, built on our copy-on-write storage, enables [instant point-in-time recovery](https://neon.com/docs/introduction/branch-restore) for any database. Developers and agents can migrate schemas or revert mistakes without complex restores.

The Snapshots API builds on this foundation to create [agent-friendly, restorable checkpoints](https://neon.com/blog/checkpoints-for-agents-with-neon-snapshots). Agents can capture a moment-in-time version of the database (schema and data) and later roll back or compare states.

## Quotas, Fleet Control, and Dedicated Pricing

**We’ve been backing agent platforms since the start, and our API has evolved to support the needs of large fleets operated by small engineering teams.** [The Neon API lets you manage not only infra but also setting quotas, tracking compute/storage usage per project, billing limits, and much more](https://neon.com/blog/provision-postgres-neon-api).

Combined with usage-based pricing and agent-specific plans, it gives platform builders fine-grained control over cost, scale, and growth.

<MegaLink tag="Pricing designed for agent platforms" title="We know what it takes to scale agent platforms. The Agent Plan gives you everything you need, from early launch to millions of active databases." url="https://neon.com/programs/agents" />

## Documentation & Case Studies to Get Started

To get inspired, explore how others are building and scaling their agents on top of Neon:

- [Replit](https://neon.com/blog/replit-app-history-powered-by-neon-branches)
- [Retool](https://neon.com/blog/retool-becomes-the-platform-for-enterprise-appgen)
- [Anything](https://neon.com/blog/from-idea-to-full-stack-app-in-one-conversation-with-create)
- [Databutton](https://neon.com/blog/databutton-neon-integration)
- [Vapi](https://neon.com/blog/vapi-voice-agents-neon)
- [Dyad](https://neon.com/blog/dyad-brings-postgres-to-local-ai-app-building-powered-by-neon)
- [xpander.ai](https://neon.com/blog/xpander-ai-agents-slack-neon-backend)

For instructions on using the Neon API to provision and manage backends on behalf of your users, see [Neon for Platforms Documentation](https://neon.com/docs/guides/platform-integration-intro). Don't hesitate to [contact us](https://neon.com/contact-sales) as well.

To learn more about the Agent Plan, [see the details on this page](https://neon.com/programs/agents#agent-plan-pricing) or [fill out the application form directly, at the top of this page](#agent-form).

<CTA title="Prefer a claimable flow?" description="You can also allow your end-users to deploy a Neon database in seconds, use it immediately via connection string, claim it later." theme="column" buttonText="Explore this route" buttonUrl="https://neon.new/" linkText="See a case study" linkUrl="https://neon.com/blog/netlify-db-powered-by-neon" />