# Can I use dvc over a postgres database folder? **URL:** \ **Category:** Questions\ **Created:** [December 21, 2023, 8:42am UTC](https://discuss.dvc.org/t/can-i-use-dvc-over-a-postgres-database-folder/1890 "2023-12-21T08:42:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jnaranjo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@jnaranjo](https://discuss.dvc.org/u/jnaranjo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 8:42am UTC](https://discuss.dvc.org/t/can-i-use-dvc-over-a-postgres-database-folder/1890/1 "2023-12-21T08:42:54Z")
Hello! I am working with a postgres database. The database files are located in a folder which is a shared volume between my computer and a postgres container. My question is if it would be correct to version that folder with dvc. If the folder is called database it would be to do `dvc add database` and from there make new versions as I add entries. Is this a correct use of DVC or should I do something else? I have only seen examples where data is versioned: images, etc. Thank you very much ---
**Author:** ![skshetry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@skshetry](https://discuss.dvc.org/u/skshetry)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 10:53am UTC](https://discuss.dvc.org/t/can-i-use-dvc-over-a-postgres-database-folder/1890/2 "2023-12-21T10:53:28Z")
Hi, what is inside database folder? If you are talking about files, then you can `dvc add database`, although I’d not suggest using a shared volume with postgres. If your goal is to track a database table, we are working on implementing `dvc import-db` command that can snapshot your database table (or, any SQL queries) to a csv/json format. For that, you’ll need a very latest dvc version, and set connection string in the config. ```console dvc config db.pgsql.url postgresql://:/ dvc config --local db.pgsql.user dvc config --local db.pgsql.password ``` Then, you can materialize in `dvc` with following, which will create a `results.csv` file. ```console dvc import-db --sql "select * from Table" --conn pgsql ``` You can then depend on it in your pipelines. Note that this is very experimental, and can change in the future. Please give feedback or create an issue for bugs/feature-requests. ---
**Author:** ![jnaranjo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@jnaranjo](https://discuss.dvc.org/u/jnaranjo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 11:29am UTC](https://discuss.dvc.org/t/can-i-use-dvc-over-a-postgres-database-folder/1890/3 "2023-12-21T11:29:17Z")
thank you for the quick response. Inside the folder are the files generated by the docker container (pg\_serial, pg\_subtrans, etc.). The modification of the database is done with sqlalchemy. My idea is to track the whole database as a whole. I am in a project where records are added to all tables periodically, for example, every 3 months. I would like to generate a version every time records are added and have a reference point of the content of those tables at that instant of time. Why do you say it is not optimal to do the dvc add if it is a shared volume of desserts? Does the suggestion you gave me at the end make sense in my scenario? Best regards ---
**Author:** ![skshetry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@skshetry](https://discuss.dvc.org/u/skshetry)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 12:28pm UTC](https://discuss.dvc.org/t/can-i-use-dvc-over-a-postgres-database-folder/1890/4 "2023-12-21T12:28:14Z")
Hi. You can version anything with DVC, nothing restricts you to do that. But, DVC’s goal is to version your datasets, and connect that datasets to your outputs (e.g.: models) via pipelines. Tracking a random blob does not give you a visibility into your pipelines. Whereas, dvc allows you to periodically snapshot your database, and use that in your training. (you can run `dvc update` when you want to update to a newer version of your database). You cannot consume that `database` directory in your pipelines, either. Could you please elaborate what you are trying to do with DVC? (If you are looking for purely database versioning. I am sure there are better ways to _backup_ and _version_ them.) ---
**Author:** ![jnaranjo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@jnaranjo](https://discuss.dvc.org/u/jnaranjo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://discuss.dvc.org/t/can-i-use-dvc-over-a-postgres-database-folder/1890/5 "2023-12-21T14:20:08Z")
What I want to do is just versioning. I don’t mind that I can’t add it to pipelines. I just want to have reference points in case I want to go back at some point or want to test something with the database at some specific point (version).