CLI renamed to `neon`; config init and status commands added

Jul 03, 2026– Neon CLI enhancements, Neon Storage in the Files SDK, and more

Neon CLI enhancements

We're continually improving the Neon CLI and the developer experience around it. Recent additions include branch-first dev loop (neon link, neon checkout, and neon env pull) commands and neon.ts. This week brings a shorter name plus two additional commands.

• The CLI is now just neon

  You can now install the Neon CLI from npm as neon instead of neonctl: npm i -g neon (or run it with npx neon@latest). All commands are now documented as neon rather than neonctl. If you already use neonctl, nothing changes: it's the same CLI, neonctl still works as a command, and no migration or re-authentication is needed. See the Neon CLI install guide.

  The latest CLI now requires Node.js 20.19.0 or higher (previously 18). An existing installation keeps working on your current Node.js version; if you're on an older version, upgrade Node.js before updating the CLI.

• Set up declarative branch management in one step

  The new neon config init command scaffolds a starter neon.ts config file and installs the @neon/config and @neon/env packages, so you can define how each branch is set up (compute size, scale-to-zero, TTL, and which services it uses) declaratively, without any manual setup. It runs entirely locally, and neon link now offers to run it as its final step.

  neon config init

• Check your current branch instantly, with no network call

  The new neon status command is a top-level alias for neon config status. Add --current-branch to print just the branch pinned in your local .neon file:

  neon status --current-branch

  Because it makes no network call, it's fast enough to run on every shell prompt. For example, add your current Neon branch to a starship prompt by appending this [custom.neon] module to ~/.config/starship.toml:

  # ~/.config/starship.toml
  [custom.neon]
  description = "Current Neon branch"
  command = "neon status --current-branch"   # prints the branch pinned in .neon (no network)
  when = "neon status --current-branch"       # exits non-zero when no branch -> segment is hidden
  symbol = "🌿 "
  style = "bold green"
  format = "[$symbol$output]($style) "

  See the config command reference for more.

Neon Storage in the Files SDK

Neon Storage now has a first-class adapter in the Files SDK, the open-source library that gives you one upload, download, and presigned-URL API across S3, R2, GCS, and more. The neon adapter is wired up from the AWS_* variables Neon injects, so pointing your storage backend at Neon is a one-line config change:

import { Files } from 'files-sdk';
import { neon } from 'files-sdk/neon';

const files = new Files({ adapter: neon({ bucket: 'assets' }) });

// Upload a file, then get a presigned URL to view it
await files.upload('logos/neon-logo.png', body, { contentType: 'image/png' });
const url = await files.url('logos/neon-logo.png', { expiresIn: 3600 });

See the with-files-sdk example for a minimal script that uploads files to a branch-scoped bucket.

Neon Storage is part of Neon's new backend services, currently in private preview. If you haven't signed up yet, you can sign up and learn more.

Learn more about Lakebase Search

We recently opened Lakebase Search to all Neon users, adding scalable vector, keyword, and hybrid search to Postgres through the lakebase_vector and lakebase_text extensions. This week, our engineering team goes under the hood.

Read Lakebase Search: vector and BM25 on Neon blog post to learn why the usual pgvector + GIN setup breaks down at scale, and how lakebase_ann (IVF + RaBitQ) and lakebase_bm25 (Block-Max WAND) keep indexes on object storage so they stay ready across scale-to-zero and branching.

Update snapshot expiration anytime

You can now update a snapshot's expiration with the Update snapshot endpoint. Set expires_at to a future timestamp to change the retention deadline, or send null to remove it so the snapshot never expires. Previously, expiration could only be set when the snapshot was created.

curl --request PATCH \
  --url 'https://console.neon.tech/api/v2/projects/{project_id}/snapshots/{snapshot_id}' \
  --header 'authorization: Bearer $NEON_API_KEY' \
  --header 'content-type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "snapshot": {
      "expires_at": "2026-12-31T00:00:00Z"
    }
  }'

Planned update notifications change

So that we can ship Neon improvements and fixes faster, the advance notice period for planned updates on the Scale and Enterprise plans is changing from 7 days to 3 days, effective July 10, 2026. Updates take only a few seconds, and Neon prewarms your cache so performance isn't affected.

You can check for update notifications in your project's settings (Settings > Updates). On the Scale and Enterprise plans, you also receive an email notification in advance, in addition to the in-console notice. To learn more, see Updates.

Neon Community Corner

This week, we're spotlighting contributions and integrations from the Neon community and ecosystem.

Neon Testing now supports Bun Test

Neon Testing, the community-built integration testing library by Mikael Lirbank, shipped v3.0.0 with support for Bun Test alongside Vitest. Each test runs against its own isolated Neon branch, with DATABASE_URL set up and torn down automatically, so your tests hit the same schema and constraints as production without mocks or a shared local database.

npm install --save-dev neon-testing

View the package on npm and read the v3.0.0 release notes on GitHub.

Connect Neon to Gamut

Gamut, an AI agent hosting platform with native support for remote MCP servers, now connects to Neon through the Neon MCP server. Setup uses OAuth, matching the existing client flow. To get started, add Neon to your Gamut agent.

Docs & Postgres tutorial contributors

Our docs and Postgres tutorials get better thanks to fixes and improvements from the community. A quick thank you to contributors.

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