{% include anchor.html edit="true" title="Create a database" hash="create_database" %} {% highlight js %} new PouchDB([name], [options]) {% endhighlight %} This method creates a database or opens an existing one. If you use a URL like `'http://domain.com/dbname'`, then PouchDB will work as a client to an online CouchDB instance. Otherwise it will create a local database using [whatever backend is present](/adapters.html). ### Options * `name`: You can omit the `name` argument and specify it via `options` instead. Note that the name is required. **Options for local databases:** * `auto_compaction`: This turns on auto compaction, which means `compact()` is called after every change to the database. Defaults to `false`. * `adapter`: One of `'indexeddb'`, `'idb'`, `'leveldb'`, or `'http'`. * `revs_limit`: Specify how many old revisions we keep track (not a copy) of. Specifying a low value means Pouch may not be able to figure out whether a new revision received via replication is related to any it currently has which could result in a conflict. Defaults to `1000`. * `deterministic_revs`: Use a md5 hash to create a deterministic revision number for documents. Setting it to false will mean that the revision number will be a random UUID. Defaults to true. * `view_update_changes_batch_size`: Specify how many change records will be consumed at a time when rebuilding view indexes when the `query()` method is used. Defaults to 50. * `view_adapter`: Specify a different adapter to store the view index data. **Options for remote databases:** * `fetch(url, opts)`: Intercept or override the HTTP request, you can add or modify any headers or options relating to the http request then return a new fetch Promise. * `auth.username` + `auth.password`: You can specify HTTP auth parameters either by using a database with a name in the form `http://user:pass@host/name` or via the `auth.username` + `auth.password` options. * `skip_setup`: Initially PouchDB checks if the database exists, and tries to create it, if it does not exist yet. Set this to `true` to skip this setup. **Notes:** 1. In IndexedDB PouchDB will use `_pouch_` to prefix the internal database names. Do not manually create databases with the same prefix. 2. When acting as a client on Node, any other options given will be passed to [request][]. 3. When using the `'leveldb'` adapter (the default on Node), any other options given will be passed to [levelup][]. [request]: https://github.com/mikeal/request [levelup]: https://github.com/rvagg/node-levelup [levelup_options]: https://github.com/rvagg/node-levelup/#options #### Example Usage: {% highlight js %} var db = new PouchDB('dbname'); // or var db = new PouchDB('http://localhost:5984/dbname'); {% endhighlight %} Create an in-memory Pouch (must install `pouchdb-adapter-memory` first): {% highlight js %} var db = new PouchDB('dbname', {adapter: 'memory'}); {% endhighlight %} Create a remote PouchDB with special fetch options: {% highlight js %} var db = new PouchDB('http://example.com/dbname', { fetch: function (url, opts) { opts.headers.set('X-Some-Special-Header', 'foo'); return PouchDB.fetch(url, opts); } }); {% endhighlight %} For more info, check out [adapters](/adapters.html).