## Database Blocks

- Published on Sep 24, 2025  
- 1 minute(s) read

## Overview

Database Blocks allow you to make queries from Hyperscience to databases, which allows for additional data extraction and validation from your systems.

Database Blocks support three types of databases - Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MSSQL. To learn more about the supported database versions for each of the three database types, see Database Specifications in [Infrastructure Requirements (Production)](https://help.hyperscience.ai/v42/docs/infrastructure-requirements#specifications).

## Sample use cases

- I want to call out to an external database to validate data I have extracted from my submission.
- I want to call out to an external database to pull in additional data to enhance the submission data I have in my flow.

## Block settings table

You can configure and customize your Database Block by editing the settings described below.

|     |     |     |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Name | Required? | Description |
| Database type | Yes | The type of database you want to connect to. The currently supported types are **MSSQL**, **Oracle**, and **Postgres**. |
| Timeout | No | Query timeout in seconds. Timeout only takes effect for MSSQL and Postgres. |
| Host/Server | Yes | URL/IP address of the server the database is hosted on. |
| Port | Yes | The value you enter for the port depends on the type of database you’re using. Below you can find the default ports for each supported database type:<br>- MSSQL - 1433<br>  <br>- Oracle - 1521<br>  <br>- Postgres - 5432 |
| Database/Service | Yes | Database or Service name |
| Username | Yes | Database username |
| Password | Yes | Database password |
| Additional options | No | Dictionary of additional connection string options |
| Query | Yes | A query that could be parameterized |
| Parameters | No | Key-value pairs for parameters included in the query |

## Building a database query

Database blocks can validate and pull additional data from a database using queries. These queries are defined with **Query** and **Parameters**. The **Query** could be parameterized, and query parameterization is database specific as explained below:

- MSSQL: Parameters should be specified in the query with _@paramName_ notation
- Oracle: Parameters should be specified in the query with _:paramName_ notation
- Postgres: Parameters should be specified in the query with _%(paramName)s_ notation

Here is an example of how **Query** and **Parameters** should be defined for an MSSQL database:

- **Query**: _SELECT Id, Name, Age, Location FROM Employees WHERE Name = @name AND Age = @age_  
- **Parameters**: _{"name": "Tom", "age": 32}_

The query will pull additional data from the database, and the output from the Database Block will look like the following:

```json
{"result": [{"Id": 2,"Name": "Tom","Age": 32,"Location": "Texas"}]}
```

Reserved words and keywords in a database (e.g., “DESC” in Oracle) can’t be used as parameter names. Also, values used to constrain the number of rows returned by the query (e.g., _10_ in _Limit 10_) can’t be parameterized.