Neon•2d ago

Is there a way to change a database owner to another role?

I am pretty new to postgres and kind of shot myself in my own foot.
What I did was create an owner role per database, but it makes far more sense to keep one db_admin role which is owner of all of them and then create database specific roles (using SQL) with just the permissions they need for their respective uses cases within the app.
So my question is: Is there a way to transfer ownership of a database to another role in neon?
I have tried:

ALTER DATABASE develop OWNER TO db_admin;

ALTER DATABASE develop OWNER TO db_admin;

as the (generic postgres) documentation says from neon:
https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-administration/postgres-change-database-owner
but I keep hitting errors:

ERROR:  must be able to SET ROLE "db_admin"

ERROR:  must be able to SET ROLE "db_admin"

and

permission denied to grant role "db_admin"

permission denied to grant role "db_admin"

.
From what I can put together, the issue is that the db_admin role is created through the "Neon Console" under Roles & Databases using the neon_superuser role. This means that whenever I login with any of the roles I do have access to, I don't have enough permission to transfer ownership from that role to db_admin.

If you need any other info, pls let me know. Thx in advance.

sacred-roseOP•12/14/25, 8:39 PM

Update: Neon AI assistant, suggested creating a new database with the desired owner and moving all of the schemas/data to the new one. I can do this relatively quickly and personally don't see an issue with it, since it won't affect the original database during or after transferring. My databases are relatively small combined (single digit gigabytes total), but are production which is why I am being extra careful.
Is this the best method?

(I am on the launch plan and don't have access to support which I am assuming has high enough privileges to transfer database ownership).

instant-harlequin•12/15/25, 1:05 AM

Hey!
I would definitely run it on a branch to test things out before doing it to production, and ideally this would be done automatically through CI and tracked as a migration rather than manually.
Also, to clarity, what you're trying to do is transfer ownership of the database

develop

develop

from some role

over to another role ?

Iinstant-harlequin Hey! I would definitely run it on a branch to test things out before doing it to...

sacred-roseOP•12/15/25, 12:10 PM

Yes, I will run it in a test branch to be safe

thx.

To clarify, I have a couple of databases (right now 5). When I first created them I created an owner role like "develop_owner" for each database (so 5 of these roles), but that will just be more work in the long run for literally no benefit. I would like to transfer the ownership to a new role like "db_admin" for all of them that does the administrative work like migrations. I can then have specific roles for my app's backend that has just the permissions it needs to function (for security and simplicity).

So, yes: I am trying to transfer ownership of the database

develop

develop

to a new role like ?
I will then use the same process to transfer ownership of the other databases to as well. With the goal of having one admin role that does the administrative work on the databases.

(This design seems so obvious now: i guess you live and you learn.)

Just to clarify as well: does it make sense to create a new database with the right owner role () and move all of the schemas/data?