In this quickstart, you’ll create a real-time data pipeline that streams changes from a Postgres database to RabbitMQ. You’ll:

  • Boot Sequin
  • Connect to a sample playground database
  • Configure RabbitMQ to receive database changes
  • See your changes flow in real-time

By the end, you’ll have hands-on experience setting up Postgres change data capture (CDC) with Sequin and RabbitMQ.

This is the quickstart for streaming Postgres to RabbitMQ. See the how-to guide for an explanation of how to use the RabbitMQ sink or the reference for details on all configuration options.

Boot RabbitMQ

If you don’t already have RabbitMQ running, start it with Docker:

docker run -d --name rabbitmq \
  -p 5672:5672 \
  -p 15672:15672 \
  rabbitmq:3-management

This starts RabbitMQ with the management plugin enabled, which we’ll use to set up our exchange and queue.

If you’re using another RabbitMQ instance, ensure you have the connection details ready.

Configure RabbitMQ

Before creating our sink, we need to set up RabbitMQ to receive messages. We’ll:

  1. Create an exchange
  2. Create a queue
  3. Bind the queue to the exchange
1

Open RabbitMQ Management UI

Open http://localhost:15672 in your browser. Login with:

  • Username: guest
  • Password: guest
2

Create an exchange

  1. Click “Exchanges” in the top navigation
  2. Find the “Add a new exchange” accordion and expand it if needed
  3. Enter:
    • Name: sequin
    • Type: topic
    • Leave other settings as default
  4. Click “Add exchange”
3

Create a queue

  1. Click “Queues and streams” in the top navigation
  2. Find the “Add a new queue” accordion and expand it if needed
  3. Enter:
    • Name: products
    • Leave other settings as default
  4. Click “Add queue”
4

Create a binding

  1. On the “Queues and streams” page, click on your new “products” queue
  2. Find the “Bindings” section and expand it if needed
  3. In “Add binding to this queue”, enter:
    • From exchange: sequin
    • Routing key: sequin.sequin_playground.public.products.*
  4. Click “Bind”

This routing key pattern will match all changes to the products table. The format is: sequin.<database_name>.<table_schema>.<table_name>.<action>

You’ve successfully created an exchange, queue, and binding in RabbitMQ.

Run Sequin

The easiest way to get started with Sequin is with our Docker Compose file. This file starts a Postgres database, Redis instance, and Sequin server.

1

Create directory and start services

  1. Download sequin-docker-compose.zip.
  2. Unzip the file.
  3. Navigate to the unzipped directory and start the services:
cd sequin-docker-compose && docker compose up -d
2

Verify services are running

Check that Sequin is running using docker ps:

docker ps

You should see output like the following:

CONTAINER ID   IMAGE                           COMMAND                  CREATED          STATUS                    PORTS                              NAMES
bd5c458cabde   sequin/sequin:latest            "/scripts/start_comm…"   11 seconds ago   Up 9 seconds              4000/tcp, 0.0.0.0:7376->7376/tcp   sequin-sequin-1
3bacd89765e7   grafana/grafana                 "/run.sh"                11 seconds ago   Up 11 seconds             0.0.0.0:3000->3000/tcp             sequin-sequin_grafana-1
3ad41319a66c   postgres:16                     "docker-entrypoint.s…"   11 seconds ago   Up 11 seconds (healthy)   0.0.0.0:7377->5432/tcp             sequin-sequin_postgres-1
6139a5fc4e80   redis:7                         "docker-entrypoint.s…"   11 seconds ago   Up 11 seconds             0.0.0.0:7378->6379/tcp             sequin-sequin_redis-1
7e07a5b052de   prom/prometheus                 "/bin/prometheus --c…"   11 seconds ago   Up 11 seconds             0.0.0.0:9090->9090/tcp             sequin-sequin_prometheus-1

Sequin, Postgres, Redis, Prometheus, and Grafana should be up and running (status: Up).

Login

The Docker Compose file automatically configures Sequin with an admin user and a playground database.

Let’s log in to the Sequin web console:

1

Open the web console

After starting the Docker Compose services, open the Sequin web console at http://localhost:7376:

2

Login with default credentials

Use the following default credentials to login:

  • Email:
admin@sequinstream.com
  • Password:
sequinpassword!

View the playground database

To get you started quickly, Sequin’s Docker Compose file creates a logical database called sequin_playground with a sample dataset in the public.products table.

Let’s take a look:

1

Navigate to Databases

In the Sequin web console, click Databases in the sidebar.

2

Select playground database

Click on the pre-configured sequin-playground database:

The database “Health” should be green.

3

View contents of the products table

Let’s get a sense of what’s in the products table. Run the following command:

docker exec -i sequin-sequin_postgres-1 \
  psql -U postgres -d sequin_playground -c \
  "select id, name, price from products;"

This command connects to the running Postgres container and runs a psql command.

You should see a list of the rows in the products table:

  id |         name          | price 
----+-----------------------+-------
  1 | Avocados (3 pack)     |  5.99
  2 | Flank Steak (1 lb)    |  8.99
  3 | Salmon Fillet (12 oz) | 14.99
  4 | Baby Spinach (16 oz)  |  4.99
  5 | Sourdough Bread       |  6.99
  6 | Blueberries (6 oz)    |  3.99
(6 rows)

We’ll make modifications to this table in a bit.

Create a RabbitMQ Sink

With the playground database connected and RabbitMQ configured, you can create a sink. This sink will send changes to the products table to your RabbitMQ exchange:

1

Navigate to Sinks

Click “Sinks” in the sidebar navigation, then click “Create Sink”.

2

Select sink type

Select “RabbitMQ” as the sink type and click “Continue”.

3

Note "Source" configuration

In the “Source” card, note that the sequin-playground database is selected and all schemas and tables are included. Leave these defaults:

4

Setup a backfill

In the Inital backfill card, select the public.products table to initate a backfill when the sink is created.

5

Configure "RabbitMQ Configuration"

In the “RabbitMQ Configuration” card, enter your connection details:

  • Host: If running locally with Docker, use host.docker.internal
  • Port: The port RabbitMQ is listening on (default: 5672)
  • Exchange: The exchange name we created earlier (sequin)
  • Username and Password: Leave blank
  • SSL: Leave disabled
6

Test the connection

At the bottom of the form, click the “Test Connection” button. If you provided proper credentials, it should succeed.

Sequin can connect to your RabbitMQ server.

7

Create the sink

You can leave the rest of the defaults. As configured, messages will first flow for all existing rows in the products table. Then, you’ll receive all changes to the products table in real-time.

Click “Create Sink” to finish setting up your RabbitMQ sink.

See changes flow through RabbitMQ

On the new sink’s overview page, you should see the “Health” status turn green, indicating data is flowing to RabbitMQ.

Let’s confirm messages are flowing:

1

Messages tab

Click the “Messages” tab. You’ll see a list of the recently delivered messages:

Sequin indicates it backfilled the products table to RabbitMQ.

2

View in RabbitMQ

You can view messages in your queue using the RabbitMQ management UI or CLI:

docker exec -it rabbitmq rabbitmqadmin get queue=products count=5 --format=pretty_json

You should see the messages that were sent from Sequin. These are read events from the initial backfill of the products table:

Messages are flowing from Sequin to RabbitMQ.

3

Make some changes

Let’s make some changes to the products table and see them flow through RabbitMQ.

In your terminal, run the following command to insert a new row into the products table:

docker exec -i sequin-sequin_postgres-1 \
  psql -U postgres -d sequin_playground -c \
  "insert into products (name, price) values ('Organic Honey (16 oz)', 12.99);"

Check your queue for the new message:

docker exec -it rabbitmq rabbitmqadmin get queue=products count=10 --format=pretty_json

You should see a message corresponding to the inserted row.

Feel free to try other changes:

Each change will appear in your RabbitMQ queue within a few seconds.

If you want to purge your RabbitMQ queue, you can do so by running:

docker exec -it rabbitmq rabbitmqadmin purge queue name=products

Great work!

You’ve successfully:

  • Set up a complete Postgres change data capture pipeline
  • Configured RabbitMQ with an exchange, queue, and binding
  • Loaded existing data through a backfill
  • Made changes to the products table
  • Verified changes are flowing through RabbitMQ

​
Ready to stream

Now you’re ready to connect your own database to Sequin and start streaming changes:

Guide: Connect Postgres

Connect your Postgres database to Sequin.

Guide: Setting up a RabbitMQ sink

Setup a RabbitMQ sink to stream your changes.