"The endpoint ID is not specified": old client without SNI

"The endpoint ID is not specified": diagnose and fix

Symptom

ERROR: The endpoint ID is not specified on connect, from older or native Postgres clients.

Cause

Neon routes connections using Server Name Indication (SNI): the endpoint ID is the first part of the hostname. Old libpq-based clients (some psql builds, Java tools on pgJDBC, old drivers) were built without SNI support, so Neon cannot tell which endpoint you want.

Confirm

1. The failing client is old or a native tool (DBeaver/DataGrip/CLion on pgJDBC are called out in the docs).
2. Modern clients with the same string connect fine.

Fix (either)

• Upgrade the Postgres client library for SNI support (preferred).
• Or pass the endpoint ID explicitly as a connection parameter: options=endpoint%3D[endpoint-id] (the endpoint ID is the first part of the hostname).

Verify

The old client connects; new clients were already fine, confirming it was SNI, not credentials.

Neon's connection error docs (verified live 2026-09-26): with older clients lacking SNI support, either upgrade the libpq client library or pass the endpoint ID (first part of the domain name) as a parameter via options.