Connections and services

A connection is not owned by the service you created it from. It is a platform object that services are linked to, and that one fact explains most of what is otherwise surprising about permissions and the wizard.

One source, many services

The credentials for a database are stored once. Several services can then be linked to that same source, each choosing its own set of visible tables.

The Add Connection wizard shows both halves of this. Create New makes a new platform source and links it to the current service in one step — the button says Create & Link. Link Existing lists sources that already exist on the platform, each with a Link button.

If someone else has already connected the database you need, linking is the right move. Creating a second connection to the same database means two sets of credentials to rotate and two things to keep online.

Why creating needs an admin

Creating, editing, and deleting a platform source needs the platform admin role. Browsing what is already linked, enabling tables, building views, and querying do not.

This follows from the sharing. A source holds credentials that may be reachable from other services, so the act of introducing one is a platform decision rather than a service one.

The practical effect is a split workflow. An administrator connects the database once. Service members then link it, choose their tables, and build views without needing elevated access.

Visibility is per service, not per source

Each service picks its own visible tables on a shared source. Service A can expose three tables and Service B can expose a different two, from the same connection.

So “is this table available?” is always a question about a service, never about a connection. The same connection can look full in one service and empty in another.

Deleting

Deleting a connection from the workspace removes it. Because the source can be linked elsewhere, this is worth pausing over — the delete control sits directly on each connection in the sidebar, next to connections you may only be visiting.

Form Tables is the exception

Every service with forms gets a Form Tables connection, generated from that service’s own form submissions. It is not a platform source, nothing links it, and it does not appear in the wizard. It has its own tab in the connections sidebar and otherwise behaves like any other source — its tables can be enabled, previewed, joined, and built into views.

Connect a source covers both halves of the wizard. Permissions sets out exactly which actions need which role.