---
title: Overview of the Neon object hierarchy
summary: >-
  Covers the structure of the Neon object hierarchy, detailing how
  Organizations, Projects, Branches, Computes, Roles, and Databases are
  organized and managed within a Neon environment.
enableTableOfContents: true
isDraft: false
updatedOn: '2026-02-06T22:07:33.120Z'
---

Managing your Neon environment requires an understanding of the Neon object hierarchy. At the top level, an **Organization** contains one or more **Projects**. Each Project contains **Branches**, which in turn contain **Computes**, **Roles**, and **Databases**. The diagram below illustrates this hierarchy.

![Neon object hierarchy](/docs/manage/neon_object_hierarchy.jpg)

## Neon account

Your Neon account represents your user profile and is used for authentication, personal settings, and managing personal API keys. You can sign up for a Neon account with an email, GitHub, Google, or partner account. A single Neon account can belong to multiple organizations.

**API keys** can be personal (global to your account) or scoped to an organization or project. For more details, see [Manage API keys](/docs/manage/api-keys).

## Organizations

Organizations are the top-level containers for projects and resources in Neon. They allow you to organize and manage a team's projects under a single Neon account — with billing, role management, and project transfer capabilities all in one accessible location in the Neon Console.

## Projects

A project is a container for all objects except for API keys, which are global and work with any project owned by your Neon account. Branches, computes, roles, and databases belong to a project. A Neon project also defines the region where project resources reside. A Neon account can have multiple projects, but plan limits define the number of projects per Neon account. For more information, see [Manage projects](/docs/manage/projects).

## Default branch

Data resides in a branch. Each Neon project is created with a default branch (named `production` in the Console, `main` via API/CLI). This initial branch is also your project's root branch, which cannot be deleted. After creating more branches, you can designate a different branch as your default branch, but your root branch cannot be deleted. You can create child branches from any branch in your project. Each branch can contain multiple databases and roles. Plan limits define the number of branches you can create in a project and the amount of data per branch. To learn more, see [Manage branches](/docs/manage/branches).

## R/W computes and Read Replicas

A compute is a virtualized computing resource that includes memory for running applications. In the context of Neon, a compute runs Postgres. When you create a project in Neon, a primary R/W (read/write) compute is created for a project's default branch. Neon supports both R/W and [Read Replica](/docs/introduction/read-replicas) computes. A branch can have a single primary R/W compute but supports multiple Read Replica computes. To connect to a database that resides on a branch, you must connect via a R/W or Read Replica compute associated with the branch. Your Neon plan defines the compute resources available to your R/W and Read Replica computes. For more information, see [Manage computes](/docs/manage/computes). Compute size, autoscaling, and scale to zero are all settings that are configured for R/W and Read Replica computes.

## Roles

In Neon, roles are Postgres roles. A role is required to create and access a database. A role belongs to a branch. There is a limit of 500 roles per branch. The default branch of a Neon project is created with a role named for your database. For example, if your database is named `neondb`, the project is created with a role named `neondb_owner`. This role is the owner of the database. Any role created via the Neon Console, CLI, or API is created with [neon_superuser](/docs/manage/roles#the-neonsuperuser-role) privileges. For more information, see [Manage roles](/docs/manage/roles).

## Databases

As with any standalone instance of Postgres, a database is a container for SQL objects such as schemas, tables, views, functions, and indexes. In Neon, a database belongs to a branch. If you do not specify your own database name when creating a project, the default branch of your project is created with a ready-to-use database named `neondb`. There is a limit of 500 databases per branch. For more information, see [Manage databases](/docs/manage/databases).

## Schemas

All databases in Neon are created with a `public` schema, which is the default behavior for any standard PostgreSQL instance. SQL objects are created in the `public` schema, by default. For more information about the `public` schema, refer to [The Public schema](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/ddl-schemas.html#DDL-SCHEMAS-PUBLIC), in the _PostgreSQL documentation_.
