Database connection settings can be done by registering services in the container.
Here is how we can connect a postgresql database
use Phalcon\DI; use Phalcon\Db\Adapter\Pdo\Postgresql as DbAdapter; /** * We can move this config is a separate config file */ $config = new \Phalcon\Config(array( 'database' => array( 'adapter' => 'Postgresql', 'host' => "localhost", 'username' => "dbuser", 'password' => "dbpass", 'dbname' => "dbnam" ) )); /** * Dependency Injector, this can be Di() or FactoryDefault() */ $di = new Di(); /** * Create a 'Shared' service so new object will not created every time we call */ $di->setShared('db', function () use ($config) { return new DbAdapter(array( 'host' => $config->database->host, 'username' => $config->database->username, 'password' => $config->database->password, 'dbname' => $config->database->dbname )); });