QuickStart

Databend Quick Start: Experience Databend in 5 Minutes This guide will help you quickly set up Databend, connect to it, and perform a basic data import.

1. Start Databend with Docker

Run the following command to launch Databend in a container:

docker run -d \
    --name databend \
    --network host \
    -e MINIO_ENABLED=true \
    -e QUERY_DEFAULT_USER=databend \
    -e QUERY_DEFAULT_PASSWORD=databend \
    -v minio_data_dir:/var/lib/minio \
    --restart unless-stopped \
    datafuselabs/databend

Check if Databend is running successfully:

docker logs -f databend

Wait until you see logs indicating that Databend and MinIO are ready.

2. Connect to Databend

Install bendsql (Databend CLI):

curl -fsSL https://repo.databend.com/install/bendsql.sh | bash
echo "export PATH=$PATH:~/.bendsql/bin" >>~/.bash_profile
source ~/.bash_profile

Connect to Databend:

bendsql -udatabend -pdatabend

3. Perform a Basic Data Import

Step 1: Create an External Bucket (myupload)

Install mc (MinIO client) and create a bucket:

wget https://dl.min.io/client/mc/release/linux-amd64/mc
sudo cp mc /usr/local/bin/ && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/mc
mc alias set myminio http://localhost:9000 minioadmin minioadmin
mc mb myminio/myupload
mc ls myminio

Expected output:

[0001-01-01 08:05:43 LMT]     0B databend/
[2025-04-12 08:43:59 CST]     0B myupload/

Step 2: Generate a CSV and Upload to myupload

echo -e "id,name,age,city\n1,John,32,New York\n2,Emma,28,London\n3,Liam,35,Paris\n4,Olivia,40,Berlin\n5,Noah,29,Tokyo" > data.csv
mc cp data.csv myminio/myupload/
mc ls myminio/myupload/

Step 3: Create an External Stage and Check Data

Run in bendsql:

CREATE STAGE mystage 's3://myupload' 
CONNECTION=(
  endpoint_url='http://127.0.0.1:9000',
  access_key_id='minioadmin',
  secret_access_key='minioadmin',
  region='us-east-1'
);

Show files in the external stage @mystage:

LIST @mystage;

name	size	md5	last_modified	creator
String	UInt64	Nullable(String)	String	Nullable(String)
data.csv	104	"a27fa15258911f534fb795a8c64e05d4"	2025-04-12 00:51:11.015 +0000	NULL

Preview the CSV data:

SELECT $1, $2, $3, $4 FROM @mystage/data.csv (FILE_FORMAT=>'CSV') LIMIT 10;

$1	$2	$3	$4
Nullable(String)	Nullable(String)	Nullable(String)	Nullable(String)
id	name	age	city
1	John	32	New York
2	Emma	28	London
3	Liam	35	Paris
4	Olivia	40	Berlin
5	Noah	29	Tokyo

Step 4: Create a Table and Load Data

CREATE DATABASE wubx;
USE wubx;

CREATE TABLE t_person (
  id INT,
  name VARCHAR,
  age INT UNSIGNED,
  city VARCHAR
);

COPY INTO t_person FROM @mystage PATTERN='.*[.]csv' FILE_FORMAT=(TYPE=CSV, SKIP_HEADER=1);

File	Rows_loaded	Errors_seen	First_error	First_error_line
String	Int32	Int32	Nullable(String)	Nullable(Int32)
data.csv	5	0	NULL	NULL

Step 5: Query the Data

SELECT * FROM t_person;

id	name	age	city
Nullable(Int32)	Nullable(String)	Nullable(UInt32)	Nullable(String)
1	John	32	New York
2	Emma	28	London
3	Liam	35	Paris
4	Olivia	40	Berlin
5	Noah	29	Tokyo

🚀 Now you’ve successfully imported data into Databend!

Alternative: Databend Cloud

If setting up a local environment is troublesome, you can try Databend Cloud for a fully managed experience.

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