Quickstart with CockroachDB

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This page shows you how to get started with CockroachDB quickly. You'll use the CockroachDB Cloud Console to create a CockroachDB Serverless cluster and then insert and read some sample data from a Java sample application.

Create a CockroachDB Serverless cluster

1. If you haven't already, sign up for a CockroachDB Cloud account.
2. Log in to your CockroachDB Cloud account.
3. On the Clusters page, click Create Cluster.
4. On the Create your cluster page, select Serverless.

5. Click Create cluster.

   Your cluster will be created in a few seconds and the Create SQL user dialog will display.

Create a SQL user

The Create SQL user dialog allows you to create a new SQL user and password.

1. Enter a username in the SQL user field or use the one provided by default.
2. Click Generate & save password.
3. Copy the generated password and save it in a secure location.

4. Click Next.

   Currently, all new SQL users are created with admin privileges. For more information and to change the default settings, see Managing SQL users on a cluster.

Connect to the cluster

Once you create a SQL user, the Connect to cluster dialog will show information about how to connect to your cluster.

1. Select Java from the Select option/language dropdown.

2. Copy the JDBC_DATABASE_URL environment variable command provided and save it in a secure location.

   This Quickstart uses default certificates, so you can skip the Download CA Cert instructions.

   Note:

   The connection string is pre-populated with your username, password, cluster name, and other details. Your password, in particular, will be provided only once. Save it in a secure place (Cockroach Labs recommends a password manager) to connect to your cluster in the future. If you forget your password, a Cluster Administrator can reset it. Refer to: Managing SQL users on a cluster

Configure the connection environment variable

export JDBC_DATABASE_URL="<jdbc-connection-string>"

$env:JDBC_DATABASE_URL = "<jdbc-connection-string>"

Run the Java sample code

1. Clone the quickstart-code-samples repo:

   git clone https://github.com/cockroachdb/quickstart-code-samples
   

2. Navigate to the java directory of the repo:

   cd quickstart-code-samples/java
   

   The code sample in this directory does the following:

   1. Connects to CockroachDB Cloud with the JDBC driver using the JDBC connection string set in the JDBC_DATABASE_URL environment variable.
   2. Creates a table.
   3. Inserts some data into the table.
   4. Reads the inserted data.
   5. Prints the data to the terminal.

3. Run the application using gradlew:

   ./gradlew run
   

   The output should look like this:

   > Task :app:run
   Hello world!
   
   BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 3s
   2 actionable tasks: 2 executed
   

Learn more

Now that you have a free CockroachDB Serverless cluster running, try out the following:

• Build a simple CRUD application in Go, Java, Node.js, or Python.
• Learn CockroachDB SQL.
• Create and manage SQL users.
• Explore our example apps for examples on how to build applications using your preferred driver or ORM and run it on CockroachDB.
• Migrate your existing data.

This page highlights just one way you can get started with CockroachDB. For information on other options that are available when creating a CockroachDB cluster, see the following:

• To create a Self-Hosted cluster, see Start a Local Cluster.
• To create a CockroachDB Dedicated cluster, see Quickstart with CockroachDB Dedicated.
• To create a CockroachDB Serverless cluster with other configurations (e.g., a different cloud provider, region, or monthly budget), see Create a CockroachDB Serverless Cluster.
• To connect to a CockroachDB Serverless cluster with other options (e.g., a different SQL user) and connection methods (with an application or CockroachDB compatible tool), see Connect to a CockroachDB Serverless Cluster.

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