Getting Started

This section covers installing HeliosDB-Lite, a first session, and the deployment modes.

Quick Navigation

Guide	Description	Time
Installation	Install HeliosDB-Lite for your platform	2 min
Quick Start	Create your first database and run queries	5 min
Deployment Modes	Choose embedded, server, or in-memory mode	5 min

Prerequisites

• A HeliosDB-Lite licence: Lite is available to licensed customers; contact sales@heliosdb.com for access to the source distribution
• Rust 1.70+ (to build the heliosdb-lite binary from the source distribution)

Fastest Path

# Build the CLI in the unpacked source distribution
cd heliosdb-lite && cargo build --release
export PATH="$PWD/target/release:$PATH"

# Start REPL
heliosdb-lite repl --data-dir ./mydb

# Create and query
> CREATE TABLE users (id INT PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT);
> INSERT INTO users VALUES (1, 'Alice');
> SELECT * FROM users;

What’s Next?

After getting started, explore:

• SQL Reference - Complete SQL syntax guide
• Features - Branching, time-travel, vectors
• API Reference - REST API and SDK documentation