---
title: "HeliosDB-Lite Quick Start Guide"
---

# HeliosDB-Lite Quick Start Guide

Get started with time-travel queries, database branching, materialized views, and system views in a few minutes.

## Start The REPL

```bash
heliosdb-lite repl
```

## Five-Minute Demo

```sql
CREATE TABLE users (id INT, name TEXT, status TEXT);
INSERT INTO users VALUES (1, 'Alice', 'active');

SELECT * FROM users AS OF NOW;
SELECT * FROM users AS OF TIMESTAMP '2025-11-28 09:00:00';
SELECT * FROM users AS OF TRANSACTION 1;

CREATE DATABASE BRANCH demo FROM main AS OF NOW;
SELECT branch_name, status FROM pg_database_branches();
DROP DATABASE BRANCH IF EXISTS demo;

\q
```

## Materialized View Demo

```sql
CREATE TABLE orders (id INT, region TEXT, amount INT);
INSERT INTO orders VALUES (1, 'west', 100), (2, 'west', 150), (3, 'east', 80);

CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW order_totals AS
SELECT region, SUM(amount) AS total
FROM orders
GROUP BY region;

SELECT * FROM order_totals;
REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW order_totals;
SELECT * FROM pg_mv_staleness();
```

## System Views

```sql
SELECT * FROM pg_database_branches();
SELECT * FROM pg_mv_staleness();
SELECT * FROM pg_vector_index_stats();
```

## Resources

- [Database Branching Tutorial](https://www.heliosdb.com/docs/lite/guides/tutorials/database_branching_tutorial/)
- [System Catalog](https://www.heliosdb.com/docs/lite/reference/system_catalog/)