---
title: "1: Connecting to a database | SurrealDB University"
description: "Follow along with interactive SurrealDB lessons featuring hands-on exercises, code examples, and step-by-step instructions."
url: https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-01
---

![Course content preview](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/town.D95IYf2V.avif)

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Course chapters

[Welcome to the Tour of SurrealDB!](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour) [1: Connecting to a database](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-01) [2: Creating records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-02) [3: Using the ONLY keyword](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-03) [4: Non-ASCII record IDs](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-04) [5: Parentheses, indexing, and accessing fields](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-05) [6: Deleting records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-06) [7: Field order in objects](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-07) [8: Tips when selecting records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-08) [9: Casting and aliases](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-09) [10: Affixes](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-10) [11: Updating records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-11) [12: Linking records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-12) [13: Viewing the database as a whole](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-13) [14: Schemafull and schemaless](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-14) [15: Viewing the schema](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-15) [16: Literal types and assertions](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-16) [17: INSERT and using JSON](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-17) [18: FOR loops](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-18) [19: Basic graph relations](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-19) [20: Creating graph edges](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-20) [21: Querying graph relations](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-21) [22: Graph relations at greater depth](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-22) [23: Adding and improving data](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-23) [24: Defining events](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-24) [25: Defining indexes](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-25) [26: Improving the schema](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-26) [27: Visualising graph paths](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-27) [28: Recursive queries: setup](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-28) [29: Recursive queries](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-29) [30: More on recursive queries](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-30) [31: AI vector search](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-31) [Done the tour!](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-32)

# 1: Connecting to a database

The examples in this course are inside mini windows of their own that look like this...

```
-- Returns a string"Click on the 'Run Query' button to run this query!";-- Also returns a stringRETURN     "Results display without needing the RETURN keyword, " +     "but you can add it if you want";
```

![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query

...and this.

```
"Just don't forget""the semicolon between statements""or you will get an error.""Add some semicolons to make these statements work!"
```

![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query

You don't need to install SurrealDB or create your own connection to run any of them.

But you can also run the examples in a more manual way, if you prefer. Here is how to do it.

- The SurrealDB Studio sandbox: go to the [SurrealDB Studio website](https://studio.surrealdb.com/) which defaults to a Sandbox connection, and use that in a separate window. You can copy and paste query samples there. The data won't be erased unless you click on "Reset sandbox environment" or reload the window.
- Using SurrealDB Cloud: go to [the website for SurrealDB Studio](https://studio.surrealdb.com/current/instances/deploy) app, click on SurrealDB Cloud and sign up for a free instance.
- Locally: [Install SurrealDB in your machine](https://surrealdb.com/surrealdb/install), then type [`surreal start --user root --pass root`](https://surrealdb.com/docs/reference/cli/surrealdb-cli/commands/start) in a terminal window to start the server with a single root user. Then [connect using SurrealDB Studio](https://surrealdb.com/docs/explore/surrealist/getting-started#creating-a-connection) or use the command `surreal sql --user root --pass root --pretty` in a second terminal window to connect [using the CLI](https://surrealdb.com/docs/reference/cli/surrealdb-cli/overview).

Previous

Welcome to the Tour of SurrealDB!

[Previous](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour)

Next lesson

2: Creating records

[Next lesson](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-02)

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