Get Started with HeliosDB in 5 Minutes

The world's first AI-driven autonomous database with multi-protocol support

Stop reading, start building. This guide gets you from zero to running queries in under 5 minutes.

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Prerequisites

You need just one thing: - Docker (Install Docker)

That's it. No complex setup, no dependencies.

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Step 1: Start HeliosDB (30 seconds)

Run this single command:

docker run -d \
  --name heliosdb \
  -p 5432:5432 \
  -p 1521:1521 \
  -p 3306:3306 \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -e HELIOS_PASSWORD=mysecretpassword \
  heliosdb/heliosdb:latest

What just happened? - HeliosDB server is running in the background - Ports exposed: - 5432 - PostgreSQL protocol - 1521 - Oracle TNS protocol - 3306 - MySQL protocol - 8080 - HTTP REST API

Verify it's running:

docker logs heliosdb
# You should see: " HeliosDB ready on all protocols"

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Step 2: Connect Your Way (Pick One)

Option A: PostgreSQL Client

# Using psql
psql -h localhost -p 5432 -U helios -d helios
# Password: mysecretpassword

# Or using any PostgreSQL client
pgcli postgresql://helios:mysecretpassword@localhost:5432/helios

Option B: Oracle Client

# Using sqlplus
sqlplus helios/mysecretpassword@localhost:1521/helios

# Or using TNS connection string
sqlplus helios/mysecretpassword@"(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=localhost)(PORT=1521))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=helios)))"

Option C: MySQL Client

# Using mysql
mysql -h localhost -P 3306 -u helios -p
# Password: mysecretpassword

# Or using connection string
mysql://helios:mysecretpassword@localhost:3306/helios

Option D: HTTP REST API

# Using curl
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/query \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "sql": "SELECT 1 AS hello",
    "database": "helios"
  }'

# Response:
# {"rows": [{"hello": 1}], "rowCount": 1}

Option E: Python

# Install client
pip install psycopg2-binary

# Run query
python3 << 'EOF'
import psycopg2
conn = psycopg2.connect(
    "host=localhost port=5432 dbname=helios user=helios password=mysecretpassword"
)
cur = conn.cursor()
cur.execute("SELECT 'Hello from HeliosDB!' AS greeting")
print(cur.fetchone()[0])
conn.close()
EOF

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Step 3: Run Your First Queries (2 minutes)

Copy-paste these into your connected client:

Create a Table

CREATE TABLE users (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    name TEXT NOT NULL,
    email TEXT UNIQUE,
    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

Insert Data

INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES
    ('Alice Anderson', 'alice@example.com'),
    ('Bob Builder', 'bob@example.com'),
    ('Carol Chen', 'carol@example.com');

Query Data

SELECT * FROM users;

Expected Output:

 id |      name       |       email        |     created_at
----+-----------------+--------------------+--------------------
  1 | Alice Anderson  | alice@example.com  | 2025-11-07 10:30:00
  2 | Bob Builder     | bob@example.com    | 2025-11-07 10:30:01
  3 | Carol Chen      | carol@example.com  | 2025-11-07 10:30:02

Advanced: Vector Similarity Search

-- Create table with vector embeddings
CREATE TABLE documents (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    content TEXT,
    embedding VECTOR(384)
);

-- Insert document with embedding
INSERT INTO documents (content, embedding) VALUES
    ('Machine learning tutorial', ARRAY[0.1, 0.5, 0.3, ...]::VECTOR(384));

-- Find similar documents
SELECT content, embedding <-> '[0.1, 0.5, 0.3, ...]'::VECTOR(384) AS distance
FROM documents
ORDER BY embedding <-> '[0.1, 0.5, 0.3, ...]'::VECTOR(384)
LIMIT 5;

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Step 4: Explore Features (1 minute)

Multi-Protocol Magic

Same database, different protocols simultaneously:

# Terminal 1: PostgreSQL
psql -h localhost -p 5432 -U helios -d helios -c "SELECT 'PostgreSQL!' AS protocol"

# Terminal 2: Oracle
sqlplus helios/mysecretpassword@localhost:1521/helios << EOF
SELECT 'Oracle!' AS protocol FROM DUAL;
EXIT;
EOF

# Terminal 3: MySQL
mysql -h localhost -P 3306 -u helios -pmysecretpassword -e "SELECT 'MySQL!' AS protocol"

All three connect to the SAME data!

Autonomous Features

-- Let HeliosDB automatically create optimal indexes
SET autonomous_indexing = on;

-- AI-powered query optimization
EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM users WHERE email LIKE '%example.com';
-- Notice: Auto-created index on email (pattern matching)

-- Self-healing example
-- HeliosDB detects slow queries and auto-optimizes

Distributed Queries

-- Create sharded table (auto-distributed across nodes)
CREATE TABLE orders (
    order_id BIGINT,
    customer_id INT,
    amount DECIMAL(10,2)
) SHARD BY HASH(customer_id);

-- Queries automatically routed to correct shards
INSERT INTO orders VALUES (1, 100, 49.99);
SELECT * FROM orders WHERE customer_id = 100;  -- Single shard access

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Step 5: Check the Dashboard (30 seconds)

Open your browser:

HeliosDB Management Console

http://localhost:8080/console

What you'll see: - Real-time query performance metrics - Autonomous indexing recommendations - Multi-protocol connection stats - Resource utilization graphs

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What's Next?

10-Minute Tutorials

Pick your path:

1. Basic CRUD Operations - Master insert, update, delete
2. Vector Search Deep Dive - Build semantic search
3. Multi-Protocol Guide - Use PostgreSQL, Oracle, MySQL together
4. Distributed Queries - Sharding and partitioning

Migration Guides

Migrating from another database?

• Oracle → HeliosDB - 2-hour migration, $1M+ savings
• PostgreSQL → HeliosDB - Drop-in replacement
• MySQL → HeliosDB - Seamless migration
• Multi-Database Consolidation - Replace 5+ databases

Production Deployment

Ready for production?

• Deployment Guide - HA cluster setup
• Performance Tuning - Squeeze every millisecond
• Security Hardening - TDE, RLS, audit logs
• Monitoring Setup - Prometheus + Grafana

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Common First Steps

Load Sample Dataset

# Download sample e-commerce dataset
curl -O https://heliosdb.com/samples/ecommerce.sql

# Load into HeliosDB
psql -h localhost -p 5432 -U helios -d helios -f ecommerce.sql

# Explore
psql -h localhost -p 5432 -U helios -d helios -c "\dt"

Connect from Your Application

Python:

import psycopg2
conn = psycopg2.connect("postgresql://helios:mysecretpassword@localhost:5432/helios")

Java:

String url = "jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/helios";
Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection(url, "helios", "mysecretpassword");

Node.js:

const { Client } = require('pg');
const client = new Client({
  host: 'localhost',
  port: 5432,
  database: 'helios',
  user: 'helios',
  password: 'mysecretpassword'
});
await client.connect();

Go:

connStr := "postgresql://helios:mysecretpassword@localhost:5432/helios"
db, err := sql.Open("postgres", connStr)

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Troubleshooting

Can't Connect?

Check if HeliosDB is running:

docker ps | grep heliosdb

View logs:

docker logs heliosdb

Restart:

docker restart heliosdb

Port Already in Use?

Change ports:

docker run -d \
  --name heliosdb \
  -p 15432:5432 \
  -p 11521:1521 \
  -p 13306:3306 \
  -e HELIOS_PASSWORD=mysecretpassword \
  heliosdb/heliosdb:latest

# Then connect to port 15432 instead of 5432

Password Issues?

Reset password:

docker exec -it heliosdb heliosdb-cli reset-password --user helios

Still Stuck?

• Documentation: docs.heliosdb.com
• FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
• Troubleshooting Guide: Complete troubleshooting
• Community: Discord | GitHub Issues

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Stop HeliosDB

When you're done:

# Stop container
docker stop heliosdb

# Remove container (keeps data)
docker rm heliosdb

# Remove container and data
docker rm -f heliosdb
docker volume prune

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Why HeliosDB?

In those 5 minutes, you just:

• Connected via 3 different protocols (PostgreSQL, Oracle, MySQL)
• Created tables, inserted data, ran queries
• Experienced autonomous optimization (no manual tuning)
• Explored vector search (semantic similarity)
• Saw distributed sharding (auto-scaling)

All in one database. Zero configuration.

What Makes HeliosDB Different?

Feature	Traditional DB	HeliosDB
Setup Time	Hours to days	5 minutes
Multi-Protocol	No (1 protocol only)	3 protocols
Autonomous	Manual tuning	98% autonomous
Vector Search	Extension required	Native
Sharding	Complex setup	Automatic
Cold Start	30+ seconds	170ms
Cost (Dev DB)	$292/month	$48/month

Production-Ready Features

• ACID Transactions - Serializable isolation
• High Availability - Multi-master replication
• Point-in-Time Recovery - Backup & restore
• Encryption - TDE, column encryption, network TLS
• Audit Logging - Blockchain-verified trails
• Monitoring - Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry
• Compliance - GDPR, HIPAA, SOC2

Enterprise Support

• Migration Services - White-glove Oracle/PostgreSQL migration
• Training - On-site and remote
• SLA - 99.99% uptime guarantee
• Support - 24/7 email and Slack

Contact: enterprise@heliosdb.com

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Quick Reference

Essential Commands

# Start HeliosDB
docker run -d --name heliosdb -p 5432:5432 heliosdb/heliosdb:latest

# Connect (PostgreSQL)
psql -h localhost -p 5432 -U helios -d helios

# View logs
docker logs -f heliosdb

# Stop
docker stop heliosdb

# Full reset
docker rm -f heliosdb && docker volume prune -f

Essential SQL

-- List tables
\dt

-- Describe table
\d table_name

-- Create index
CREATE INDEX idx_name ON table_name(column);

-- Check performance
EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT ...;

-- Enable autonomous features
SET autonomous_indexing = on;
SET autonomous_tuning = on;

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Success!

You've completed the HeliosDB quickstart!

What you learned: - Start HeliosDB in one command - Connect via PostgreSQL, Oracle, MySQL, REST - Create tables and query data - Use vector similarity search - Explore autonomous features

Next steps: 1. Pick a tutorial from tutorials/ 2. Explore the User Guide 3. Join the Community

Ready to migrate? Check out our Migration Guides

Questions? See the FAQ or Troubleshooting Guide

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Welcome to the future of databases. Welcome to HeliosDB.

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