---
tags:
  - how-to
  - dfrnt-cloud
  - beginner
title: How to connect to TerminusDB
nextjs:
  metadata:
    title: How to connect to TerminusDB
    description: How to connect with TerminusDB using an API key
    keywords: terminusdb, api, client, connect, connect to terminusdb, connection
    openGraph:
      images: https://assets.terminusdb.com/docs/technical-documentation-terminuscms-og.png
    alternates:
      canonical: https://terminusdb.org/docs/how-to-connect-dfrnt-hub/
media:
  - alt: Client examples
    caption: ""
    media_type: Image
    title: Client examples
    value: https://cdn.terminusdb.com/img/terminus-cms/client_api_connection.jpeg
---

{% callout type="note" %}
**Prerequisites**
- A DFRNT Hub account
- An API key ([get one](/docs/get-your-api-key/))
{% /callout %}

{% callout type="note" %}
**What you'll achieve**
By the end of this guide, you will have connected to DFRNT Hub programmatically.
{% /callout %}

{% callout type="note" %}
**TerminusCMS is now DFRNT Hub**
TerminusCMS has been renamed to **DFRNT Hub**. All features described on this page are available at [dfrnt.com](https://dfrnt.com/hypergraph-content-studio/). The TerminusDB open source database remains unchanged.
{% /callout %}


Cloud hosted TerminusDB is available from [https://dfrnt.com](https://dfrnt.com/hypergraph-content-studio/) that is maintaining TerminusDB since 2025. Register an account or sign up if you haven't already, to get started fast.

DFRNT includes a full high quality modeller, visualisation and git-for-data support for all supported TerminusDB features. It enables a "closed-world" document-oriented knowledge graph with a datalog with variable unification, for a precise and small subset of JSON-LD-like document representation and advanced knowledge graph querying.

DFRNT is offered as a SaaS platform, complete with the TerminusDB data product API and where API tokens can be generated for your cloud instance in the settings section. It naturally supports a graphical UI for git-for-data actions like clone, push, pull, merge, rebase etc.

<!-- {% figure src="https://dfrnt.com/static/aea014768b104377ca7fb7ffd671029c/fee1b/screenshot-new-graph-workspaces.webp" alt="Visualisation of connections between documents with cloud hosting (dfrnt.com)" caption="Visualisation of connections between documents with cloud hosting (dfrnt.com)" %}
{% /figure %} -->

[Sign up today to try the modern modelling experience](https://dfrnt.com/sign-up/).

[Read more about the DFRNT content studio](https://dfrnt.com/hypergraph-content-studio/).

## Next steps

You're connected to DFRNT Hub. Now start building:

- [**Get your API key**](/docs/get-your-api-key/) — mint a token to authenticate programmatically
- [**TypeScript quickstart**](/docs/connect-with-the-javascript-client/) — build, branch, and query with the JS client
- [**HTTP Documents API**](/docs/http-documents-api/) — CRUD operations using curl or any HTTP client