---
title: 'Your first connection'
sidebarTitle: 'Quickstart'
description: 'Connect a database and run your first query.'
keywords: ['getting started', 'tutorial', 'first steps', 'onboarding']
---

## 1. Open Tamery

[Download the desktop app](https://tamery.app/download) or [open the web app](https://web.tamery.app).

Sign in with email, Google, or GitHub. Email sign-in sends you a one-time code, so there is no password to remember. Once you [add a passkey](/account/settings#passkeys), the sign-in page asks for your fingerprint, face, or device PIN after your email, instead of sending a code.

## 2. Add a connection

Click **New connection** and paste your connection string. Anything that looks like one works: a URL, an `.env` file, a `psql` command. Tamery fills in the fields for you.

```text
postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/mydb
```

Click **Save connection**. Tamery tests it first, so a typo never ends up saved by accident. The name is optional; leave it and you get a random one.

If the test fails, the form points at the field that is likely wrong and offers a fix when it knows one. **Explain with AI** helps with stranger errors.

For a database on your own machine, use the desktop app, or run [`tamery bridge`](/cli/overview) next to the web app.

## 3. Explore

Open the connection and pick a table in the Navigator. Click a column header to sort. Use the filter field to narrow the rows.

To run SQL, click **+** in the tab bar, choose **New query** and try:

```sql
SELECT 1 AS hello;
```

Press **Cmd+Enter** on macOS or **Ctrl+Enter** on Windows and Linux. It runs the statement under the caret.

From here, [edit table data](/features/table-browser), [explore the schema](/features/schema-visualizer), or [ask the AI assistant](/features/ai-assistant). Lost? Press **Cmd+P** (**Ctrl+P**) and type what you want to do.