---
title: Connecting to Databases
sidebar_label: Overview
sidebar_position: 1
---

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import { DatabaseIndex } from '@site/src/components/databases';
import databaseData from '@site/src/data/databases.json';

# Connecting to Databases

Superset does not ship bundled with connectivity to databases. The main step in connecting
Superset to a database is to **install the proper database driver(s)** in your environment.

:::note
You'll need to install the required packages for the database you want to use as your metadata database
as well as the packages needed to connect to the databases you want to access through Superset.
For information about setting up Superset's metadata database, please refer to
installation documentations ([Docker Compose](/admin-docs/installation/docker-compose), [Kubernetes](/admin-docs/installation/kubernetes))
:::

## Supported Databases

Superset supports **73 databases** with varying levels of feature support.
Click on any database name to see detailed documentation including connection strings,
authentication methods, and configuration options.

<DatabaseIndex data={databaseData} />

## Installing Database Drivers

Superset requires a Python [DB-API database driver](https://peps.python.org/pep-0249/)
and a [SQLAlchemy dialect](https://docs.sqlalchemy.org/en/20/dialects/) to be installed for
each database engine you want to connect to.

### Installing Drivers in Docker

For Docker deployments, create a `requirements-local.txt` file in the `docker` directory:

```bash
# Create the requirements file
touch ./docker/requirements-local.txt

# Add your driver (e.g., for PostgreSQL)
echo "psycopg2-binary" >> ./docker/requirements-local.txt
```

Then restart your containers. The drivers will be installed automatically.

### Installing Drivers with pip

For non-Docker installations:

```bash
pip install <driver-package>
```

See individual database pages for the specific driver packages needed.

## Connecting Through the UI

1. Go to **Settings → Data: Database Connections**
2. Click **+ DATABASE**
3. Select your database type or enter a SQLAlchemy URI
4. Click **Test Connection** to verify
5. Click **Connect** to save

## Contributing

To add or update database documentation, add a `metadata` attribute to your engine spec class in
`superset/db_engine_specs/`. Documentation is auto-generated from these metadata attributes.

See [METADATA_STATUS.md](https://github.com/apache/superset/blob/master/superset/db_engine_specs/METADATA_STATUS.md)
for the current status of database documentation and the [README](https://github.com/apache/superset/blob/master/superset/db_engine_specs/README.md) for the metadata schema.

:::info Developer Note
This documentation was built without Flask context, so feature diagnostics (scores, time grain support, etc.)
may not reflect actual database capabilities. For full diagnostics, build docs locally with:

```bash
cd docs && npm run gen-db-docs
```

This requires a working Superset development environment.
:::