Getting started with TimescaleDB

Congratulations!! You’re ready to jump in and start using TimescaleDB. Smart move!

What is TimescaleDB?

Developers often refer to TimescaleDB as PostgreSQL with time-series superpowers. Put another way, TimescaleDB is a relational database with native time-series optimizations to make ingesting, storing and analyzing time-series data at petabyte scale fast and easy. TimescaleDB is packaged as a PostgreSQL extension. It also supports all the standard PostgreSQL database objects, like tables, indexes, triggers, and more. Moreover, a TimescaleDB database is able to coexist with PostgreSQL database (and other TimescaleDB databases) on a single server.

TimescaleDB also supports the full SQL language and you can use TimescaleDB with all the tools and connectors in the PostgreSQL ecosystem. If it works with PostgreSQL, it works with Timescale!

Let’s get up and running

This Getting Started section will give you a hands-on introduction to the fundamentals of TimescaleDB. Using a real-world dataset, you’ll learn definitions of key terms (like hypertables and chunks), mental models for working with TimescaleDB, as well as TimescaleDB’s key features (like continuous aggregation, compression and data retention) and when, why and how to use them.

• 1. Launch your first instance
• 2. Access your database
• 3. Create a hypertable
• 4. Add time-series data
• 5. Query your data
• 6. Create a continuous aggregate
• 7. Save space with compression
• 8. Learn about data retention
• 9. Next steps