Quick Start

This guide shows you how to start Embucket and run your first query in under 5 minutes. You use Embucket’s single-binary architecture to reach your first “magic moment” quickly.

Read this guide to:

• Start Embucket with zero external dependencies
• Execute SQL queries using the web dashboard
• Create and query your first table

This guide doesn’t cover production deployment or advanced configuration options.

Step 1: Start Embucket

Start the Embucket server:

docker run --name embucket --rm -p 8080:8080 -p 3000:3000 embucket/embucket

Done. You need no external dependencies, databases, or complex configuration. Embucket runs everything in-memory for this quick start. This zero-disk architecture requires no external storage.

Embucket displays output like:

{"timestamp":"2025-07-01T15:35:05.687708Z","level":"INFO","fields":{"message":"Listening on http://0.0.0.0:8080"},"target":"embucketd"}
{"timestamp":"2025-07-01T15:35:05.687807Z","level":"INFO","fields":{"message":"Listening on http://0.0.0.0:3000"},"target":"embucketd"}

Caution

The default Docker configuration uses file storage for metadata and data. Don’t use this configuration for production. See the configuration guide for production options.

Embucket runs and exposes three services:

• Snowflake-compatible REST API at http://127.0.0.1:3000
• Apache Iceberg catalog REST API at http://127.0.0.1:3000/catalog
• Web UI Dashboard at http://127.0.0.1:8080

Step 2: Execute your first query

Open the browser to http://127.0.0.1:8080 to explore Embucket’s web interface, query editor, and data catalog. The interface resembles Snowflake’s interface.

Tip

Use embucket as both the username and password to log in.

Create a table and insert data using the query editor in the web UI or via snowflake-cli. Navigate to the query editor in the browser and paste this SQL:

1. Create a table

   CREATE TABLE employees (id INT, name STRING, department STRING, salary DECIMAL(10,2));

2. Insert data

   INSERT INTO employees VALUES (1, 'Alice Johnson', 'Engineering', 95000.00), (2, 'Bob Smith', 'Marketing', 75000.00), (3, 'Carol Davis', 'Engineering', 98000.00);

3. Query your data

   SELECT department, AVG(salary) as avg_salary FROM employees GROUP BY department ORDER BY avg_salary DESC

Embucket uses Apache Iceberg—an open table format—to store your data and SlateDB—a cloud-native storage engine—to store your metadata.