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DocumentationAdmin APIData APIRetrieval APICoding API

Connect a Database

Add secure, managed database connections to your environment

A connection is a secure, managed link to a database or warehouse. Connection configurations are stored in a Credible environment, and every package in that environment can use them. Credentials never leave the Credible service — all access, for modeling and for serving, is proxied through the platform, making Credible a secure perimeter around your databases.

Credible supports BigQuery, Snowflake, PostgreSQL, Trino, Databricks, MySQL, DuckDB, MotherDuck, and DuckLake.

Prerequisites

  • Admin access to an organization, in order to create environments and connections. When you create your own organization you're its admin; if you've been added to an existing one, ask your organization administrator to set connections up for you.

Setup Process

  1. Access your organization at https://your-org.app.credibledata.com
  2. Select your environment from the left sidebar under Packages & Connections
  3. Click "+ Add Connection" in the Connections section
  4. Choose your data source type and fill in the connection details:

Connection names cannot contain spaces or hyphens. Use underscores instead (e.g., my_connection).

BigQuery Connection
PostgreSQL Connection
Snowflake Connection
Trino Connection
Databricks Connection

Required:

  • Connection name
  • Host (e.g., dbc-xxxxxxxx-xxxx.cloud.databricks.com)
  • HTTP Path (e.g., /sql/1.0/warehouses/<warehouse-id>)
  • Default Catalog (e.g., main)

Authentication (choose one):

  • Personal Access Token - paste a Databricks PAT
  • OAuth M2M - service principal Client ID + Client Secret

Optional:

  • Default Schema (e.g., default)

See the Databricks connection reference for details on creating a SQL warehouse, generating a PAT, or configuring an OAuth M2M service principal.

MySQL Connection
DuckDB Connection

DuckDB runs in-process and can attach to external databases (PostgreSQL, BigQuery, Snowflake) and object storage (GCS, S3). With no attached databases it runs in standalone mode — useful for working with embedded data files (CSV, Parquet) included in your packages.

MotherDuck Connection

MotherDuck is a serverless cloud analytics platform built on DuckDB. Get your access token from your MotherDuck account settings.

DuckLake Connection

DuckLake needs two backing connections: a catalog for metadata (currently PostgreSQL) and storage for data (S3 or GCS). Configure both, then test the connection.

  1. Test the connection
  2. Click Next: Configure Scope

Configure Scope for AI-Assisted Modeling

Next, select which schemas and tables to index for AI-assisted modeling:

Configure scope - select tables for AI indexing
  • Browse schemas on the left, select tables on the right
  • Use Select All to include all tables in a schema, or pick individual tables
  • Check "Do not include any tables for AI-assisted modeling" if you only need the connection for manual queries

These indexing limits apply to AI-assisted model creation:

  • 100 tables per schema for metadata indexing
  • 25 tables or fewer for automated join inference

You can manually write Malloy models for any size dataset. Published models are indexed separately for analysis.

Click Update Connection to save. You'll see an indexing status page confirming the connection is being indexed:

Connection indexing status

CLI Option

Use the Credible command-line tool for programmatic connection management and automation.

  1. Install the CLI:

    npm i -g @credibledata/cred-cli

  2. Login to your organization:

    cred login <organizationName>

  3. Add a connection:

    cred add connection <connectionFileName>

    The connection file should be a JSON file containing an array of connection objects. See the CLI reference for detailed connection file formats and examples.

  4. Configure scope (optional): Control which tables are indexed for AI-assisted modeling with scope flags on cred add connection. Tables are referenced as {dataset/schema}.{table}, and * matches all tables in a schema:

    # Index only the sales schema and one finance table
cred add connection connections.json --include-tables "sales.*,finance.orders"

# Index everything except temporary and backup data
cred add connection connections.json --exclude-tables "temp_data.*,backup.records"

# Create the connection without indexing any tables
cred add connection connections.json --skip-indexing

    --include-tables and --exclude-tables are mutually exclusive (and cannot be combined with --skip-indexing).

Scope flags apply at connection creation. To change the scope of an existing connection, edit it in the Credible App (see Configure Scope above).

Next Steps

With your data connected, pick how you want to build models:

Build & Publish

Build models with the agent in your browser — no setup, recommended to start

Developer Overview

Build in your IDE with your preferred coding agent

EnvironmentsBuild & Publish

On this page

PrerequisitesSetup ProcessCredible App (Recommended)Configure Scope for AI-Assisted ModelingCLI OptionNext Steps