Connect a Database

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, and MotherDuck.

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Prerequisites

• Admin access to an organization in the Credible platform, in order to create environments and connections. If you don’t have it, ask your organization administrator to set up connections for you.

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Setup Process

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Credible App (Recommended)

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:

5. Test the connection
6. Click Next: Configure Scope

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Configure Scope for AI-Assisted Modeling

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

• 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

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

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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).

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Next Steps

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