Documentation

Create a Distinct Value Cache

Use the influxdb3 create distinct_cache command to create a Distinct Value Cache (DVC). Provide the following:

  • Database (-d, --database): (Required) The name of the database to associate the DVC with. You can also use the INFLUXDB3_DATABASE_NAME environment variable to specify the database.

  • Token (--token): (Required) Your InfluxDB 3 Core authentication token. You can also use the INFLUXDB3_AUTH_TOKEN environment variable to specify the token.

  • Table (-t, --table): (Required) The name of the table to associate the DVC with.

  • Columns (--columns): (Required) Specify which columns to cache distinct values for. These are typically tag columns but can also be string fields.

  • Maximum cardinality (--max-cardinality): Specify the maximum number of distinct value combinations to store in the cache. The default maximum cardinality is 100000.

  • Maximum age (--max-age): Specify the maximum age of distinct values to keep in the DVC in humantime form. The default maximum age is 24 hours.

  • Cache name: A unique name for the cache. If you don’t provide one, InfluxDB automatically generates a cache name for you.

influxdb3 create distinct_cache \
  --database 
DATABASE_NAME
\
--token
AUTH_TOKEN
\
--table
TABLE_NAME
\
--columns
COLUMNS
\
--max-cardinality
MAX_CARDINALITY
\
--max-age
MAX_AGE
\
DVC_NAME

Use the HTTP API

To use the HTTP API to create a Distinct Value Cache, send a POST request to the /api/v3/configure/distinct_cache endpoint.

POST /api/v3/configure/distinct_cache
curl -X POST "https://localhost:8181/api/v3/configure/distinct_cache" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer 
AUTH_TOKEN
"
\
--json '{ "db": "
DATABASE_NAME
",
"table": "
TABLE_NAME
",
"name": "
DVC_NAME
",
"columns": ["
COLUMNS
"],
"max_cardinality":
MAX_CARDINALITY
,
"max_age":
MAX_AGE
}'

Example

curl -X POST "https://localhost:8181/api/v3/configure/distinct_cache" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer 00xoXX0xXXx0000XxxxXx0Xx0xx0" \
  --json '{
    "db": "example-db",
    "table": "wind_data", 
    "name": "windDistinctCache",
    "columns": ["country", "county", "city"],
    "max_cardinality": 10000,
    "max_age": 86400
  }'

Response codes:

  • 201 : Success. The distinct cache has been created.
  • 204 : Not created. A distinct cache with this configuration already exists.
  • 400 : Bad request.

API parameter differences

  • Columns format: The API uses a JSON array (["country", "county", "city"]) instead of the CLI’s comma-delimited format (country,county,city).
  • Maximum age format: The API uses seconds (86400) instead of the CLI’s humantime format (24h, 1 day).

Replace the following:

  • DATABASE_NAME: the name of the database to associate the DVC with

  • AUTH_TOKEN: your InfluxDB 3 Core authentication token

  • TABLE_NAME: the name of the table to associate the DVC with

  • COLUMNS: a comma-delimited list of columns to cache distinct values for–for example: country,county,city

  • MAX_CARDINALITY: the maximum number of distinct value combinations to cache–for example: 10000

  • MAX_AGE: the maximum age of distinct values to keep in the cache in humantime form–for example: 6h, 1 day, 1 week

  • DVC_NAME: a unique name for the DVC

The cache imports the distinct values from the table and starts caching them.

DVC size and persistence

The DVC is stored in memory, so it’s important to consider the size and persistence of the cache. For more information, see Important things to know about the Distinct Value Cache.


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New in InfluxDB 3.5

Key enhancements in InfluxDB 3.5 and the InfluxDB 3 Explorer 1.3.

See the Blog Post

InfluxDB 3.5 is now available for both Core and Enterprise, introducing custom plugin repository support, enhanced operational visibility with queryable CLI parameters and manual node management, stronger security controls, and general performance improvements.

InfluxDB 3 Explorer 1.3 brings powerful new capabilities including Dashboards (beta) for saving and organizing your favorite queries, and cache querying for instant access to Last Value and Distinct Value caches—making Explorer a more comprehensive workspace for time series monitoring and analysis.

For more information, check out:

InfluxDB Docker latest tag changing to InfluxDB 3 Core

On November 3, 2025, the latest tag for InfluxDB Docker images will point to InfluxDB 3 Core. To avoid unexpected upgrades, use specific version tags in your Docker deployments.

If using Docker to install and run InfluxDB, the latest tag will point to InfluxDB 3 Core. To avoid unexpected upgrades, use specific version tags in your Docker deployments. For example, if using Docker to run InfluxDB v2, replace the latest version tag with a specific version tag in your Docker pull command–for example:

docker pull influxdb:2