---
title: Get started with InfluxDB 3 Core
description: InfluxDB 3 Core is an open source time series database designed and optimized for real-time and recent data. Learn how to use and leverage InfluxDB 3 in use cases such as edge data collection, IoT data, and events.
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb3/core/get-started/
estimated_tokens: 2108
product: InfluxDB 3 Core
version: core
---

# Get started with InfluxDB 3 Core

InfluxDB 3 Core is purpose-built for real-time data monitoring and recent data. InfluxDB 3 Enterprise builds on top of Core with support for historical data analysis and extended features. querying, high availability, read replicas, and more. Enterprise will soon unlock enhanced security, row-level deletions, an administration UI, and more. Learn more about [InfluxDB 3 Enterprise](/influxdb3/enterprise/).

This guide walks through the basic steps of getting started with InfluxDB 3 Core, including the following:

1. [Set up InfluxDB 3 Core](/influxdb3/core/get-started/setup/)
2. [Write data to InfluxDB 3 Core](/influxdb3/core/get-started/write/)
3. [Query data in InfluxDB 3 Core](/influxdb3/core/get-started/query/)
4. [Process data in InfluxDB 3 Core](/influxdb3/core/get-started/process/)
5. [Migrate from InfluxDB v1 or v2](/influxdb3/core/get-started/migrate-from-influxdb-v1-v2/)

#### Find support for InfluxDB 3 Core

The [InfluxDB Discord server](https://discord.gg/9zaNCW2PRT) is the best place to find support for InfluxDB 3 Core and InfluxDB 3 Enterprise. For other InfluxDB versions, see the [Support and feedback](#bug-reports-and-feedback) options.

## Data model

The InfluxDB 3 Core server contains logical databases; databases contain tables; and tables are comprised of columns.

Compared to previous versions of InfluxDB, you can think of a database as an InfluxDB v2 `bucket` in v2 or an InfluxDB v1 `db/retention_policy`. A `table` is equivalent to an InfluxDB v1 and v2 `measurement`.

Columns in a table represent time, tags, and fields. Columns can be one of the following types:

-   String dictionary (tag)
-   `int64` (field)
-   `float64` (field)
-   `uint64` (field)
-   `bool` (field)
-   `string` (field)
-   `time` (time with nanosecond precision)

In InfluxDB 3 Core, every table has a primary key–the ordered set of tags and the time–for its data. The primary key uniquely identifies each and determines the sort order for all Parquet files related to the table. When you create a table, either through an explicit call or by writing data into a table for the first time, it sets the primary key to the tags in the order they arrived. Although InfluxDB is still a *schema-on-write* database, the tag column definitions for a table are immutable.

Tags should hold unique identifying information like `sensor_id`, `building_id`, or `trace_id`. All other data should be stored as fields.

## Tools to use

The following table compares tools that you can use to interact with InfluxDB 3 Core. This tutorial covers many of the recommended tools.

| Tool | Administration | Write | Query |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| influxdb3 CLI |  |  |  |
| InfluxDB HTTP API |  |  |  |
| InfluxDB 3 Explorer |  |  |  |
| InfluxDB 3 client libraries | - |  |  |
| InfluxDB v2 client libraries | - |  | - |
| InfluxDB v1 client libraries | - |  |  |
| InfluxDB 3 processing engine |  |  |  |
| Telegraf | - |  | - |
| Chronograf | - | - | - |
| influx CLI | - | - | - |
| influxctl CLI | - | - | - |
| InfluxDB v2.x user interface | - | - | - |
| Third-party tools |  |  |  |
| Flight SQL clients | - | - |  |
| Grafana | - | - |  |

[Set up InfluxDB 3 Core](/influxdb3/core/get-started/setup/)

#### Related

-   [Query system data](/influxdb3/core/admin/query-system-data/)
-   [Write data to InfluxDB 3 Core](/influxdb3/core/write-data/)
-   [Query data in InfluxDB 3 Core](/influxdb3/core/query-data/)