# Redpanda SQL Quickstart > For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.redpanda.com/llms.txt). Component-specific: [cloud-data-platform-full.txt](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform-full.txt) --- title: Redpanda SQL Quickstart latest-operator-version: v26.1.4 latest-console-tag: v3.7.3 latest-connect-version: 4.93.0 latest-redpanda-tag: v26.1.9 docname: get-started/sql-quickstart page-component-name: cloud-data-platform page-version: master page-component-version: master page-component-title: Cloud page-relative-src-path: get-started/sql-quickstart.adoc page-edit-url: https://github.com/redpanda-data/cloud-docs/edit/main/modules/sql/pages/get-started/sql-quickstart.adoc description: Connect to Redpanda SQL on a BYOC cluster and run your first query on streaming data. page-topic-type: tutorial personas: streaming_developer, data_engineer, platform_admin learning-objective-1: Connect to Redpanda SQL using psql and a bearer token learning-objective-2: Query a Redpanda topic with SQL page-git-created-date: "2026-05-26" page-git-modified-date: "2026-05-26" --- Connect to Redpanda SQL on a Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) cluster and run your first query against streaming data, with no ETL pipelines required. For querying topics with Iceberg history, see [Query Iceberg-enabled Topics](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/sql/query-data/query-iceberg-topics/). After reading this page, you will be able to: - Connect to Redpanda SQL using psql and a bearer token - Query a Redpanda topic with SQL ## [](#prerequisites)Prerequisites - A Redpanda BYOC cluster on AWS with Redpanda SQL enabled. See [Enable Redpanda SQL on a BYOC Cluster](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/sql/get-started/deploy-sql-cluster/). - Admin access to your cluster in the Redpanda Cloud Console, or a role with the **SQL: Manage** permission. You need one of these to view SQL connection details and to create catalogs, tables, and grants in the SQL engine. For more information on authorization in Redpanda Cloud, see [Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/security/authorization/rbac/). - A Redpanda topic with a schema registered in Schema Registry. If you don’t have one, follow the optional [Produce sample data](#optional-produce-sample-data) section below to create a sample `orders` topic. - [`rpk` v26.1.6](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/manage/rpk/rpk-install/) or later installed on your local machine to generate an authentication token. - [`psql`](https://www.postgresql.org/download/) v16 or later (PostgreSQL client) installed on your local machine. ## [](#optional-produce-sample-data)Produce sample data > 💡 **TIP** > > Skip this section if you already have a Redpanda topic with a schema registered in Schema Registry that you want to query. If you don’t have a topic with a corresponding schema in Schema Registry yet, follow these steps to create an `orders` topic with a small set of sample records. You also need permissions to create topics, register schemas, and produce records. 1. [Log in to Redpanda Cloud](https://cloud.redpanda.com/) and select your cluster. 2. On the **Topics** page, click **Create Topic**. Name the topic `orders` and create it with default settings. 3. Open the `orders` topic you just created. Click **Produce record**. 4. Produce each sample record one at a time. For each record, set: - **Key**: Null type - **Value**: JSON type, then paste the JSON object into the Data field. ```json {"order_id": 1, "customer": "alice", "product": "keyboard", "amount": 7500, "status": "completed"} ``` ```json {"order_id": 2, "customer": "bob", "product": "monitor", "amount": 32000, "status": "shipped"} ``` ```json {"order_id": 3, "customer": "carol", "product": "mouse", "amount": 4500, "status": "pending"} ``` ```json {"order_id": 4, "customer": "alice", "product": "monitor", "amount": 32000, "status": "completed"} ``` ```json {"order_id": 5, "customer": "dave", "product": "keyboard", "amount": 7500, "status": "pending"} ``` 5. On the **Schema Registry** page, click **Create new schema**. 6. Create a new schema with the following: - **Strategy**: Topic - **Topic name**: orders - **Schema applies to**: Value - **Schema definition**: Select JSON format and paste the following schema definition: ```json { "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#", "title": "Order", "type": "object", "properties": { "order_id": { "type": "integer" }, "customer": { "type": "string" }, "product": { "type": "string" }, "amount": { "type": "integer", "description": "Amount in cents" }, "status": { "type": "string", "enum": ["pending", "shipped", "completed"] } }, "required": ["order_id", "customer", "product", "amount", "status"] } ``` Click **Save** to register the schema. ## [](#connect-to-redpanda-sql)Connect to Redpanda SQL SQL connection details are available on your cluster’s **SQL** tab in the [Cloud Console](https://cloud.redpanda.com/). To connect using `psql`: 1. Log in to Redpanda Cloud with `rpk`. This opens a browser window for SSO sign-in: ```bash rpk cloud login ``` 2. Retrieve a temporary authentication token for the SQL engine: ```bash rpsql_token=$(rpk cloud auth token) ``` 3. Copy and run the `psql` connection string from the **SQL** tab: ```bash psql "host= port=5432 dbname=oxla user=ignored password=$rpsql_token options='-c auth_method=bearer' sslmode=require" ``` Upon a successful connection, you see output similar to: psql (17.8 (Homebrew), server 16.0 (oxla version: 1.0.0, build: af2dffb-Release-x86\_64-GNU, asio)) SSL connection (protocol: TLSv1.2, cipher: ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384, compression: off, ALPN: none) Type "help" for help. => ## [](#query-topic-data)Query topic data When you enable Redpanda SQL, a Redpanda catalog named `default_redpanda_catalog` is created automatically and points at your cluster. To query a Redpanda topic, define a SQL table against the topic, then run standard SQL queries against the table. 1. Define a SQL table from the topic with `CREATE TABLE`. The following example uses the `orders` topic from the optional sample data section. To use your own topic, replace `orders` with your topic name. Your topic must have a schema registered in Schema Registry under the topic-name strategy default (schema subject `-value`). ```sql CREATE TABLE default_redpanda_catalog=>orders WITH ( topic = 'orders', confluent_wire_protocol = 'false' ); ``` Redpanda SQL reads the registered schema and maps each top-level field to a SQL column. Records produced through the Cloud Console don’t carry the Schema Registry [wire format](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/reference/glossary/#wire-format) prefix, so the example sets `confluent_wire_protocol = 'false'`. If your producer client adds the wire format, set this option to `'true'` or omit it. For details on this and other CREATE TABLE options, see [CREATE TABLE](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/reference/sql/sql-statements/create-table/). 2. Run SQL queries against the table. These examples use the `orders` schema from the optional sample data section. View a sample of records: ```sql SELECT * FROM default_redpanda_catalog=>orders LIMIT 10; ``` Count orders by status: ```sql SELECT status, COUNT(*) AS total_orders FROM default_redpanda_catalog=>orders GROUP BY status; ``` Find the largest orders: ```sql SELECT order_id, customer, product, amount FROM default_redpanda_catalog=>orders WHERE amount > 10000 ORDER BY amount DESC LIMIT 20; ``` ## [](#grant-access-to-a-non-admin-user)Grant access to a non-admin user To share SQL access with a teammate or service account: 1. In Redpanda Cloud, assign the user a role with the **SQL: Access** permission (see [Configure RBAC in the Data Plane](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/security/authorization/rbac/rbac_dp/)). Redpanda Cloud provisions a corresponding user in the SQL engine. 2. As a **SQL: Manage** user, grant `SELECT` on the topics they need. The user identifier is the email on the user’s Redpanda Cloud account: ```sql GRANT SELECT ON EXTERNAL SOURCE default_redpanda_catalog => 'orders' TO "alice@example.com"; ``` For the full access model (privilege levels, wildcards, schema-level permissions, and grant inspection), see [Manage access to Redpanda SQL](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/sql/manage/manage-access/). The user can now connect to Redpanda SQL and run `SELECT` against the tables they’ve been granted. ## [](#next-steps)Next steps - [Redpanda SQL reference](https://docs.redpanda.com/cloud-data-platform/reference/sql/): Explore the full SQL syntax, data types, functions, and clauses.