Ways to Connect: REST API or JDBC

There are currently three ways to connect to Space and Time:

• REST APIs - for building dapps or integrating Space and Time into other development environments
• JDBC driver - for locally-installed applications
• Coming soon: Space and Time dapp - for a user-friendly interface or to start running queries right away

Connect via REST API

We also allow developers to connect via API to power apps and dapps, or to integrate Space and Time into other development environments.

To connect:

1. Authenticate with the platform to get an access token
   • If registering for the first time, you'll want to choose a unique userId and generate a new keypair
   • FYI, SxT uses biscuits to handle decentralized authorization of private tables
2. Use your access token to submit various SQL APIs and submit queries

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In addition to the SQL API, there are an increasing number of specialty APIs, such as the Blockchain Data API and Resource Discovery API, with more being added all the time.

Connect via JDBC

You can connect via JDBC for locally-installed applications like IDEs, Business Intelligence (BI) tools, etc. Given the wide array of thick client setups, the instructions below are directional, and may vary slightly from tool to tool.

To connect:

1. Make sure you're running Java v11 or higher
2. Download the SxT JDBC driver, save the JAR file to the folder of your choice and make note of the location
   • If you are presented with a login screen, simply click on the X in the upper-right - authentication is not required
3. Open the local JDBC program of choice, and set-up a new connection:
   (these instructions will vary, depending on the program being used)
   • Select the Generic JDBC driver option
   • Select the option to manually select the driver/.JAR file
   • Navigate to the folder from the previous step and select the .JAR file
   • Click OK back to the setup screen
   • Save your configuration settings
4. JDBC requires the following information:
   • user - this will be the userId you registered with Space and Time
   • password - this will be your privateKey from the registration process
   - used to generate a signature, never leaves the client
   - optionally, you can leave password blank and add a property called privateKey
   • publicKey - this will be the public key corresponding to above private key
   • (optional) biscuit_<table-name> - list of biscuits tied to permissioned tables.
   - blockchain tables are public, and do not require a biscuit
   - for private tables during the Controlled Release, one biscuit is required per table
   (biscuit_<table-name>)
5. That's it! You can connect to SxT and interact with it like any other database!