# Getting Started - Vapor Docs

Skip to content


# MySQL

MySQL (vapor/mysql) is a pure Swift MySQL (and MariaDB) client built on top of SwiftNIO.

The higher-level, Fluent ORM guide is located at Fluent → Getting Started. Using just the MySQL package directly for your project may be a good idea if any of the following are true:

- You have an existing DB with non-standard structure.
- You rely heavily on custom or complex SQL queries.
- You just plain don't like ORMs.

MySQL core extends DatabaseKit which provides some conveniences like connection pooling and integrations with Vapor's Services architecture.

Tip

Even if you do choose to use Fluent MySQL, all of the features of MySQL core will be available to you.

## Getting Started

Let's take a look at how you can get started using MySQL core.

### Package

The first step to using MySQL core is adding it as a dependency to your project in your SPM package manifest file.

    // swift-tools-version:4.0
    import PackageDescription

    let package = Package(
        name: "MyApp",
        dependencies: [
            /// Any other dependencies ...

            // 🐬 Pure Swift MySQL client built on non-blocking, event-driven sockets.
            .package(url: "https://github.com/vapor/mysql.git", from: "3.0.0"),
        ],
        targets: [
            .target(name: "App", dependencies: ["MySQL", ...]),
            .target(name: "Run", dependencies: ["App"]),
            .testTarget(name: "AppTests", dependencies: ["App"]),
        ]
    )

Don't forget to add the module as a dependency in the `targets` array. Once you have added the dependency, regenerate your Xcode project with the following command:

    vapor xcode

### Config

The next step is to configure the database in `configure.swift`.

    import MySQL

    /// Register providers first
    try services.register(MySQLProvider())

Registering the provider will add all of the services required for MySQL to work properly. It also includes a default database config struct that uses standard credentials.

#### Customizing Config

You can of course override the default configuration provided by `MySQLProvider` if you'd like.

To configure your database manually, register a `DatabasesConfig` struct to your services.

    // Configure a MySQL database
    let mysql = try MySQLDatabase(config: MySQLDatabaseConfig(...))

    /// Register the configured MySQL database to the database config.
    var databases = DatabasesConfig()
    databases.add(database: mysql, as: .mysql)
    services.register(databases)

See `MySQLDatabase` and `MySQLDatabaseConfig` for more information.

MySQL's default database identifier is `.mysql`. You can create a custom identifier if you want by extending `DatabaseIdentifier`.

### Query

Now that the database is configured, you can make your first query.

    struct MySQLVersion: Codable {
        let version: String
    }

    router.get("sql") { req in
        return req.withPooledConnection(to: .mysql) { conn in
            return conn.raw("SELECT @@version as version")
                .all(decoding: MySQLVersion.self)
        }.map { rows in
            return rows[0].version
        }
    }

Visiting this route should display your MySQL version.

Here we are making use database connection pooling. You can learn more about creating connections in DatabaseKit → Getting Started.

Learn more about building queries in SQL → Getting Started.

Visit MySQL's API docs for detailed information about all available types and methods.

## Comments