---
title: "Connect to LanceDB"
sidebarTitle: "Connect"
description: "Connect to an embedded database in a local directory or in object storage, or to a LanceDB Enterprise deployment."
icon: plug
keywords: ["connect", "uri", "embedded", "object storage", "s3", "enterprise", "db://"]
---

import {
    PyConnect,
    PyConnectAsync,
    PyConnectEnterpriseQuickstart,
    PyConnectObjectStorage,
    PyConnectObjectStorageAsync,
    RsConnect,
    TsConnect,
    TsConnectEnterpriseQuickstart,
    TsConnectObjectStorage,
} from '/snippets/connection.mdx';

The URI you pass to `connect` decides where the work runs. The same Python,
TypeScript and Rust SDKs open all three kinds;
[OSS and Enterprise](/basics/offerings) describes how the two offerings differ.

| URI | Where queries run |
| --- | --- |
| A local path, such as `./data` | OSS: in your process |
| `s3://`, `gs://` or `az://` | OSS: in your process, reading object storage |
| `db://` | Enterprise: on the deployment |

## A local directory {#local}

Embedded in your application, LanceDB reads and writes the tables in a
directory on disk.

<CodeGroup>
    <CodeBlock filename="Python (sync)" language="Python" icon="python">
    {PyConnect}
    </CodeBlock>

    <CodeBlock filename="Python (async)" language="Python" icon="python">
    {PyConnectAsync}
    </CodeBlock>

    <CodeBlock filename="TypeScript" language="TypeScript" icon="square-js">
    { "import * as lancedb from \"@lancedb/lancedb\";\n\n" }
    {TsConnect}
    </CodeBlock>

    <CodeBlock filename="Rust" language="Rust" icon="rust">
    { "use lancedb::connect;\n" }
    { "\n" }
    {RsConnect}
    </CodeBlock>
</CodeGroup>

## Object storage {#object-storage}

With an object storage URI the library is still embedded: your process runs
every query and reads and writes the bucket directly, with the credentials from
its environment or its storage options. [Configuring storage](/deployment/storage)
covers credentials, endpoints and provider options.

<CodeGroup>
    <CodeBlock filename="Python (sync)" language="Python" icon="python">
    {PyConnectObjectStorage}
    </CodeBlock>

    <CodeBlock filename="Python (async)" language="Python" icon="python">
    {PyConnectObjectStorageAsync}
    </CodeBlock>

    <CodeBlock filename="TypeScript" language="TypeScript" icon="square-js">
    {TsConnectObjectStorage}
    </CodeBlock>
</CodeGroup>

In Rust, pass the same URI to `connect`.

## LanceDB Enterprise {#enterprise}

A `db://` URI connects to a deployment, which runs each operation for you. Get
the database URI, API key, region and endpoint from the deployment's
administrator. These examples read them from `LANCEDB_URI`, `LANCEDB_API_KEY`,
`LANCEDB_REGION` and `LANCEDB_HOST_OVERRIDE`, which keeps the API key out of
source, and pass the endpoint as `host_override`.

<CodeGroup>
    <CodeBlock filename="Python" language="Python" icon="python">
    {PyConnectEnterpriseQuickstart}
    </CodeBlock>

    <CodeBlock filename="TypeScript" language="TypeScript" icon="square-js">
    { "import * as lancedb from \"@lancedb/lancedb\";\n\n" }
    {TsConnectEnterpriseQuickstart}
    </CodeBlock>
</CodeGroup>

In Rust, the connection builder takes the same settings through `api_key`,
`region` and `host_override`. To use OAuth instead of an API key, see
[Authentication](/enterprise/authentication); for every connection option, see
[Database](/management/database#deployment).