> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mindsdb.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Connect

Before performing any operations, you must connect to MindsDB. By default, all operations will go through [MindsDB Cloud REST APIs](/rest/sql), but you can use a self-hosted version of MindsDB as well.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Local MindsDB">
    Here is how to connect to your local MindsDB server:

    ```
    import MindsDB from 'mindsdb-js-sdk';
    // const MindsDB = require("mindsdb-js-sdk").default; // alternative for CommonJS syntax

    try {

      // No authentication needed for self-hosting
      await MindsDB.connect({ // alternative for ES6 module syntax: await MindsDB.default.connect({
        host: 'http://127.0.0.1:47334'
      });
      console.log('connected');

    } catch(error) {
      // Failed to connect to local instance
      console.log(error);
    }
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Own Axios Instance">
    Here is how to connect using your own Axios instance (see [details on the default instance](https://github.com/mindsdb/mindsdb-js-sdk/blob/main/src/util/http.ts)):

    ```
    import MindsDB from 'mindsdb-js-sdk';
    // const MindsDB = require("mindsdb-js-sdk").default; // alternative for CommonJS syntax

    import axios from 'axios';

    // Use 'host' option in MindsDB.connect to specify base URL override
    const customAxios = axios.create({
      timeout: 1000,
    });

    try {

      await MindsDB.connect({
        user: mindsdbuser@gmail.com,
        password: mypassword,
        httpClient: customAxios
      });
      console.log('connected');

    } catch(error) {
      // Failed to authenticate
      console.log(error);
    }
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Tip>
  Please note that all methods that use `await` must be wrapped in an `async` function, like this:

  ```
  (async() => {

    try {

      // No authentication needed for self-hosting
      await MindsDB.connect({
        host: 'http://127.0.0.1:47334'
      });
      console.log('connected');

    } catch(error) {
      // Failed to connect to local instance
      console.log(error);
    }

  })();
  ```
</Tip>