How to Connect to ClickHouse from Terminal or GUI in PostgreSQL

Galaxy Glossary

How do I connect to ClickHouse from terminal or GUI?

Connect to a ClickHouse server securely from a CLI or graphical SQL editor and start querying data.

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Description

Why connect to ClickHouse via terminal?

Terminal access lets engineers automate, script, and debug with the native clickhouse-client tool. It is lightweight, secure, and ideal for CI/CD jobs.

How do I open `clickhouse-client`?

Install ClickHouse locally, then run the command in your shell.Supply host, port, user, and password to reach the remote server.

Example launch

clickhouse-client \ --host prod-clickhouse.acme.com \ --port 9440 \ --secure \ --user analytics \ --password "$CLICKHOUSE_PASS" \ --database ecommerce

After the prompt appears, issue queries on Customers, Orders, Products, and OrderItems.

How do I connect with a GUI?

Popular editors like Galaxy, DBeaver, TablePlus, and DataGrip ship with a ClickHouse driver.Create a new connection and paste the JDBC URL shown below.

Sample JDBC URL

jdbc:clickhouse://prod-clickhouse.acme.com:9440/ecommerce?ssl=true&user=analytics&password=SECRET

Test the connection, save, and start writing queries with autocomplete and visual result grids.

Which SSL and timeout parameters matter?

Use --secure (CLI) or ssl=true (GUI) to enable TLS. Set --send_timeout and --receive_timeout for large result sets.GUIs expose the same fields under "Advanced" settings.

Best practices

Store passwords in environment variables or secrets managers, restrict IPs with firewalls, and grant the minimal ClickHouse roles your workload needs.

Can I query PostgreSQL-style tables in ClickHouse?

Yes. After connecting, run standard SQL. ClickHouse supports similar SELECT, JOIN, and WHERE clauses, so migrating ecommerce examples is straightforward.

How to verify the connection?

Run SELECT version(). A returned version string confirms a live session.

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Why How to Connect to ClickHouse from Terminal or GUI in PostgreSQL is important

How to Connect to ClickHouse from Terminal or GUI in PostgreSQL Example Usage


-- Fetch top 10 customers by spend in the last 90 days
SELECT c.id, c.name, SUM(o.total_amount) AS lifetime_value
FROM Orders o
JOIN Customers c ON c.id = o.customer_id
WHERE o.order_date >= today() - 90
GROUP BY c.id, c.name
ORDER BY lifetime_value DESC
LIMIT 10;

How to Connect to ClickHouse from Terminal or GUI in PostgreSQL Syntax


Terminal Syntax:
clickhouse-client [--host &lt;hostname&gt;] [--port &lt;port&gt;] [--secure] \
                [--user &lt;user&gt;] [--password &lt;password&gt;] \
                [--database &lt;db&gt;] [--send_timeout N] [--receive_timeout N]

GUI / JDBC Syntax:
jdbc:clickhouse://&lt;host&gt;:&lt;port&gt;/&lt;db&gt;?ssl=true&user=&lt;user&gt;&password=&lt;password&gt;

Example with ecommerce tables:
clickhouse-client --host prod --user analytics --database ecommerce
-- At the prompt
SELECT c.name, o.total_amount
FROM Orders o
JOIN Customers c ON c.id = o.customer_id
WHERE o.order_date &gt; today() - 30;

Common Mistakes

Omitting the --secure flag on production hosts. Without TLS, credentials travel unencrypted. Always append --secure or set ssl=true.
Using default database "default" when queries expect "ecommerce". Specify --database ecommerce or select the schema in your GUI.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is `clickhouse-client` bundled with the server?

Yes. After installing ClickHouse, the client binary is available in the same package and works for remote hosts as well.

Can I use SSH tunneling?

Absolutely. Run ssh -L 9000:localhost:9440 user@bastion and point your CLI/GUI to localhost:9000.

Does Galaxy support ClickHouse?

Yes. Galaxy’s desktop and cloud editors include a native ClickHouse driver with AI-assisted autocomplete and sharing.

Want to learn about other SQL terms?

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