# Getting started with ENSDb

## Vision

Get the whole, live onchain state of ENS in your database.

## Core Philosophy

### Open Standard

ENSDb is an open standard for bi-directional ENS integration. It defines a carefully crafted set of database schema designs, rules, and constraints for storing the ENS onchain state in a PostgreSQL database — making the data accessible from any programming language.

The [ENSDb standard](/docs/services/ensdb/concepts/glossary#ensdb-standard) is implementation-agnostic, so you have options: implement your own [ENSDb Writer](/docs/services/ensdb/concepts/glossary#ensdb-writer) or [ENSDb Reader](/docs/services/ensdb/concepts/glossary#ensdb-reader) in any language, or use the initial reference implementations provided by ENSNode — [ENSIndexer](/docs/services/ensindexer/) as an ENSDb Writer and [ENSApi](/docs/services/ensapi/) as an ENSDb Reader.
**Build in Any Language:** Each ENSDb instance runs in a standard PostgreSQL database, so to interact with it, you can use
  _any programming language_ that has a PostgreSQL driver. Zig, Rust, Go, Python, JavaScript, Ruby,
  Java, C# — the choice is yours.

## What You Get

### Indexed ENS State

An **ENSDb instance** contains the **live onchain state of ENS**.

:::note[ENSNode plugins define indexed data]
Depending on the [ENSNode plugins](/docs/integrate/integration-options/ensnode-plugins) activated for your [ENSDb Writer](/docs/services/ensdb/concepts/glossary#ensdb-writer) instance, data indexed in ENSDb may include:

- Domains (ENSv1 and ENSv2)
- Registrations and renewals
- Resolver records and text records
- Events and ownership history
- NFT/token data for names
- … and more!

:::

### PostgreSQL Benefits

By building on a PostgreSQL database, ENSDb inherits world-class capabilities:

- ACID transactions — Data integrity guarantees
- Complex queries — Joins, aggregations, window functions
- Scalability — Replication, sharding, connection pooling
- Ecosystem — Mature tools, ORMs, dashboards, analytics platforms
- Reliability — Decades of production-proven technology

## Quick Start

[Get inspired](/docs/integrate/integration-options/ensdb#inspirations-for-what-you-can-build-with-ensdb)

## Learn more

[Concepts](/docs/services/ensdb/concepts)

[Integrations](/docs/services/ensdb/integrations)

[Reference Implementation](/docs/services/ensdb/reference-implementation)

## What's next
**Coming soon: ensdb-cli & ENSDb snapshots:** We're building [**`ensdb-cli` & ENSDb snapshots**](/docs/integrate/integration-options/ensdb-cli)
  so you can pull down a fresh ENSDb in minutes instead of paying for a full historical RPC backfill
  among many other benefits.

## Related Projects

- **[ENSIndexer](/docs/services/ensindexer/)** — The reference [ENSDb Writer](/docs/services/ensdb/concepts/glossary#ensdb-writer) implementation
- **[ENSApi](/docs/services/ensapi/)** — The reference [ENSDb Reader](/docs/services/ensdb/concepts/glossary#ensdb-reader) implementation