# Quick Start

## Install

Download and extract the binary for your platform (each release publishes
checksums alongside; verify with `sha256sum -c checksums.txt` from the same
release page):

```bash
# macOS (Apple Silicon)
curl -L https://github.com/neutron-build/neutron/releases/latest/download/nucleus-darwin-arm64.tar.gz \
  | tar xz && chmod +x nucleus

# macOS (Intel)
curl -L https://github.com/neutron-build/neutron/releases/latest/download/nucleus-darwin-amd64.tar.gz \
  | tar xz && chmod +x nucleus

# Linux (x86_64)
curl -L https://github.com/neutron-build/neutron/releases/latest/download/nucleus-linux-amd64.tar.gz \
  | tar xz && chmod +x nucleus

# Linux (aarch64)
curl -L https://github.com/neutron-build/neutron/releases/latest/download/nucleus-linux-arm64.tar.gz \
  | tar xz && chmod +x nucleus
```

Or use the Neutron CLI:

```bash
neutron db start
```

## Start the Server

```bash
./nucleus --port 5432 --data-dir ./data
```

Nucleus is now listening on port 5432 with the PostgreSQL wire protocol.

## Connect

```bash
psql -h localhost -p 5432 -U neutron
```

## Create a Table

```sql
CREATE TABLE users (
  id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
  name TEXT NOT NULL,
  email TEXT UNIQUE,
  created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT NOW()
);

INSERT INTO users (name, email)
VALUES ('Alice', 'alice@example.com');

SELECT * FROM users;
```

## Try Multi-Model

Once connected, you can use any of the 14 data models through SQL extensions:

```sql
-- Key-Value
SELECT KV_SET('session:abc', '{"user_id": 1}', 3600);
SELECT KV_GET('session:abc');

-- Vector search
CREATE TABLE embeddings (id SERIAL, vec Vector(3));
INSERT INTO embeddings (vec) VALUES (VECTOR('[1.0, 0.5, 0.3]'));
SELECT * FROM embeddings
  ORDER BY VECTOR_DISTANCE(vec, VECTOR('[1.0, 0.4, 0.2]'), 'l2')
  LIMIT 5;

-- Full-text search
SELECT FTS_SEARCH('users', 'alice', 10);

-- Document (JSONB)
CREATE TABLE profiles (id SERIAL, data JSONB);
INSERT INTO profiles (data)
VALUES ('{"name": "Alice", "tags": ["admin", "dev"]}');
SELECT data->>'name' FROM profiles WHERE data->'tags' ? 'admin';
```

## Next Steps

- [SQL Reference](/docs/nucleus/sql) — Full SQL syntax
- [Key-Value](/docs/nucleus/key-value) — Redis-like operations
- [Vector Search](/docs/nucleus/vector) — Similarity search for AI
- [Configuration](/docs/nucleus/configuration) — Tuning and options