# Getting started

> Connect all your APIs & data sources dynamically, without writing integration code

Source: https://orbitalhq.com/docs

Orbital automates integration for your microservices.  

Get started right now, by spinning up Orbital on your machine

```bash
curl -fsSL https://start.orbitalhq.com | bash
```
Then visit [http://localhost:9022](http://localhost:9022) in your browser.

The script will [set up everything you need](#what-the-install-script-does) and open Orbital automatically when it's ready.

## What is Orbital?

Orbital is a data gateway that automates the integration, transformation and discovery of data from data sources (API's, databases, message brokers) across your enterprise.

Orbital integrates on-the-fly, automatically adjusting as your data sources change.

This is powered by rich semantic schemas, which infer how data across your organisation links together, and automate the integration and discovery of data.

## Quick Links
Once you have Orbital running locally, connect your microservices, and start querying for data

- [Connecting data sources](/docs/describing-data-sources/configuring-connections) - Connect your APIs, Databases and Message Queues to Orbital.

  - [Querying](/docs/querying/writing-queries) - Query for data through Orbital's API, and let Orbital handle the integration plumbing for you.

  - [Follow a guide](/docs/guides) - A handful of guides to help get productive with Orbital

  - [Head to production](/docs/deploying/production-deployments) - Deploy Orbital on your Kubernetes cluster or using Docker Compose

## What the install script does
The [start script](https://start.orbitalhq.com) is a small wrapper around our Docker Compose file. It handles the
setup steps that would otherwise trip you up, so you can get straight to working with Orbital.

Specifically, it:

 * Detects your OS (Mac, Linux or Windows), so it can fetch the right Docker Compose file - this matters because our
 local testing tool, [Nebula](https://nebula.orbitalhq.com), needs OS-specific networking to launch Docker containers
 * Creates the directories Orbital writes to (`orbital_data`, `prometheus_data`) **before** Docker does, so that
 files Orbital creates are owned by you, and editable from your IDE without permission errors
 * Creates a `.env` file containing your `UID` and `GID`, so the Orbital container runs as you, rather than as root
 * Downloads the OS-specific Docker Compose file from [start.orbitalhq.com/compose.yml](https://start.orbitalhq.com/compose.yml),
 saving it as `docker-compose.yml`
 * Runs `docker compose pull` and `docker compose up -d`, then waits for Orbital's health endpoint to be ready before opening it in your browser

You can also pass a project to clone on first launch:

```bash
curl -fsSL https://start.orbitalhq.com | bash -s -- https://github.com/your/repo
```

The script's header explains what Orbital is, exactly what the script does, and links to further resources - so
it's worth reading before you run it (`curl -fsSL https://start.orbitalhq.com`). It's also written as the entry point for
AI agents setting Orbital up on a user's behalf.

If you'd prefer to do this yourself, you can download the Docker Compose file directly from
[start.orbitalhq.com/compose.yml](https://start.orbitalhq.com/compose.yml) - the script's header has notes on the manual setup.

## Getting help

Stuck?  Need help?  Have an idea?  We'd love to hear from your.

You can connect with the Orbital team in a number of ways

 * [Submit an issue](https://github.com/orbitalapi/orbital/issues) on our Github repo
 * [Start a discussion](https://github.com/orbitalapi/orbital/discussions) over at Github
 * [Chat to the team](https://join.slack.com/t/orbitalapi/shared_invite/zt-697laanr-DHGXXak5slqsY9DqwrkzHg) on Slack
 * We're [@orbitalapi](https://twitter.com/orbitalapi) on Twitter