# Connect to Docker database with an external tool

Docker is pretty awesome, and when creating a database instance with Docker, we can log in through the terminal command.

However, I'm one for [graphic Database tools](https://daily-dev-tips.com/posts/top-5-mysql-clients-for-mac/), so today I'll guide you through how to connect to a Docker database.

## Created the Docker database image

For this example, I'm going to use a [MariaDB](https://daily-dev-tips.com/posts/mac-installing-mariadb/) instance. The purpose of today is to show you how to connect with it.

Create a new `docker-compose.yml` file. This is the configuration file for Docker.

```yaml
version: '3.7'

services:
  db:
    image: mariadb
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - db_data:/var/lib/mysql
    ports:
      - 3307:3306
    environment:
      MYSQL_DATABASE: my_db
      MYSQL_USER: root
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: root
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: root

volumes: db_data:
```

Above, we create a simple MariaDB image. I map the volume to a local folder (db_data).
Furthermore, we set the environment to have some log-in possibility and a default database.

But the critical part for connecting is the ports!
The first number is the port we can connect to. We mustn't use `3306` for this since this is our default system database.

I choose to use `3307` as it's close to what we know.
You can, however, change this to anything that's not in use.

Now when we run `docker-compose up`, we spool up this database.

![Docker MySQL instance](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1624687000723/DUvHop4qe.png)

## Connecting to the Docker database

Alright, let's see how we can now connect to this, I'm using TablePlus, but the concept is the same for any tool.

We start by creating a new connection.

![TablePlus connect to Docker instance](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1624687144316/5Pw0L6KAT.png)

The main parts here are:

- `host`: 0.0.0.0 as this will be the default docker host
- `port`: 3307 as we described above
- `user`: the user you set in the environment
- `password`: the password set in the environment

Now you should be able to test and connect with the Docker database!

### Thank you for reading, and let's connect!

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