Quick Connections

This page explains what quick connections are and how to use them in the kdb Visual Studio Code Extension.

Quick Connections allow you to connect to a q process directly from the kdb Visual Studio Code Extension without creating a saved connection profile.

This is useful for:

• One-off connections
• Rapid testing
• Connecting to temporary or ad-hoc q processes

Quick Connections are intended for short-lived, ad-hoc access and are not a replacement for saved connections.

Using a quick connection

When prompted to choose a connection, you can enter a Quick Connection string directly into the input field.

Quick connection string format

The Quick Connection string uses the following format:

host:port:username:password

Where:

Field	Description	Required
host	Hostname or IP address of the q process	Yes
port	Port the q process is listening on	Yes
username	Username for authentication	No
password	Password for authentication	No

Note

The fields username and password are optional. If authentication is not required, you can omit these fields.

Example strings

Connect to a q process using authentication:

localhost:5000:admin:secret

Connect to a q process without authentication:

localhost:5000

Considerations

When using a quick connection, consider the following:

• Quick Connections can be used only to connect to q processes. They are not supported for non-q endpoints.
• When a Quick Connection is active, it appears in the Connections list. However, quick connections are temporary:
  • They are removed when VS Code is refreshed or closed.
  • They are not persisted across VS Code sessions.
• Once established, a Quick Connection is available across other open q files in the same VS Code session. This allows reuse without re-entering the connection string while the session remains active.
• The port value is validated and must be a numeric value. If the port is not a number, the connection attempt fails with a validation error.

Next steps

• Learn how to create and use a My q connection.