# Flink SQL Quick Start with Confluent Cloud Console Submit your first Flink SQL statement from the Confluent Cloud Console in minutes. The following steps create a *workspace*, an interactive UI for authoring and running [SQL statements](../concepts/statements.md#flink-sql-statements) on streaming data in Confluent Cloud for Apache Flink®. In this quick start guide, you perform the following steps: - [Step 1: Create a workspace](#flink-sql-quick-start-create-workspace) - [Step 2: Run SQL statements](#flink-sql-quick-start-run-sql-statement) - [Step 3: Query streaming data](#flink-sql-quick-start-query-streaming-data) - [Step 4: Query existing topics (optional)](#flink-sql-quick-start-query-existing-tables) ## Prerequisites - Access to Confluent Cloud. ## Step 1: Create a workspace Workspaces provide an intuitive, flexible UI for dynamically exploring and interacting with all of your data on Confluent Cloud using Flink SQL. In a workspace, you can save your queries, run multiple queries simultaneously in a single view, and browse your catalogs, databases, and tables in the [catalog browser](../how-to-guides/catalog-browser.md#flink-sql-catalog-browser). 1. Log in to Confluent Cloud Console at [https://confluent.cloud/login](https://confluent.cloud/login). The **Home** page opens. 2. In the navigation menu, click **SQL workspaces** to open the workspaces page. 3. Click **Create workspace** to open the **New workspace** page. 4. Click **Create new workspace**, and in the dialog, select the cloud provider and region. If you have Kafka topics that you want to run SQL queries on, select the region that has your Kafka cluster. 5. Click **Create workspace**. A new workspace opens with an example query in the code editor, or *cell*. ![Flink workspace in Confluent Cloud](images/cloud-flink-workspace.png) If default compute pools are enabled, or if you have the FlinkAdmin role, Confluent Cloud for Apache Flink creates a [compute pool](../concepts/compute-pools.md#flink-sql-compute-pools), which represents the compute resources that run your [SQL statements](../concepts/statements.md#flink-sql-statements). All statements that use a compute pool share its resources, enabling you to limit or guarantee resources as your use cases require. A compute pool is bound to a region, and creating compute pools has no cost. You can change the compute pool where a workspace runs by clicking the workspace settings icon and choosing from the **Compute pool selection** dropdown. ## Step 2: Run SQL statements In the cell of the new workspace, you can start running [SQL statements](../concepts/statements.md#flink-sql-statements). 1. Click **Run**. Confluent Cloud submits the example statement and shows information about it, including its status and a unique identifier. Click the **Statement name** link to open the statement details view, which shows the statement status and other information. Click **X** to dismiss the details view. After an initialization period, the query results display beneath the cell. Your output should resemble: ```none EXPR$0 0 1 2 ``` 2. Copy the following SQL and paste it into the cell. The statement runs the [CURRENT_TIMESTAMP](../reference/functions/datetime-functions.md#flink-sql-current-timestamp-function) function, which is one of many [built-in functions](../reference/functions/overview.md#flink-sql-functions-overview) provided by Confluent Cloud for Apache Flink. ```sql SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP; ``` 3. Click **Run**. The cell shows the statement result. Your output should resemble: ```none CURRENT_TIMESTAMP 2026-02-10 11:25:09.903 ``` ## Step 3: Query streaming data Flink SQL enables using familiar SQL syntax to query streaming data. Confluent Cloud for Apache Flink provides [example data streams](../reference/example-data.md#flink-sql-example-data) that you can experiment with. In this step, you query the `orders` table from the `marketplace` database in the `examples` catalog. In Flink SQL, the catalog and database scope catalog objects, like tables. - A *catalog* is a collection of databases that share the same namespace. - A *database* is a collection of tables that share the same namespace. In Confluent Cloud, an environment maps to a Flink catalog, and a Kafka cluster maps to a Flink database. You can always use three-part identifiers for your tables, like `catalog.database.table`, but it’s more convenient to set a default. 1. Set the default catalog and database by using the **Use catalog** and **Use database** dropdown menus in the top-right corner of the workspace. Select **examples** for the catalog, and **marketplace** for the database. 1. Click ![add-new-cell](flink/images/flink-add-code-editor.png) to create a new cell, and run the following statement to list all the tables in the **marketplace** database. ```sql SHOW TABLES; ``` Your output should resemble: ```none Table Name clicks customers orders products ``` 2. Run the following statement to inspect the `orders` data stream. ```sql SELECT * FROM orders; ``` Your output should resemble: ```none order_id customer_id product_id price 36d77b21-e68f-4123-b87a-cc19ac1f36ac 3137 1305 65.71 7fd3cd2a-392b-4f8f-b953-0bfa1d331354 3063 1327 17.75 1a223c61-38a5-4b8c-8465-2a6b359bf05e 3064 1166 14.95 ... ``` 3. Click **Stop** to end the query. ## Step 4: Query existing topics (optional) If you’ve created the workspace in a region where you already have Kafka clusters and topics, you can explore this data with Flink SQL. Confluent Cloud for Apache Flink automatically registers Flink tables on your topics, so you can run statements on your streaming data. 1. Set the default catalog and database by using the **Use catalog** and **Use database** dropdown menus. You can find your catalogs and databases in the navigation menu of the workspace. 2. Click ![add-new-cell](flink/images/flink-add-code-editor.png) to create a new cell, and run the following statement to list all the tables in the database that you selected as the default. ```sql SHOW TABLES; ``` 3. You can browse any of your tables by running a SELECT statement. ```sql SELECT * FROM ; ``` ## Next steps - [How-to Guides for Confluent Cloud for Apache Flink](../how-to-guides/overview.md#flink-sql-how-to-guides) - [Flink SQL Shell Quick Start](quick-start-shell.md#flink-sql-quick-start-shell) ## Related content - [DDL Statements](../concepts/statements.md#flink-sql-statements) - [Stream Processing Concepts](../concepts/overview.md#flink-sql-stream-processing-concepts) - [Built-in Functions](../reference/functions/overview.md#flink-sql-functions-overview) #### NOTE This website includes content developed at the [Apache Software Foundation](https://www.apache.org/) under the terms of the [Apache License v2](https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html).