= Inserting and querying

The API for Cassandra is xref:cql/ddl.adoc[`CQL`, the Cassandra Query Language]. To
use CQL, you will need to connect to the cluster, using either:

* `cqlsh`, a shell for CQL
* a client driver for Cassandra
* for the adventurous, check out https://zeppelin.apache.org/docs/0.7.0/interpreter/cassandra.html[Apache Zeppelin], a notebook-style tool

== CQLSH

`cqlsh` is a command-line shell for interacting with Cassandra using
CQL. It is shipped with every Cassandra package, and can be found in the
`bin` directory alongside the `cassandra` executable. It connects to the
single node specified on the command line. For example:

[source, shell]
----
include::example$BASH/cqlsh_localhost.sh[]
----
[source, cql]
----
include::example$RESULTS/cqlsh_localhost.result[]
----
If the command is used without specifying a node, `localhost` is the default. See the xref:tools/cqlsh.adoc[`cqlsh` section] for full documentation.

== Client drivers

A lot of xref:getting_started/drivers.adoc[client drivers] are provided by the Community and a list of
known drivers is provided. You should refer to the documentation of each driver
for more information.