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Tell uses ClickHouse for analytics storage — events, logs, sessions, and query results all live here. You need a running ClickHouse instance before Tell can store data.

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Pick a provider

Self-hosted

Run ClickHouse on your own infrastructure.

ClickHouse Cloud

Managed service from the ClickHouse team.

Tinybird

Managed ClickHouse with a real-time data platform.

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Self-hosted

Install ClickHouse locally: 
curl https://clickhouse.com/ | sh
Start the server: 
./clickhouse server

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Initialize Tell tables

Once ClickHouse is running (self-hosted or managed), Tell can create the database, tables, and config for you: 
tell clickhouse init myproject
This creates:
  • A database and all required tables
  • A ClickHouse user with the right permissions
  • A config file at configs/myproject.toml with generated credentials
Start Tell with the generated config: 
tell run -c configs/myproject.toml

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Using a managed provider

For ClickHouse Cloud or Tinybird, you’ll need the connection details from your provider. Pass them to the init command: 
tell clickhouse init myproject --host your-instance.clickhouse.cloud --port 9440 --secure
The generated config will include your connection details.