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Getting Started with Apache Flink

Welcome to Apache Flink! Choose a path based on your goals:

Choose Your Path

Tutorial	Best For	Prerequisites
[First Steps]({{< ref "docs/getting-started/local_installation" >}})	Everyone - Start here to install Flink	Java 11/17/21 or Docker
[Flink SQL Tutorial]({{< ref "docs/getting-started/quickstart-sql" >}})	Data analysts, SQL users	Flink cluster running
[Table API Tutorial]({{< ref "docs/getting-started/table_api" >}})	Java/Scala developers building streaming pipelines	Docker, Maven
[Flink Operations Playground]({{< ref "docs/getting-started/flink-operations-playground" >}})	DevOps, platform engineers	Docker

Quick Overview

• [First Steps]({{< ref "docs/getting-started/local_installation" >}}): Install Flink locally or via Docker and verify it's running. This is the starting point for everyone.

• [Flink SQL Tutorial]({{< ref "docs/getting-started/quickstart-sql" >}}): Learn Flink through interactive SQL queries. No coding required - just use the SQL Client to query streaming data.

• [Table API Tutorial]({{< ref "docs/getting-started/table_api" >}}): Build a complete streaming pipeline that reads from Kafka, processes data, writes to MySQL, and visualizes results in Grafana.

• [Flink Operations Playground]({{< ref "docs/getting-started/flink-operations-playground" >}}): Learn to operate Flink in production - failure recovery, scaling, upgrades, and monitoring.

After Getting Started

Once you've completed a tutorial, explore:

• [Concepts]({{< ref "docs/concepts/overview" >}}): Understand Flink's core concepts
• [Learn Flink]({{< ref "docs/learn-flink/overview" >}}): Deep-dive into Flink's programming model
• [Flink SQL]({{< ref "docs/sql/overview" >}}): Complete SQL reference and tools