InfluxDB is an open source **distributed time series database** with **no external dependencies**. It's useful for recording metrics, events, and performing analytics.
It aims to answer queries in real-time. That means every data point is indexed as it comes in and is immediately available in queries that should return in <100ms.
* Understand the [design goals and motivations of the project](http://influxdb.org/overview/).
* Follow the [getting started guide](http://influxdb.org/docs/) to find out how to install InfluxDB, start writing data, and issue queries - in just a few minutes.
* See the [list of libraries for different languages](http://influxdb.org/docs/libraries/javascript.html), or check out the [HTTP API documentation to start writing a library for your favorite language](http://influxdb.org/docs/api/http.html).
You don't need to build the project to use it. Pre-built [binaries and instructions to install InfluxDB are here](http://influxdb.org/download/). That's the recommended way to get it running. However, if you want to contribute to the core of InfluxDB, you'll need to build. For those adventurous enough, you can [follow along on our docs](http://influxdb.org/docs/getting_started/building.html).
