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How to configure a setting for a user

· 2 min read

There are several ways to define a setting for a user in ClickHouse, depending on the use case and how long you want the setting to be configured. Let's look at a few scenarios...

Configure a setting for a single query​

A SELECT query can contain a SETTINGS clause where you can define any number of settings. The settings are only applied for that particular query. For example:

SELECT *
FROM my_table
SETTINGS max_threads = 8;

The maximum number of threads will be 8 for this particular query.

Configure a setting for a session​

You can define a setting for the lifetime of a client session using a SET clause. This is handy for ad-hoc testing or for when you want a setting to live for the lifetime of a few queries - but not longer.

SET max_threads = 8;

SELECT *
FROM my_table;

Configure a setting for a particular user​

Use ALTER USER to define a setting just for one user. For example:

ALTER USER my_user_name SETTINGS max_threads = 8;

You can verify it worked by logging out of your client, logging back in, then use the getSetting function:

SELECT getSetting('max_threads');