---
title: Getting help
description: Built-in help — a command list, per-command detail, and the type reference.
sidebar:
  order: 8
---

import Demo from '../../../components/Demo.astro';

The playground has help built in, so you rarely need to leave it.

```rdbms
help
```
Lists the supported commands, with the grammar reference and the type list.

```rdbms
help insert
```
`help <command>` shows detail for one command (every command sharing that
entry word). Try `help create`, `help add`, `help show`, and so on.

```rdbms
help types
```
Shows the type reference on its own.

## Hints — a deeper nudge

`help` is the reference; **`hint`** is the teaching nudge for what you are doing
*right now*. A hint goes beyond the always-on colour and the ambient
[hint line](/using-the-playground/the-assistive-editor/#hints): it explains what
a command does, shows a worked example, and names the underlying relational
concept.

<Demo src="/casts/hint.cast" title="F1 hints the command you're typing; after an error, the hint command explains it." />

Press <kbd>F1</kbd> while typing to get a hint for the command you are building:

```
Hint
  What:    Add one or more rows to a table.
  Example: insert into Customers values ('Ann', 'ann@example.io')
  Concept: A row is one record; each value lines up with a column, in order. Columns typed `serial`/`shortid` fill themselves — leave them out.
```

After a command fails, the **`hint`** command explains the most recent error —
what went wrong, an example of the fix, and the concept behind it:

```rdbms
hint
```

A submitted command can't see your half-typed line, which is why the live-input
hint is on <kbd>F1</kbd> while `hint` covers the last error. Both work in simple
and advanced mode.

Outside the app, run `rdbms-playground --help` for the
[command-line options](/using-the-playground/command-line-options/).
