> Portal Navigation:
> 
> - Append `.md` to any URL under `https://dev.wix.com/docs/` to get its markdown version.
> - Pages are either content pages (article or reference text) or menu pages (a list of links to child pages).
> - To get a menu page, truncate any URL to a parent path and append `.md` (e.g. `https://dev.wix.com/docs/sdk.md`, `https://dev.wix.com/docs/sdk/core-modules.md`).
> - Top-level index of all portals: https://dev.wix.com/docs/llms.txt
> - Full concatenated docs: https://dev.wix.com/docs/llms-full.txt

## Resource: Introduction

## Article: Introduction

## Article Link: https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/cms/external-databases/introduction.md

## Article Content:

# About External Databases

> **Note for app developers:** Wix Data APIs require the site's [code editor](https://dev.wix.com/docs/develop-websites/articles/get-started/development-environments.md) to be enabled. If you are building a Wix app, add a [data collections extension](https://dev.wix.com/docs/build-apps/develop-your-app/extensions/backend-extensions/data-collections/about-data-collections-extensions.md) to automatically enable the code editor and create data collections when your app is installed on a site.


The Wix Data External Database APIs let you connect external databases to a Wix site, allowing you to manage and query external data as if it were stored in native Wix collections. Use these APIs to extend a site's data capabilities beyond Wix's built-in storage while maintaining a consistent data access interface.

These APIs provide the connection framework and service plugin infrastructure to integrate 3rd-party databases with the Wix Data system:

- [External database connection](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/cms/external-databases/external-database-connection/introduction.md): Connect an external database to a Wix site.
- [External database service plugin](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/cms/external-databases/external-database-service-plugin/introduction.md): Allow Wix sites to access and manage data stored anywhere, as if it were hosted natively on Wix.