Attu - The AI Workbench for Milvus

Attu is an AI-native management tool for Milvus vector databases. Connect to multiple Milvus clusters from a single instance, browse collections, run vector searches, manage backups, monitor health, and chat with an AI agent that understands your data.

Available as a web app (Docker / Kubernetes) or desktop app (macOS, Linux, Windows).

What's New in v3

Attu v3 is a ground-up rewrite with a modern stack (TanStack Start, React 19, Tailwind CSS v4, shadcn/ui) and major new capabilities:

• AI Agent - Chat with an LLM-powered assistant that can query collections, manage schemas, and execute Milvus operations through natural language. Supports custom skills and tool-call approval workflows.
• Backup & Restore - Create full or incremental backups, download as ZIP, upload to restore. Supports S3, MinIO, GCS, and Azure Blob Storage.
• Tasks & Data Movement - Track long-running import, export, backup, restore, and copy tasks with retry/cancel controls.
• Embedding Configuration - Configure embedding providers directly in Attu for vector search with text input.
• REST API Playground - Interactive API testing with database/collection context pickers.
• Redesigned Explorer - Hierarchical database/collection browser with schema builder, data import/export (CSV, JSON, Parquet), vector search, snapshots, external collections, partition management, and segment viewer.
• Cluster Administration - Topology visualization, role-based access control with cross-cluster role copying, scoped collection access, user management, configuration viewer, metrics, slow request analysis, diagnostics, environments, and resource groups.
• Dark/Light Theme - Geist font, Attu green primary palette, designed for long working sessions.

Quick Start

Docker (recommended)

docker run -d --name attu \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -e MILVUS_ADDRESS=host.docker.internal:19530 \
  -v attu-data:/data \
  zilliz/attu:v3.0.0-beta.6

Open http://localhost:3000 and connect to Zilliz Cloud or your open-source Milvus 3.x instance.

The Docker image stores its SQLite database at /data/attu.db by default. The -v attu-data:/data volume persists your saved connections, agent conversations, and preferences across container restarts.

Docker Compose (Milvus + Attu)

services:
  milvus:
    # Attu v3.0 supports open-source Milvus 3.x. Do not use Milvus 2.6.x here.
    image: milvusdb/milvus:<supported-3.x-tag>
    ports:
      - "19530:19530"
      - "9091:9091"
    command: milvus run standalone
    volumes:
      - milvus-data:/var/lib/milvus

  attu:
    image: zilliz/attu:v3.0.0-beta.6
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - MILVUS_ADDRESS=milvus:19530
    volumes:
      - attu-data:/data
    depends_on:
      - milvus

volumes:
  milvus-data:
  attu-data:

docker compose up -d

The Docker Compose example is for open-source Milvus 3.x compatibility validation. Attu v3.0 also supports Zilliz Cloud, but it does not support open-source Milvus 2.6.x or earlier Milvus 2.x releases.

Desktop App

Download the latest release for your platform:

macOS note: If you see "attu.app is damaged and cannot be opened", run:

sudo xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Attu.app

Features

Multi-Cluster Management

Connect to multiple Milvus instances from a single Attu deployment. Add, edit, and switch between connections in the sidebar. Each cluster has its own dedicated workspace with independent monitoring, agent sessions, and preferences, ideal for managing dev, staging, and production environments side by side.

Data Explorer

Browse databases and collections, view and edit data inline, import/export in CSV, JSON, and Parquet formats.

Vector Search

Interactive vector similarity search with configurable embedding providers (OpenAI, Cohere, Jina, VoyageAI, and more).

AI Agent

Chat-driven Milvus management with 50+ tools. Create collections, run queries, manage users, and analyze performance through natural language.

Supports: OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, DeepSeek, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, and custom API endpoints.

Cluster Overview & Monitoring

Real-time cluster health, Prometheus metrics dashboard with 16+ metrics, and interactive topology visualization.

Backup & Restore

Full and incremental backups with support for S3, MinIO, GCS, and Azure Blob Storage. Download backups as ZIP or restore from uploaded archives.

REST API Playground

Interactive API testing environment scoped to your connection, database, and collection.

And More

• RBAC Management - Create and manage users, roles, and privilege groups.
• Resource Groups - Configure resource allocation across nodes.
• Slow Request Analysis - Identify bottlenecks with cluster-wide slow query inspection.
• Configuration & Environment Viewer - Inspect runtime configs and environment variables.
• Task Queue - Monitor background operations for imports, exports, backups, restores, and copy jobs.
• Audit Logs - Review write operations initiated from the Attu UI or server functions.
• Internationalization - English and Chinese language support.

Deployment

Runtime Configuration

Pre-configured Connection

Set MILVUS_ADDRESS to automatically create a default connection on startup. This is useful for Kubernetes and Docker Compose deployments where Attu is co-deployed with Milvus.

docker run -d \
  --name attu \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -v attu-data:/data \
  -e MILVUS_ADDRESS=milvus:19530 \
  zilliz/attu:v3.0.0-beta.6

MILVUS_SSL is enabled automatically when any MILVUS_TLS_* certificate, server name, or skip-check variable is set.

MILVUS_ADDRESS must be reachable from the Attu container. 127.0.0.1 or localhost usually points to the container itself, so use a Docker service name, Kubernetes service name, or host.docker.internal.

Local Login

Attu server deployments run with local login enabled by default. The first visit shows a one-time setup form for creating the first admin account. Desktop/Electron builds run in single-user mode and do not support Attu multi-user login.

ATTU_ADMIN_USER=admin \
ATTU_ADMIN_PASSWORD='Change-me-please-123' \
pnpm --filter @attu/app dev --host 127.0.0.1

Set ATTU_AUTH_MODE=none to keep a server deployment in single-user mode. This is intended for local development or deployments protected by another access layer.

If the only admin password is lost, restart Attu once with a recovery password:

ATTU_ADMIN_RESET_USER=admin \
ATTU_ADMIN_RESET_PASSWORD='New-change-me-123' \
pnpm --filter @attu/app start

When exactly one active admin exists, ATTU_ADMIN_RESET_USER can be omitted. Remove the reset variables after signing in because Attu applies them on startup and clears existing sessions for that admin.

Audit Logs

Attu records audit logs for write operations initiated from the Attu UI or server functions. These logs are stored in Attu's SQLite database and are separate from Milvus native logs. Read-only browsing, search, and query operations are not audited.

Audited actions include connection management, database and collection management, schema and metadata changes, data writes, index and partition operations, user and role administration, resource group changes, AI configuration changes, and import/export/backup/restore task starts.

Each audit record includes the connection, actor, action, resource type/name, database name, success/failure status, error message, metadata, and timestamp. Sensitive metadata fields are redacted before storage when their key contains values such as password, token, secret, apiKey, privateKey, cert, certificate, or credential.

Audit retention defaults to 90 days. Set ATTU_AUDIT_RETENTION_DAYS to change the retention window; set it to 0 or a negative value to disable automatic pruning.

TLS / SSL

Attu supports one-way TLS and mutual TLS (mTLS) for Milvus gRPC connections.

• One-way TLS: Attu verifies the Milvus server certificate. A custom CA/root certificate is optional.
• Mutual TLS (mTLS): Attu verifies the Milvus server certificate and sends a client certificate/key to Milvus.
• Server name override: Set MILVUS_TLS_SERVER_NAME or the UI field when the certificate hostname differs from the address host.
• Skip certificate verification: MILVUS_TLS_SKIP_CERT_CHECK=true is insecure and intended only for local testing. It is not supported with mTLS.

You can configure TLS certificates in the Attu UI by uploading PEM files or by entering paths readable by the Attu server/container. Uploaded PEM content is stored in Attu's SQLite connection record, so Docker and Kubernetes deployments do not need certificate volume mounts for that flow.

One-way TLS with mounted certificate paths:

docker run -d \
  --name attu \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -v attu-data:/data \
  -v "$PWD/certs:/etc/attu/certs:ro" \
  -e MILVUS_ADDRESS=milvus.example.com:19530 \
  -e MILVUS_SSL=true \
  -e MILVUS_TLS_ROOT_CERT_PATH=/etc/attu/certs/ca.pem \
  -e MILVUS_TLS_SERVER_NAME=milvus.example.com \
  zilliz/attu:v3.0.0-beta.6

Mutual TLS with mounted certificate paths:

docker run -d \
  --name attu \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -v attu-data:/data \
  -v "$PWD/certs:/etc/attu/certs:ro" \
  -e MILVUS_ADDRESS=milvus.example.com:19530 \
  -e MILVUS_SSL=true \
  -e MILVUS_TLS_ROOT_CERT_PATH=/etc/attu/certs/ca.pem \
  -e MILVUS_TLS_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH=/etc/attu/certs/client.key \
  -e MILVUS_TLS_CERT_CHAIN_PATH=/etc/attu/certs/client.pem \
  -e MILVUS_TLS_SERVER_NAME=milvus.example.com \
  zilliz/attu:v3.0.0-beta.6

See Run Attu with local Milvus mutual TLS in Docker for a complete local mTLS setup, including certificate generation, Milvus Docker Compose configuration, and verification.

Kubernetes

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zilliztech/attu/main/deploy/attu-k8s-deploy.yaml

Edit the YAML to set MILVUS_ADDRESS to your Milvus service name (e.g., my-release-milvus:19530).

Nginx Reverse Proxy

See the nginx deployment guide.

Compatibility

Attu v3.0 supports Zilliz Cloud and open-source Milvus 3.x. Open-source Milvus 2.6.x and earlier Milvus 2.x releases are not supported by Attu v3.0.

FAQ

I can't connect to Milvus from Docker

Make sure MILVUS_ADDRESS is reachable from inside the container. Use the Docker service name, not localhost. See #161.

macOS says the app is damaged

Run sudo xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Attu.app in Terminal.

How do I update?

Docker: pull the latest image and restart. Desktop: the app checks for updates automatically on launch.

Resources

• Milvus Documentation
• Milvus Python SDK
• Milvus Java SDK
• Milvus Go SDK
• Milvus Node.js SDK

Community

Join the Milvus Discord to ask questions, share feedback, and connect with other users.

License

Attu was open source under the Apache License 2.0 through version v2.5.12. Starting from version v2.6.0, Attu is proprietary software. See LICENSE_PROPRIETARY.txt for details.