# What are the Derby tools and utilities?

The Derby tools and utilities are a set of routines supplied with Derby that are typically used to create, inspect, and update a Derby database.

For more complete information on developing a system using Derby, see the Derby Developer's Guide.

- Overview
  Derby is a database management system (DBMS), accessed by applications through the JDBC API. Included with the product are some standalone Java tools and utilities that make it easier to use and develop applications for Derby.
- About Derby databases
  A Derby database consists of platform-independent files stored in a directory that has the same name as the database.
- JDBC connection basics
  Most of the Derby tools are JDBC applications. A JDBC application is one that uses the classes in the java.sql package to interact with a DBMS.
- Tools and localization
  The Derby tools provide support for common localization features such as localized message files and GUI, locale-appropriate formatting of data, codesets, unicode identifiers and data, and database locales.