> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.deltastream.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.deltastream.io/overview/core-concepts.md).

# Core Concepts

DeltaStream is a unified analytics platform that combines batch and stream processing and real-time analytics in one platform. Write queries in SQL, and DeltaStream routes them to the optimal execution engine – for example, Flink for streaming, Spark for batch, and ClickHouse for materialized views.

You can also use DeltaStream’s SQL-based interface to build stream processing applications such as streaming pipelines, materialized views, microservices, and more.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note** DeltaStream sits on top of your streaming data stores, meaning that you should already have one or more streaming stores such as Apache Kafka or AWS Kinesis.
{% endhint %}

This section provides more details on the core concepts in DeltaStream. Below is a brief walk-through of the most important constructs with which to familiarize yourself.

{% @storylane/embed subdomain="deltastream" url="<https://deltastream.storylane.io/share/3tiqde8nosn2>" linkValue="3tiqde8nosn2" %}