  The gauge/gravity duality, combined with information from lattice QCD,
nuclear theory, and perturbative QCD, can be used to constrain the equation of
state of hot and dense QCD. I discuss an approach based on the holographic
V-QCD model. I start by reviewing the results from the construction of the
V-QCD baryon as a soliton of the gauge fields in the model. Then I discuss
implementing nuclear matter in the model by using a homogeneous approach. The
model predicts a strongly first order phase transition from nuclear to quark
matter with a critical endpoint. By using the model in state-of-the-art
simulations of neutron star binaries with parameters consistent with GW170817,
I study the formation of quark matter during the merger process.
