CONNECT to …
Servers reached by their own protocol or over HTTP, two databases that live in a file, and three relatives of PostgreSQL the app recognises on its own. Each dialect keeps its rules: quoting, script separators, plans, transactions.
FROM nineteen kinds of database
Dollar quoting in scripts, EXPLAIN as JSON, sessions that are read only on the server, roles with SCRAM.
DELIMITER in scripts, backticks for names, users with hosts. One driver for MySQL and MariaDB.
Recognised by what the server says about itself. Its own tools (mariadb-dump, mariadb) are found as well.
GO splits batches, names in brackets, plans as XML, logins and users.
A file on your disk. And a demo database in memory, there from the first start, to try everything without a server.
a copy of the fileThey speak PostgreSQL’s protocol. The app finds out who answers and adapts: cancel, transaction state, catalog.
connect as PostgreSQLA driver in pure Rust: no Instant Client to install. PL/SQL blocks end at a line with /, dates are bound as dates. Run, browse, details with DDL, edit rows, search.
Over its HTTP interface, to read and analyse: run, cancel, browse, filter, search. It has no transactions and no unique keys, so rows are not edited in the grid.
read and analyseBuilt in. A file or :memory:, and SELECT * FROM 'sales.parquet' just works. Nothing is downloaded: extensions are never loaded on their own.
Over HTTP, one profile per catalog: run, cancel, browse, filter, search. The driver itself keeps a session to reading; values become checked literals, because the protocol binds none.
read and analyseSQLite’s dialect behind a server: everything that works for a SQLite file, but the copy as a backup. An open transaction is kept alive by a heartbeat.
token over TLSOver Cloudflare’s REST API with an API token: run and read in SQLite’s dialect. One request per statement, so there are no transactions and rows are not edited.
not yet run against CloudflareA driver in pure Rust. Run, cancel, browse, details, edit rows, search; NUMERIC values keep every digit, SET TERM splits scripts.
Over Google’s REST API with the key file of a service account: run, cancel, browse datasets, filter, search. Mind the cost: a table view reads the table.
checked against the emulator onlyOver its SQL API with a programmatic access token or a key pair: run, cancel, browse, filter, search, with the default warehouse and role of the user.
not yet run against a real accountDb2 for Linux, UNIX and Windows with a driver in pure Rust: no IBM client to install. Run, cancel, browse, filter, search; every statement is committed as it ran.
never run against a server yetThe drivers are tested against real servers, started in containers; SQLite and DuckDB run inside the tests. The exceptions are named on their cards: Cloudflare D1, Snowflake and Db2 are written from their documentation, BigQuery ran against its emulator.
USING a profile
A connection is a profile: where, as whom, how secured. Profiles live in folders, carry a colour that marks their tabs, and never hold a secret.
Not in a file. Not in an export.
After a login that worked, the password goes to the keychain of your system: Keychain on macOS, Credential Manager on Windows, the Secret Service on Linux. The file with the profiles can be read by anyone without telling them anything.
{ "name": "shop-live", "kind": "postgres", "host": "db.internal", "port": 5432, "user": "marc", "database": "shop", "protection": "ask", "color": 7 }// no password here, ever
For the database that is not on the internet. Most are not.
Sign in with the SSH agent, a key or a password. The host key is checked against your known_hosts; an unknown key asks you to confirm its fingerprint, a changed key is refused. ~/.ssh/config is read for host names and users, and nothing in it is ever executed.
# you → bastion → databasessh marc@bastion.example.com:22 key ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 (agent) host SHA256:… knownthen db.internal:5432 TLS verify-full
From “off” to “verify everything”.
Choose the mode per connection, bring your own certificate authority, and a client certificate if the server asks for one. The same settings are handed to the backup tools, so a dump runs as securely as the session.
mode verify the certificate and the host nameCA /certs/company-ca.pemclient cert /certs/marc.pemclient key /certs/marc.key
Paste a connection URL and the profile is filled in. A password in the URL goes to the keychain, not into the profile.
Read the connections of DBeaver and DataGrip, and what .pgpass, pg_service.conf, .my.cnf and the environment know.
Export your profiles to a file and import them elsewhere. Without passwords.
REVOKE the accident
Every connection has a level. The backend classifies each statement as reading, writing, DDL or dangerous and decides; the window only shows the question.
Only what is dangerous asks first: a DELETE or UPDATE without WHERE, a DROP, a TRUNCATE.
Everything but reading asks first. For what is dangerous you type the name of the connection.
Nothing but reading runs. Editing, importing, copying into it and restoring are refused in the backend.
The same check guards everything that writes: the editor, the grid, structure changes, import, copying tables, test data, rights, ending a session.
CASE dialect
| PostgreSQL | MySQL · MariaDB | SQL Server | SQLite | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scripts are split at | ;, with dollar quoting | ; and DELIMITER | ; and GO | ; |
| Names are quoted as | "name" | `name` | [name] | "name" |
| Parameters | :name, ${name}, ?, $1: which forms count is set per connection; the driver binds the values | |||
| Reading only, for an assistant | read-only transaction on the server | read-only session on the server | a transaction that is rolled back | query_only |
| Back up and restore | pg_dump, pg_restore, psql | mysqldump or mariadb-dump, mysql | simple SQL export | a copy of the file |
| Without tools | a simple SQL export written by the app, and its restore | |||
| Oracle | ClickHouse | DuckDB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scripts are split at | ;, PL/SQL blocks at a line with / | ;, with backslash escapes | ;, with dollar quoting |
| Names are quoted as | "name" | `name` | "name" |
| Values are bound as | :1, a date as a date | {p1:String} | ? |
| Reading only, for an assistant | a transaction that is rolled back | readonly = 1 on the session of the server | structure only: a query there could read any file |
| Transactions | auto-commit by the app, or manual | none | yes, one database shared by all tabs of a profile |
| Not there yet | plan, monitor, rights, edit structure, backup | edit rows, import, copy tables, plan, monitor, rights | plan, edit structure |
Plans, object details, DDL, the ER diagram, schema compare, the monitor and rights read the catalog of each database with bound parameters. What a database does not offer yet is hidden for its connections, not left to fail.
SELECT * FROM your_database;
Free and open source under the MIT license. The packages are not signed yet.
