A full-featured desktop database client — free, open source, and cross-platform.
Connect, browse, query and edit PostgreSQL · MySQL · MariaDB · SQLite · Oracle · SQL Server through one UI.
Website & downloads → codemake.co/software
- Why DBTool
- Features
- Screenshots
- Download
- Changelog
- Quick start
- Supported databases
- Building from source
- Architecture
- Tech stack
- Roadmap
- Contributing
- Security
- License
Most full-featured database GUIs are commercial and per-seat licensed. DBTool aims to cover the day-to-day work of a developer or DBA — browsing objects, writing SQL, editing rows, designing tables, moving data between engines — in a single desktop app that runs locally, stores nothing in the cloud, and is fully open source under the AGPL.
Everything runs on your machine: no telemetry, no account, no cloud sync. Connection passwords are encrypted at rest with your operating system's keychain.
If you have used a commercial client such as Navicat, DataGrip or DBeaver, DBTool should feel familiar — the object tree, the query tabs, the editable grid and the filter builder all follow the conventions you already know.
Connect & explore
- One UI for PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, Oracle and SQL Server
- Object tree: databases → schemas → tables / views / functions / procedures / indexes / triggers / sequences / materialized views / types / extensions
- Saved connections with OS-keychain-encrypted passwords (DPAPI · Keychain · libsecret/kwallet)
Write SQL
- CodeMirror 6 editor with schema-aware autocomplete — tables after
FROM/JOIN, columns afteralias., with types shown inline - Multiple query tabs, each with its own connection, restored after restart
- Query history per connection (searchable, click to reload, double-click to run) — SQL and metadata only, never result data
Browse & filter data
- True server-side pagination — built for millions of rows; ordering, counting and paging happen in the database
- Click-to-sort on any column (server-side), page-size selector, jump-to-page
- Type-aware per-column filters and a nested AND/OR visual filter builder, plus a raw
WHEREmode - Saved filters per table, named and reusable across restarts
- Every filter is parameterized — verified injection-safe, with LIKE wildcards escaped
Edit data
- Full in-grid CRUD — insert / update / delete, keyed by primary key
- Staged changes applied in one transaction; any error rolls the whole batch back
- Auto-increment and DEFAULT columns handled correctly; DB-assigned ids appear immediately
Design & manage schema
- Visual table designer with a live DDL preview — columns, primary keys, foreign keys, indexes
- Full per-engine type system (length, precision/scale, ENUM/SET,
WITH TIME ZONE, UNSIGNED, arrays) - Destructive changes require you to retype the object name before they run
- Views, functions and procedures: create, edit, drop — with per-engine handling (
CREATE OR REPLACE,CREATE OR ALTER, or DROP + CREATE in a transaction) - PostgreSQL extras: materialized views, user-defined types & enums, extensions, advanced index types
- Visual view builder — drag-and-drop join designer with a live generated
SELECT - ER diagrams with foreign-key editing
Move data
- Import / export: CSV, JSON, Excel, SQL
- Cross-engine data transfer
Comfort
- Dark and light themes, persisted
- Full keyboard shortcut set (press F1 for the reference)
- Native application menu bar
|
Main window — connection sidebar with six engines, object tree, multi-tab SQL editor, editable results grid with server-side pagination and the generated filter SQL. |
Visual view builder — drag between column handles to create joins, tick output columns,
pick join types, and watch the |
Pre-built binaries — no Node.js or other prerequisites required, the Electron runtime is bundled.
| Platform | Download | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Windows (x64) | Installer / portable → | NSIS installer (per-user, no admin) or a single portable .exe. Builds are unsigned — SmartScreen may warn on first run: More info → Run anyway |
| macOS (Apple Silicon & Intel) | .dmg → |
Builds are unsigned — Gatekeeper blocks them on first launch. Open it once with right-click → Open, or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/DBTool.app |
| Linux (x86_64) | AppImage → | chmod +x DBTool-*.AppImage && ./DBTool-*.AppImage |
Release history and what changed in each version: CHANGELOG.md.
- Six database engines, one GUI: everything that quietly disagrees — the cross-engine divergences that cost the most time while building DBTool: identifier case folding, four incompatible ways to paginate, NULL sort order, routine editing, and why
information_schemaonly gets you a third of the way.
- Launch DBTool.
- Click Add connection, pick your engine, and fill in host / port / user / database
(or, for SQLite, point at a
.dbfile — no server needed). - Hit Test connection, then Save and Connect.
- Expand the tree and click a table — rows load in a paginated, editable grid.
- Type SQL in the editor and press Ctrl+Enter (⌘+Enter on macOS) to run it.
- Double-click a non-primary-key cell to edit it, then Apply changes.
Press F1 at any time for the full keyboard-shortcut reference.
| Engine | Minimum version | Verified against | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| PostgreSQL | 13 | 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 | Plus materialized views, enums & composite types, extensions, btree/hash/gin/gist/brin and partial/expression indexes |
| MySQL | 5.7 | 5.7 · 8.0 | No FULL OUTER JOIN; routines have no OR REPLACE (edit = DROP + CREATE) |
| MariaDB | 10.3 | 11 | MySQL driver plus standalone sequences |
| SQLite | 3 | bundled | File-based, no server; views are read-only |
| Oracle | 12.1 (Thin) | Thin & Thick | Instant Client auto-detected for Thick mode; no ON UPDATE on foreign keys |
| SQL Server | 2012 | 2022 | SQL or Windows Authentication, encrypt / trustServerCertificate toggles |
See COMPATIBILITY.md for the full feature × version matrix, per-engine caveats, and how to reproduce the version tests.
Prerequisites: Node.js 20+ and npm. Native modules ship as prebuilt binaries, so a C++ toolchain is normally not needed.
git clone https://github.com/achi777/db-tool.git
cd db-tool
npm install
npm run dev # Electron window with hot reloadOther useful commands:
npm run build # production bundles into ./out
npm run typecheck # tsc for both the main (node) and renderer (web) projects
npm run package # Windows installer + portable -> release/
npm run package:mac # macOS .dmg + .zip -> release/
npm run package:linux # Linux AppImage -> release/Each platform's artifacts must be built on that platform — macOS signing and notarization in particular require a Mac and an Apple Developer account. Packaging, native-module handling and signing are covered in DEVELOPER-GUIDE.md.
DBTool is an Electron app with a strict process split:
┌──────────────────────────── Electron ────────────────────────────┐
│ MAIN process (Node) RENDERER process (web) │
│ ┌───────────────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────┐ │
│ │ drivers/ pg · mysql · │ │ React + Zustand │ │
│ │ sqlite · oracle · mssql │ │ ConnectionManager │ │
│ │ driver.ts (DbDriver IF) │ │ ObjectTree │ │
│ │ ipc.ts (handlers) │ │ SqlEditor (CM6) │ │
│ │ store.ts (conn store) │ │ DataGrid (glide) │ │
│ └────────────▲──────────────┘ └─────────▲──────────┘ │
│ │ ipcMain.handle │ window.dbApi│
│ └────────────── preload ─────────────┘ │
│ contextBridge (typed, whitelisted) │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
shared/types.ts — types + IPC channel names (both sides)
One abstraction, six implementations. Every engine sits behind a single DbDriver
interface; the UI talks only to that shape over IPC and never knows which engine is
underneath.
Security posture (enforced): drivers, connections, queries and credentials live in the
main process only. The renderer never imports a database driver and never sees a raw
password. contextIsolation: true, nodeIntegration: false, sandbox: true, and a strict
CSP on the renderer. See SECURITY.md and ARCHITECTURE.md
for the full picture.
| Concern | Choice |
|---|---|
| Shell / build | Electron + electron-vite (HMR) |
| Language | TypeScript (strict) everywhere |
| UI | React 18 + Vite |
| State | Zustand |
| SQL editor | CodeMirror 6 (@codemirror/lang-sql) |
| Data grid | glide-data-grid (canvas, virtualized) |
| Diagrams | React Flow (@xyflow/react) + dagre |
| Packaging | electron-builder |
| Drivers | pg · mysql2 · better-sqlite3 · oracledb · mssql |
Planned, not yet implemented:
- Keyset/seek pagination and approximate counts for extreme-scale tables
- Bulk paste from spreadsheets into the grid
- Schema diff / sync
- Backup & restore
- Reverse-engineering an arbitrary
SELECTback into the visual view builder; subqueries, CTEs, UNION designer - Routine debugging and parameter-form execution
- Persisting builder filters per table across restarts
Ideas and votes are welcome in Issues.
Contributions are welcome. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md first — note that this project requires agreement to a Contributor License Agreement, which is what makes the dual AGPL + commercial licensing possible.
DBTool handles database credentials. If you believe you have found a security vulnerability, please do not open a public issue — follow the private disclosure process in SECURITY.md.
DBTool is dual-licensed:
- Open source — GNU AGPL-3.0-only. Free to use, modify and distribute. Any derivative work, and any network deployment, must publish its complete source code under the same license.
- Commercial — see COMMERCIAL-LICENSE.md. A proprietary license is available for closed-source or commercial use where the AGPL's copyleft obligations are not acceptable.
To obtain a commercial license, contact archil.odishelidze@gmail.com.
SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only
Copyright (c) 2026 Archil Odishelidze / CodeMake