SQLX README
The full upstream README, mirrored here for reference. Install config, tool schemas, adoption signals, and an original overview live on the SQLX listing page.
SQLX
Connect to MySQL, MariaDB, TiDB, GreatSQL, OceanBase, PostgreSQL, CockroachDB, YugabyteDB, openGauss, Oracle, SQL Server, ClickHouse, Trino, Presto, StarRocks, Apache Doris, TDengine, Dameng, KingbaseES, Apache Kylin, XuguDB, IBM Db2, IBM Informix, SUNDB, GBase 8s, Redis and MongoDB, or open a local SQLite, DuckDB or H2 file, from your terminal or from your agent. Connections are saved encrypted, one invocation runs one or more statements or commands, and the results come back complete and structured.
Quick start
Using an agent? See Use with your agent: install one plugin or extension and the agent calls SQLX directly.
Install the CLI
Three channels, pick one: prebuilt packages from GitHub Releases, the npx installer, or the platform install scripts.
macOS and Linux
The installer selects your platform, downloads the executable and verifies its SHA-256. It installs to ~/.local/bin; add that directory to your shell's persistent PATH. SQLX_INSTALL_DIR chooses another directory and SQLX_VERSION selects a release version.
Windows x64
Run in PowerShell:
Add %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\SQLX to your user PATH for future sessions. Neither installer overwrites an unrelated executable already named sqlx; use a different install directory in that case.
Prebuilt targets are macOS ARM64/x64, Linux ARM64/x64 and Windows x64; the Linux baseline is Ubuntu 24.04. Release users do not need Rust, Java or database drivers: database workers and a private JRE are downloaded only when needed.
Node.js (npx)
macOS, Linux and Windows x64 with Node.js 22 or newer:
The installer verifies the release manifest, SHA256SUMS and the downloaded archive before installing. It uses the same user-level location as the platform installers and installs the Skill into ./sqlx; --target codex, --target claude, --target dsh, --target pi or --target <directory> place the Skill somewhere else. Node.js is needed only by the installer, never by the CLI.
Updates
The CLI updates its own executable:
sqlx update install --version <version> installs an exact stable version. Updates do not stop running SQL or the UI service, do not modify saved connections, and do not update Skills or plugins automatically; use sqlx skill update for managed Skills, and an installed UI plugin keeps the version you selected (the default interface moves with the CLI release).
Interactive use checks in the background at most once per day and only prints a notice on stderr. Piped and CI commands skip that check, and SQLX_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 disables it. Source builds and package-manager-owned paths keep their own installation method.
Use with your agent
All four are ready as soon as they are installed: the plugin or extension installs the sqlx CLI
itself when it is missing, so you never install it separately. Codex and Claude additionally
require the CLI to meet the plugin's minimum version and refuse to start an older incompatible MCP
server silently.
Codex
The plugin starts sqlx mcp over MCP. Read-only operations run directly; the two execution tools (sqlx_sql_execute and sqlx_sql_view) are marked destructive and Codex asks for approval by default.
Claude Code
Headless runs need an explicit tool allowlist:
DeepSeek Harness
Plugins belong to a profile: install it into the profile you use, then restart dsh.
Pi
Skill only
For another agent, pass its skill directory with sqlx skill install --path <directory>.
Connections and SQL
Create a connection
| Database | --type values | Execution | Required values and defaults |
|---|---|---|---|
| MySQL | mysql | native worker | port 3306 by default |
| MariaDB | mariadb | reuses the MySQL worker | port 3306 by default |
| TiDB | tidb | reuses the MySQL worker | port 4000 by default |
| GreatSQL | greatsql | reuses the MySQL worker | port 3306 by default |
| OceanBase | oceanbase, ob | reuses the MySQL worker | port 2881 by default; connect as user@tenant |
| StarRocks | starrocks | reuses the MySQL worker | port 9030 by default; has no user database until one is created |
| Apache Doris | doris | reuses the MySQL worker | port 9030 by default; has no user database until one is created |
| PostgreSQL | postgresql, postgres, pgsql | native worker | port 5432 by default |
| CockroachDB | cockroachdb, cockroach, crdb | reuses the PostgreSQL worker | |
| YugabyteDB | yugabytedb, yugabyte, yb | reuses the PostgreSQL worker | port 5433 by default |
| openGauss | opengauss, gaussdb | JDBC worker | port 5432 by default; authenticates with its own driver |
| Oracle | oracle | JDBC worker | --service <service-name> is required |
| SQL Server | sqlserver, mssql | JDBC worker | port 1433 by default |
| ClickHouse | clickhouse | JDBC worker | connects to the HTTP port, 8123 by default |
| Trino | trino | JDBC worker | --database <catalog>[.<schema>] is required |
| TDengine | tdengine, taos | JDBC worker | connects through taosAdapter, 6041 by default |
| Dameng | dameng, dm | JDBC worker | port 5236 by default; the account is also the default schema |
| KingbaseES | kingbase, kingbasees | JDBC worker | port 54321 by default |
| Redis | redis | native worker | port 6379 by default; each --command is one Redis command, not SQL |
| MongoDB | mongodb, mongo | native worker | port 27017 by default; each --command is one command document, not SQL |
| SQLite | sqlite, sqlite3 | native worker | --path <file> (or --database) opens or creates a local file; no host, port or credentials; --property mode=ro and --property busy_timeout=<ms> |
| DuckDB | duckdb | native worker | --path <file> opens or creates a local file, :memory: keeps one for the invocation; --property read_only=true and --property threads=<n> |
| H2 | h2 | JDBC worker | --path <file> opens a local file, or --host and --port (9092 by default) reach a TCP server |
| Presto | presto, prestodb | JDBC worker | port 8080 by default; --database <catalog>[.<schema>] is required; --username is required and a password is only sent over TLS |
| Hive | hive | JDBC worker | port 10000 by default; --database selects the Hive database, default when unset |
| Apache Kylin | kylin | JDBC worker | port 7070 by default; --database carries the Kylin project, and the default account is ADMIN/KYLIN |
| XuguDB | xugu, xugudb | JDBC worker | port 5138 by default; SYSTEM is the system database |
| IBM Db2 | db2, ibmdb2 | JDBC worker | port 50000 by default; needs a driver you provide, see Drivers you provide |
| IBM Informix | informix, ifx | JDBC worker | port 9088 by default; --service <server-instance> is required and the driver must be provided |
| SUNDB | sundb | JDBC worker | port 22581 by default; runs the Goldilocks engine and needs the driver from the vendor image |
| GBase 8s | gbase8s, gbasedbt | JDBC worker | port 9088 by default; --service <server-instance> is required and the driver must be provided |
--id and --datasource accept a stable datasource UUID or its unique name.
To let the user type the password in a local page, so it never enters the conversation or a tool response:
To edit an existing connection and keep its saved password unless you replace it: sqlx datasource update --id dev --ui.
Connections do not use TLS unless you ask for it: --tls defaults to disable. Add --tls verify-full to verify the database certificate; a database that serves no certificate your machine trusts then fails with invalid peer certificate: UnknownIssuer (MySQL), error performing TLS handshake (PostgreSQL) or a closed connection (Oracle), which is the usual case for a local container. Either choice is also available as an update:
Credentials
Credentials come from named environment variables, hidden interactive prompts, or a connection JSON object on stdin. Never put a literal password in a command argument.
Datasource responses omit usernames, passwords and vendor properties.
Importing connections
A tool that already stores connections can hand all of them over in one versioned document, so a migration never needs a password in a command argument. examples/import-connections.json is a runnable starting point:
Each connection is the same object --connection-stdin accepts. merge (the default) adds new names and updates existing ones in place while keeping their IDs, and it never deletes a stored connection. Every entry is validated on its own, so an unsupported engine or an incomplete connection is reported in skipped with its reason instead of failing the document:
--dry-run validates and reports without storing anything, --strict refuses the whole document when any entry is invalid, and --file <path> reads the document from a file for callers that cannot pipe stdin. The store is written once, so an import is never half applied.
total counts every connection the import considered: the connections already stored plus the document's entries, including the ones it skipped. With one stored connection and two entries, one of them invalid, the response reports total: 3, added: 1 and one skipped entry.
Commands
| Operation | Command |
|---|---|
| Initialize local storage | sqlx init |
| Create a connection | sqlx datasource add --name dev --type mysql --host localhost --database app --username-env DB_USER --password-env DB_PASSWORD |
| List connections | sqlx datasource list |
| Inspect a connection | sqlx datasource show --id dev |
| Change connection settings | sqlx datasource update --id dev --host db.example.com |
| Import saved connections | sqlx datasource import --stdin |
| Remove a saved connection | sqlx datasource remove --id dev |
| Test connectivity | sqlx datasource test --id dev |
| Execute SQL | sqlx sql execute --datasource dev --command "SELECT 1" --command "SELECT 2" |
| Download workers, the JDBC runtime and the UI ahead of time | sqlx prefetch mysql ui (mariadb, tidb, greatsql, oceanbase, starrocks, doris, postgres, cockroachdb, yugabytedb, opengauss, oracle, sqlserver, clickhouse, trino, presto, hive, kylin, xugu, db2, informix, sundb, gbase8s, tdengine, dameng, kingbase, redis, mongodb, sqlite, duckdb, h2, skill or all; the four engines whose driver you provide fetch the shared runtime only) |
| Install a driver the release cannot ship | sqlx driver add --type db2 --jar <path>, sqlx driver list, sqlx driver remove --type db2 |
| Execute and open a result page | sqlx sql execute --datasource dev --command "SELECT 1" --view |
| Read a stored result | sqlx results list, sqlx results rows --id <result-id> --offset 100 --limit 50 |
| Show or change settings | sqlx setting list, sqlx setting set preview-rows 20, sqlx setting set results-dir ~/sqlx-results |
| Return a large result inline | sqlx sql execute --datasource dev --command "SELECT …" --full |
| Local workbench | sqlx ui, sqlx ui status, sqlx ui stop |
| Create a chart and place it on a dashboard | sqlx analytics chart add --name revenue --datasource dev --command "SELECT month, SUM(revenue) AS revenue FROM sales GROUP BY month" --type line --x month --y revenue --run --dashboard "Sales" (as everywhere else, --sql is accepted as an alias) |
| Run a saved chart's SQL again | sqlx analytics chart run revenue |
| List or delete charts and dashboards | sqlx analytics list, sqlx analytics dashboard add --name "Sales", sqlx analytics remove chart revenue |
| Serve MCP over stdio | sqlx mcp |
| Install the Skill | sqlx skill install --target codex, --target claude, --target dsh or --target pi |
| Install to another skill directory | sqlx skill install --path /path/to/skills/sqlx |
| Inspect and update managed Skills | sqlx skill status, sqlx skill update |
| Stop managing a Skill installation | sqlx skill remove --path /path/to/skills/sqlx (files are kept) |
| Help and version | sqlx --help, sqlx --version |
Execution behavior
Each invocation owns one database connection. Repeated --command arguments execute in order, initially with autocommit, and stop at the first error; there is no implicit all-or-nothing transaction. Temporary tables and session variables do not survive another invocation. Do not submit client directives such as GO, DELIMITER or psql backslash commands.
--command is the current flag and --sql is still accepted as an alias.
Output is one JSON object with one item per executed statement: results[].stmt identifies the statement, cols lists the columns as [name, type] pairs (base64, boolean and json join as a third entry when values are not plain text), rows holds positional values and count holds the driver's row count. Duplicate labels remain distinct. Numbers are encoded as strings to preserve integer and decimal precision, and binary data uses Base64. A failed statement carries its own error with an outcome; statements that never ran are listed in skipped; the object ends with success, which is also the process exit status.
Only a preview travels through standard output. A result set with more rows than preview-rows (10 by default) or more than 16 KiB of values is written completely to results/<id>/<statement>-<result>.jsonl inside the result directory, and its item carries a file path plus the object's id. Read more rows from that file, or page them with sqlx results rows --id <id> --offset 100. The default result directory is a private directory inside the system temporary directory, so results disappear when the machine reboots; sqlx setting set results-dir ~/sqlx-results keeps them, and sqlx setting set results-retention-hours 0 stops the 24-hour cleanup.
A caller that cannot read files needs the whole result in one answer: --full prints every row and stores nothing, sqlx setting set result-mode full makes that the default for this machine, and the MCP tool sqlx_sql_execute takes "full": true for one call. A large result then fills the caller's own output budget, which is why the preview is the default.
--events prints the raw worker event stream instead (protocol_version, datasource_id, events, success) for scripts that parse it, and never stores anything. --preview <rows> overrides the preview size for one call.
Check the final success flag and the exit status, and never replay an uncertain write automatically.
Local pages
Let the user inspect results in a browser and enter the password there.
SQLX executes once and returns a local URL. The page loads the results automatically, supports multiple result sets and pagination, and preserves exact values. Reloading, paging or reopening the page reads the cached result; Refresh on the page reruns the original SQL batch against the database, so any writes in that batch run again. A successful refresh replaces the displayed snapshot at the same URL; a failure keeps the previous result and does not roll back database changes. Results are retained locally for 24 hours.
sqlx ui opens the local workbench, sqlx ui status and sqlx ui stop inspect or stop the service, and --no-open returns a link without launching a browser. The workbench also renders the charts and dashboards created with sqlx analytics (see Local analytics); that command needs no running service. Pages are reachable only on the machine running SQLX, load an HttpOnly browser session automatically, and the service stays up until sqlx ui stop.
Typing the password into the page keeps credentials out of the conversation, but it does not isolate them from an agent that can read files or control the browser as the same operating-system user. See the local UI design for the interface and storage boundaries.
Choose your UI
Installing does not activate a plugin; after selecting it, reload an open page or run sqlx ui. CLI updates keep the version of a plugin you installed and move the default interface to the version of the release, and switching versions needs sqlx ui stop first. Plugins run locally and can access entered credentials and displayed data, so install interfaces from authors you trust: a checksum proves the downloaded bytes are intact, not that the author is trustworthy.
To build your own interface, see the UI plugin guide, the typed browser SDK and the independent terminal UI example. Users need no Node.js runtime.
Data and downloads
User data lives in ~/.sqlx/; use --data-dir or SQLX_DATA_DIR for another location. Settings are stored in ~/.sqlx/settings.json and managed with sqlx setting list|get|set|unset; SQLX_PREVIEW_ROWS, SQLX_RESULTS_DIR, SQLX_RESULTS_RETENTION_HOURS and SQLX_RESULT_MODE override the file for one environment, and a command line flag overrides both. Stored results live in the result directory described above, keep 24 hours by default and stay under 1 GiB in total; older results are removed before the next command runs, and page results from --view are managed by the local service. Saved connections use AES-256-GCM with an independently generated local key: back up the key together with the encrypted data, because losing the key prevents decryption. Device identity is generated locally and this version uploads no device information.
The main executable contains no database drivers; each database's worker is downloaded on first use. MySQL, MariaDB, TiDB, GreatSQL, OceanBase, StarRocks and Apache Doris share the MySQL worker, Redis, MongoDB, SQLite and DuckDB run in their own native workers, PostgreSQL, CockroachDB and YugabyteDB share the PostgreSQL worker, and Oracle, SQL Server, ClickHouse, Trino, Presto, TDengine, openGauss, Dameng, KingbaseES, H2, Hive, Apache Kylin, XuguDB, IBM Db2, IBM Informix, SUNDB and GBase 8s use the JDBC worker (the database table lists which worker serves which database). Downloaded resources come from the fixed release manifest of the running CLI version and are verified before use; --manifest <https-url> selects another manifest or a local test server.
Downloads happen on first use and are cached afterwards. Each one prints Downloading … with speed and estimated time, and a final Downloaded … in 12.3s (390 KB/s) line on stderr; the progress line is refreshed only when stderr is a terminal, so piped JSON stays clean. An interrupted transfer is retried up to three times, and rerunning a failed command reuses every component that is already installed. To avoid waiting inside the first query or page:
The database references explain each SQL operation's purpose, parameters, result and official documentation link.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | What to do |
|---|---|
invalid peer certificate: UnknownIssuer, error performing TLS handshake | The connection asks for TLS verification and the database serves no certificate your machine trusts (common in local containers); drop --tls verify-full (the default is disable) |
sqlx: command not found | The install directory is missing from PATH: ~/.local/bin (macOS, Linux) or %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\SQLX (Windows) |
| The first query seems stuck downloading | Run sqlx prefetch <component> first; after an interruption, rerunning reuses installed components |
| Switching the UI plugin version fails | Run sqlx ui stop first, then sqlx ui plugin remove |
| An update fails | Check sqlx update status; rerun the installer if needed, saved connections are unaffected |
| Oracle or SQL Server reports a JDBC-related error | Rerun with SQLX_JDBC_DEBUG=1 to see the driver's own diagnostics |
Build from source
Source development requires Git, Rust 1.95, Node.js 22 and the platform's native build tools; Node.js only builds UI plugin assets. For Oracle or SQL Server development, also install a Java 17 JDK and Maven.
On macOS or Linux:
On Windows PowerShell:
Keep the checkout at that location, or copy the CLI and both native workers into a dedicated directory and update PATH and SQLX_WORKER_DIR accordingly. This source build makes MySQL and PostgreSQL usable without a published worker manifest.
For Oracle and SQL Server, build the JDBC worker and place its driver JARs alongside those workers. On macOS or Linux:
On Windows PowerShell:
Java 17 must be on PATH, or SQLX_JAVA_BIN can point to its executable. These manual dependencies are only needed for source development; a binary release downloads its private Java runtime and drivers automatically.
Development and validation
For local native workers, set SQLX_WORKER_DIR to the absolute target/debug directory. For JDBC development, that directory also contains sqlx-jdbc.jar and ojdbc.jar or mssql-jdbc.jar; SQLX_JAVA_BIN can select Java 17 explicitly. These overrides are for development, not prerequisites for release users. The fixture scripts use dedicated test containers and test-only credentials.
Drivers you provide
Most JDBC drivers ship with the release and are downloaded on first use. Vendors that do not allow their driver to be redistributed are not packaged: IBM Db2, IBM Informix, SUNDB and GBase 8s connect with a driver you install once from the vendor.
sqlx driver add copies the jar into <data-dir>/drivers/<engine>/, checks that it really carries the
engine's driver class, and every later command loads it from there. A jar you provide also wins over a
released component, which is how a newer vendor driver is used before the release catches up. Running a
statement for one of these engines without a driver explains the exact command to run:
scripts/release-driver-check.sh <engine> <jar> <data-dir> <connection-json> <statement> runs the same
path a release user takes — install the jar, then execute with no development overrides, so the CLI
resolves the JRE and the JDBC runner from the published manifest. It needs a release whose JDBC runner
already knows the engine, so run it against a published version rather than from a feature branch.
Where the drivers come from:
| Engine | File to provide | Driver class |
|---|---|---|
| IBM Db2 | jcc-<version>.jar from IBM or Maven Central (com.ibm.db2:jcc) | com.ibm.db2.jcc.DB2Driver |
| IBM Informix | the Informix JDBC driver, 4.50 line (com.ibm.informix:jdbc); the 15.x line fails against an Informix 14.10 server | com.informix.jdbc.IfxDriver |
| SUNDB | goldilocks8.jar from the vendor image at /goldilocks_home/lib/ | sunje.goldilocks.jdbc.GoldilocksDriver |
| GBase 8s | the vendor's ifxjdbc.jar; a wrapper jar that contains it must be unpacked first | com.gbasedbt.jdbc.IfxDriver |
Releases and documentation
- Packages and checksums: GitHub Releases
- Release notes: docs/release-notes.md
- Design and implementation boundaries: docs/design.md
- Update behavior and recovery: docs/updates.md
- Local interface and plugins: docs/local-ui.md, docs/ui-plugins.md
- Agent integrations: integrations/README.md, Skill
Not included: SQL-file input, persistent sessions, configurable transaction and error modes, result-file export, unattended update installation, and telemetry.
License
This public source repository retains the modified Chat2DB license for adapted code. It is not the unmodified Apache 2.0 license. See LICENSE and NOTICE; third-party dependencies retain their own licenses.