Tabularis README

Tabularis

Tabularis is an open-source desktop SQL workspace with 3 built-in database drivers and 24 shipped plugins, including DuckDB, ClickHouse, Redis and Firestore. Its built-in MCP server lets Claude, Cursor and Devin (formerly Windsurf) read your schema and run queries in the same app you already use.

Website · Docs · Download · Changelog

_{English · Italiano · Español · 中文 · Français · Deutsch · 日本語 · Русский · Tagalog · 한국어 · Português (Brasil)}

Download

winget install Debba.Tabularis    # Windows
brew install --cask tabularis     # macOS
sudo snap install tabularis       # Linux

Or grab an installer directly:

• Windows:

• macOS:

• Linux:

The app UI is available in English, Italian, Spanish, Chinese (Simplified), French, German, Japanese, Russian, Korean, Tagalog and Portuguese (Brazilian).

[!TIP] Discord: Join our Discord server to talk with the maintainers, share feedback, and get help from the community.

Table of Contents

• Why tabularis?
  • Database support
• Installation
  • Windows
  • macOS
  • Linux (Snap)
  • Linux (Flatpak)
  • Linux (AppImage)
  • Arch Linux (AUR)
• Updates
• Discord
• Changelog
• Features
  • Connection Management
  • Database Explorer
  • SQL Editor
  • SQL Notebooks
  • Keyboard Shortcuts
  • Visual Query Builder
  • Visual EXPLAIN
  • Data Grid
  • Plugin System
  • Logging
  • Configuration Storage
  • AI Features (Optional)
  • MCP Server: AI Agent Integration
• Tech Stack
• Development
• Roadmap
• Contributing
• Sponsors and supporters
• Origin Story
• License

Why tabularis?

[!NOTE] Comparison as of June 2026; features in other tools may have changed since. If you need dozens of drivers, use DBeaver. Tabularis focuses on doing a few databases well.

Database support

PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB and SQLite ship built in. Everything else is a plugin. The built-in PostgreSQL driver is deprecated in favour of the PostgreSQL plugin, which Tabularis installs automatically. Current coverage, mirroring the driver & plugin coverage on the website:

Shipped

On the bounty board

[!NOTE] Shipped drivers are installable from the plugin registry. Everything else is on the bounty board: claim one, sponsor one, or request a database.

Installation

Windows

WinGet (Recommended)

winget install Debba.Tabularis

Direct Download

Download the installer from the Releases page and run it:

tabularis_x.x.x_x64-setup.exe

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

macOS

Homebrew (Recommended)

brew install --cask tabularis

Direct Download

Builds from v0.13.1 onward are signed and notarized by Apple, so they open without any extra steps.

Linux (Snap)

sudo snap install tabularis
sudo snap connect tabularis:password-manager-service   # allow keychain access for saved credentials

[!IMPORTANT] The password-manager-service interface is not auto-connected by the Snap Store yet. Without it, saving a connection fails with a Platform secure storage failure error.

Linux (Flatpak)

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flatpark https://dl.flatpark.org/flatpark.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flatpark dev.tabularis.Tabularis

Linux (AppImage)

Download the .AppImage file from the Releases page, make it executable and run it:

chmod +x tabularis_x.x.x_amd64.AppImage
./tabularis_x.x.x_amd64.AppImage

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S tabularis-bin

Updates

Tabularis checks for updates automatically on startup and notifies you when a new version is available. You can also download the latest version directly from the Releases page.

Discord

Join our Discord server to talk with the maintainers, share feedback, suggest features, or get help from the community.

Changelog

Every release is documented in CHANGELOG.md.

Features

Connection Management

_{Full reference on tabularis.dev →}

• Support for MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL (with multi-schema support) and SQLite, with multi-database selection per connection.
• Save, manage, and clone connection profiles, with optional secure password storage in the system Keychain.
• SSH Tunneling with automatic readiness detection.
• Per-Connection Appearance: override the icon (Lucide, emoji, or custom image) and accent color of each saved connection.

Database Explorer

_{Full reference on tabularis.dev →}

• Tree View: Browse tables, columns, keys, indexes, views, and stored routines, with inline editing from the sidebar.
• ER Diagram: Interactive Entity-Relationship visualization (pan, zoom, layout) with selective table diagram generation.
• Context Actions: Show data, count rows, modify schema, duplicate/delete tables.
• SQL Dump & Import: Export and restore databases with a single flow.

SQL Editor

_{Full reference on tabularis.dev →}

• Monaco Editor with syntax highlighting and auto-completion, in a tabbed interface with isolated connections per tab and resizable split view.
• Multi-Statement Execution: Run All, Run Selected, or pick individual queries. Results appear in separate tabs with independent pagination.
• Smart Query Splitting: Correctly handles stored procedures, functions, and $$-delimited blocks.
• SQL Files: Open, edit, and save .sql, .psql, and .pgsql files in editor tabs without executing them.
• Saved Queries and an AI assist overlay directly in the editor.

SQL Notebooks

_{Full reference on tabularis.dev →}

• Multi-Cell Workspace: Combine SQL and Markdown cells in a single document, with inline results and bar/line/pie charts.
• Cross-Cell Variables: Reference another cell's full result as a table with {{cell_N}} (expanded to a CTE at run time), plus global @paramName parameters.
• Run All: Sequential execution with stop-on-error option and completion summary.
• Persistence & Export: Auto-saved as .tabularis-notebook files; export as HTML, CSV, or JSON.
• Outline panel, drag & drop cell reordering, and AI-generated cell names.

Keyboard Shortcuts

_{Full reference on tabularis.dev →}

• Built-in shortcuts for navigation, editor, and data grid actions, platform-aware (Cmd on macOS, Ctrl on Windows/Linux).
• Fully customizable: Remap any non-locked shortcut from Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts; overrides persist to keybindings.json.
• Hold Ctrl+Shift in the sidebar to reveal numbered badges (1–9) for instant connection switching.

Visual Query Builder

_{Full reference on tabularis.dev →}

• Drag-and-Drop: Build queries visually with ReactFlow.
• Visual JOINs: Connect tables to create relationships.
• Advanced Logic: WHERE/HAVING filters, aggregates (COUNT, SUM, AVG), sorting, and limits.
• Real-time SQL: Instant code generation.

Visual EXPLAIN

_{Full reference on tabularis.dev →}

• Interactive Plan Graphs: Inspect execution plans as navigable node graphs instead of raw text.
• Table, Raw, and AI Views: Switch between exact node metrics, original database output, and optional AI-assisted analysis.
• Cross-Database Support: Works with PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, and SQLite using the best available EXPLAIN format per driver.
• Faster Optimization Loops: Spot expensive scans, estimate gaps, join behavior, and optimizer choices without leaving the editor.

Data Grid

_{Full reference on tabularis.dev →}

• Inline & Batch Editing: Modify cells and commit multiple changes at once; create, delete, and multi-select rows.
• Export: Save results as CSV or JSON, or copy selected rows straight to the clipboard.
• JSON & JSONB Cells: Syntax-highlighted in the grid, with a dedicated editor window (Tree / Monaco / Raw modes).
• Spatial Data: Initial GEOMETRY support for MySQL.

Plugin System

_{Full reference on tabularis.dev →}

Tabularis is hackable with an external plugin system. Plugins are standalone executables that communicate with the app over JSON-RPC 2.0 via stdin/stdout, and can be written in any language.

• Install Plugins: Browse and install community drivers from Settings → Available Plugins, no restart required.
• Manage Drivers: View all registered drivers (built-in and plugins) in Settings → Installed Drivers and uninstall plugins with one click.
• Any Database: Add support for DuckDB, MongoDB, or any other database by writing or installing a plugin.
• Plugin Registry: Official plugins are listed in plugins/registry.json.
• Developer Guide: See plugins/PLUGIN_GUIDE.md to build your own driver in any language.
• Declarative themes (development): Settings → Appearance supports local packages (Import theme → Local package), previews and personal/VS Code imports without executable plugin activation. See the theme author guide for the separate tabularis-theme CLI, packaging and release gates; public runtime/tooling rollout is not implied by this development feature.

Logging

• Real-time log viewer in Settings, with level filtering and export to .log files.
• Automatically expand and inspect SQL queries in logs.
• CLI Debug Mode: Start with tabularis --debug for verbose logging from launch.

Configuration Storage

_{Full reference on tabularis.dev →}

Configuration is stored in ~/.config/tabularis/ (Linux), ~/Library/Application Support/tabularis/ (macOS), or %APPDATA%\tabularis\ (Windows): connection profiles, saved queries, app settings (config.json), custom themes, and per-connection editor preferences. You can move this folder from Settings > Storage (or with the TABULARIS_DATA_DIR environment variable), for example to an iCloud Drive or Dropbox folder to sync connections across machines; installed plugins always stay local. Tabs and queries are restored when you reopen a connection. The wiki covers the full file layout and every config.json option, including custom AI model overrides.

AI Features (Optional)

_{Full reference on tabularis.dev →}

Optional Text-to-SQL and query explanation powered by OpenAI, Anthropic, MiniMax, OpenRouter, Requesty, Ollama (local models, no API key, full privacy), and any OpenAI-compatible API (Groq, Perplexity, Azure OpenAI, LocalAI, ...). Model lists are fetched from your provider and cached locally; custom models can be configured per provider.

MCP Server: AI Agent Integration

_{Full reference on tabularis.dev →}

Tabularis includes a built-in MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that lets AI agents read your database schema and execute queries directly from their chat interface.

tabularis --mcp

One-click setup for Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Windsurf: open Settings → MCP Server Integration, click Install Config next to your client, and restart it. Manual configuration is covered in the wiki.

Available tools

Once connected, your AI agent can:

Every tool accepts an optional output_format argument. JSON is the default, preserving the existing response format for all clients. You can choose JSON or TOON as the default under Settings → MCP Server Integration; a tool call's output_format argument overrides that preference. TOON is especially compact for tabular query results passed to an LLM. MCP transport remains JSON-RPC in either mode; only the text inside the tool result changes.

Example prompts

"Show me all tables in my production database and describe the orders table"

"Write and run a query to find the top 10 customers by total order value this month"

"Check if there are any missing indexes on the users table"

Tech Stack

Development

Setup

pnpm install
pnpm tauri dev

Build

pnpm tauri build

Roadmap

• Plugin registry platform — OAuth publishing, release sync, download analytics
• SQL Server driver — implementation roadmap & call for contributors
• [Feat]: Allow loading of multiple Databases per connection
• Command Palette
• JSON/JSONB Editor & Viewer
• SQL Formatting / Prettier
• Visual Explain Analyze
• Plugin System
• Query History
• UI design system & visual identity — call for contributors

Contributing

Contributions are welcome, see CONTRIBUTING.md. Good places to start:

• UI design system & visual identity: call for contributors
• Write a driver plugin in any language with the Plugin Guide

Sponsors and supporters

• turboSMTP — Professional SMTP relay — your emails delivered straight to the inbox, never to spam
• Kilo Code — Open source AI coding agent — build, ship, and iterate faster with 500+ models
• OpenAI — Supporting Tabularis through the Codex for Open Source program.
• DigitalOcean — Simple, predictable cloud infrastructure for developers and growing teams.
• Vercel — The platform for the modern web — ship, preview, and scale frontend apps with zero config.
• — Feedback becomes code. Automatically.

Become a sponsor →

Origin Story

Tabularis started as an experiment: how far could AI-assisted development get in building a working tool from scratch? Further than expected: it's now an actively maintained project with regular releases and a plugin ecosystem.

License

Apache License 2.0

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