SQL Tabs

Rich desktop SQL client and editor with a Vim mode, query result grids, inline charts, and Markdown-annotated SQL "documents". Built on Electron.

This fork has been modernized and focused on PostgreSQL. It runs on a current Electron (31) and Node.js (18+/22), uses the pure-JS pg driver (no native build step), and adds autosave / session restore so open tabs and unsaved work survive a crash, freeze, or quit. The other database backends from upstream (MySQL, MS SQL, Cassandra, Firebase) have been removed.

Supported databases

• Sednai PG-XZ
• PostgreSQL
• Amazon Redshift (use a redshift:// connection string)
• AlaSQL — a small in-process SQL engine used for scratch/about: tabs

Supported platforms

• Linux
• macOS

Features

• Multi-tab SQL editor (Ace) with an optional Vim keybinding mode
• Schema-aware autocompletion
• Result grids with lazy rendering, sorting, and CSV/JSON export
• Charts rendered inline with c3.js (see below)
• Cross-tables, raw CSV view, and Markdown documentation blocks
• Object / database info browser (tables, columns, indexes, constraints, functions, triggers, …), compatible with PostgreSQL 10 → current
• Query history
• SSH tunneling to reach databases behind a bastion host
• Autosave & session restore — open tabs and unsaved editor content are persisted to ~/.sqltabs/session.json and restored on the next start

Running from source

Requires Node.js 18+ (tested on 22) and npm. No native toolchain is needed.

git clone git@github.com:Sednai/sqltabs.git
cd sqltabs
npm install        # also compiles the JSX into build/
npm start          # launches the app (dev mode)

npm run compile rebuilds build/ after editing files in src/ (npm run compile:watch to watch).

Building installers

No native modules are used, so packaging is just Electron + JS — there are no per-platform native rebuilds. Installers are produced with electron-builder into dist/.

Locally on Fedora (AppImage + rpm need no extra tooling):

npm run dist:linux        # AppImage + deb + rpm
# or only the two that need no extra tools:
npx electron-builder --linux AppImage rpm --publish never

The .AppImage builds with no extra setup. Building .rpm or .deb locally on Fedora also needs electron-builder's fpm compat libraries (Fedora 43 dropped libcrypt.so.1), plus dpkg for the deb:

sudo dnf install libxcrypt-compat dpkg fakeroot

The macOS .dmg can only be built on a Mac. If building rpm/deb locally is inconvenient, build everything in CI instead (below).

All platforms via CI — the included GitHub Actions workflow (.github/workflows/build.yml) builds Linux (AppImage + deb + rpm on ubuntu-latest), macOS (dmg on macos-latest) and Windows (nsis .exe on windows-latest). Trigger it from the Actions tab ("build-installers" → Run workflow) to get the installers as downloadable artifacts, or push a version tag to also publish a release:

git tag v1.2.0
git push origin v1.2.0

A tagged run gathers every installer and creates a draft GitHub Release with them attached — review it under Releases and click Publish. This is the easiest way to build the macOS and Windows installers without owning those machines.

Platform	Installers
Ubuntu / Debian	.deb, .AppImage
Fedora / RHEL	.rpm, .AppImage
macOS	.dmg (Intel x64 + Apple Silicon arm64)
Windows	.exe (NSIS)

The macOS dmg is unsigned by default (first launch: right-click → Open). For notarized distribution, add an Apple Developer ID certificate and signing configuration.

Connecting

Enter a connection string in the tab's connection bar (Ctrl/Cmd+L):

postgres://user:password@host:5432/dbname
redshift://user:password@host:5439/dbname

• A trailing --- alias is shown as the tab label, e.g. postgres://localhost/app --- local app.
• SSH tunnel: prefix with an ssh:// hop separated by |: ssh://user@bastion | postgres://user@db-host:5432/dbname (uses ~/.ssh/id_rsa, or ?identity_file=... on the ssh part).
• Passwords can be saved (encrypted) in ~/.sqltabs/config.json.

SQL documents: block directives

A script is split into blocks separated by lines beginning with ---. The text after --- on that line selects how the block's result is rendered:

Directive	Renders the result as
(none)	a normal result table (default)
--- chart <type> [options]	a chart (c3.js)
--- crosstable	a pivoted cross-table
--- csv	raw comma-separated values
--- hidden	nothing (run for side effects)

You can also embed Markdown anywhere with /** ... **/ blocks (rendered as documentation above/below the result).

Charts

Yes — charts are supported. Start a block with --- chart <type>; the first column is the x-axis and each remaining numeric column is a series. <type> is any c3 chart type: line (default), spline, area, area-spline, bar, scatter, pie, donut, gauge, …

--- chart area-spline
SELECT n, sin(n) AS sinn, n*sin(n) AS nsinn
FROM generate_series(1, 100) n

--- chart donut
/** ## Top 10 relations by size **/
SELECT relname, pg_total_relation_size(oid)
FROM pg_class ORDER BY 2 DESC LIMIT 10

More runnable examples live in examples/.

Keyboard shortcuts (selection)

Action	Shortcut
Run script	Ctrl/Cmd+R
Execute block	Ctrl/Cmd+E
Execute all blocks	Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+E
Auto-format block / all	Ctrl/Cmd+K / Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+K
Object info under cursor	Ctrl/Cmd+I
Edit connection string	Ctrl/Cmd+L
Find	Ctrl/Cmd+F
History	Ctrl+H / Cmd+Y
New / close tab	Ctrl/Cmd+T / Ctrl/Cmd+W

License

GPL-3.0. Original work © Aliaksandr Aliashkevich; see LICENSE.