tabularis

tabularis

MCP.Pizza Chef: TabularisDB

Tabularis is a free desktop app for browsing and querying databases like PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQLite, and it includes a built-in bridge that lets Claude Desktop, Cursor, or similar AI tools look at your tables and run queries on your behalf. Instead of writing SQL yourself, you can describe what you want in plain language and have your AI assistant pull the answer directly from your data. You will need to connect the app to your database first.

Data

Use This MCP server To

Ask a question about my data and get a real answer Look up specific customers or orders without writing SQL Have my AI assistant explain confusing query results in plain words Browse my database tables to see what information I have Get help turning a plain-language question into a working query Check totals, counts, or trends straight from my database

README

tabularis

Tabularis is an open-source desktop SQL workspace for PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, SQLite and 15+ more databases like 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.

README: English | Italiano | Español | 中文 | Français | Deutsch | 日本語 | Русский | Tagalog | 한국어 | Português (Brasil)

Build & Release Discord Gitster

Vercel OSS Program

Snap Store Flatpak (Flatpark) AUR WinGet

Tabularis

Download

winget install Debba.Tabularis                                   # Windows
brew tap TabularisDB/tabularis && brew install --cask tabularis  # macOS
sudo snap install tabularis                                      # Linux

Or grab an installer directly:

Windows macOS (Apple Silicon) macOS (Intel) Linux AppImage Linux .deb Linux .rpm

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

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

Table of Contents

Why tabularis?

tabularis DBeaver CE TablePlus Beekeeper Studio
License Apache 2.0, free Apache 2.0, free (Pro is paid) Commercial GPLv3 (paid editions)
SQL notebooks (SQL + Markdown cells, cross-cell variables, charts)
Built-in MCP server for AI agents
Plugins in any language (JSON-RPC over stdio) Java/Eclipse plugins JavaScript plugins
AI text-to-SQL with local models (Ollama) Cloud-based AI assistant
Visual EXPLAIN with interactive plan graphs
Databases out of the box 3 built-in + 16 official plugins 100+ 20+ ~10

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. Current coverage, mirroring the driver & plugin coverage on the website:

ClickHouse (shipped), Cloudflare D1 (shipped), DM / Dameng (shipped), DuckDB (shipped), DynamoDB (shipped), Elasticsearch (shipped), Firestore (shipped), IBM Db2 (shipped), IBM Informix (shipped), MongoDB (shipped), Redis (shipped, in Go and Rust), CSV Folder (shipped), Google Sheets (shipped), HackerNews (shipped), Google BigQuery (claimed), LibSQL / Turso (claimed), Meilisearch (claimed), Oracle (claimed), SQL Server (claimed), Amazon Redshift (scoped), CockroachDB (scoped), TiDB (scoped), Snowflake (coming soon), Cassandra (open), Etcd (open), Firebird (open), ScyllaDB (open), SQL Anywhere (open), SurrealDB (open), Trino / Presto (open).

Shipped drivers are installable from the plugin registry. Everything else is on the bounty board: claim one, sponsor one, or request a database. The SQL Server driver is in active development in its own repository, tabularis-sqlserver-plugin.

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)

To add our tap, run:

brew tap TabularisDB/tabularis

Then install:

brew install --cask tabularis

Homebrew

Direct Download

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

The notes below only apply to older releases (before v0.13.1) downloaded directly:

  • You need to allow accessibility access (Privacy & Security) to the tabularis app. If you are upgrading and already have tabularis on the allowed list, remove it manually before accessibility access can be granted to the new version.
  • You may need to run xattr -c /Applications/tabularis.app after copying the app to the Applications directory.

Linux (Snap)

sudo snap install tabularis

Snap Store

Linux (Flatpak)

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

Flatpak (Flatpark)

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

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.
  • 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.

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. 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, 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:

Tool Description
list_connections List all saved database connections
list_databases List all databases available for a connection
list_tables List tables in a connection (with optional schema filter)
describe_table Get full schema: columns, indexes, foreign keys
run_query Execute any SQL query and return results
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

  • Frontend: React 19, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS v4.
  • Backend: Rust, Tauri v2, SQLx.

Development

Setup

pnpm install
pnpm tauri dev

Build

pnpm tauri build

Roadmap

Contributing

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

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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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tabularis FAQ

Which apps can I use this with?
Tabularis connects to Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Windsurf so your AI assistant inside those apps can see your database and run queries for you.
Do I need an account or an API key to use it?
The desktop app itself is free with no account required, but turning on the built-in server for an AI assistant such as Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini typically uses the same login or key you already use with that assistant.
Can I use this to look up information in my database without writing SQL?
Yes — you can ask your AI assistant a plain-language question, such as "how many orders came in last month," and it will write and run the query for you.
Can I use this to explore a database I've never seen before?
Yes — you can ask your AI assistant to list the tables, describe what's in them, and pull sample rows so you can get oriented quickly.
How hard is it to set up?
Setup is quick: install the free desktop app, connect it to your database, and turn on its built-in server so your AI assistant can talk to it.
Does this work with databases other than PostgreSQL?
Yes — it supports MySQL, MariaDB, and SQLite out of the box, plus more than fifteen other databases such as DuckDB, ClickHouse, and Redis through add-ons.
Will my AI assistant be able to change or delete my data?
That depends on what you ask it to do and how you've set up permissions, so it's worth reviewing any query before running it against data you care about.
Do I need to know SQL to use this?
No — the whole point is that your AI assistant can turn plain-language questions into database queries for you, though you can still write SQL yourself if you prefer.