Introduction

dbdesk is a desktop tool to browse and query databases. It connects to PostgreSQL and SQLite (more engines, such as MySQL, ClickHouse and Oracle, are planned), shows what is inside them as a tree, and gives you query consoles to write and run SQL, page through, sort and export the results, and edit rows.

The window has three areas, which you can drag around and resize:

• Explorer, a column down the left: your saved connections (“data sources”) and, under each, its databases, schemas, tables and so on.
• Consoles, the main area on the right: the Welcome tab and one tab per query console.
• Log console, under the consoles: what dbdesk is doing — connections opening and closing, queries running and how long they took, errors.

The thin bar at the very bottom shows whether dbdesk’s background engine is running and how many data sources the explorer is connected to.

This manual describes dbdesk as it is today. It is young software: things that are planned but not built yet are not described here, apart from a few warnings in Troubleshooting.