dbcrust 0.29.0

High-performance database CLI engineered for Django developers — Advanced ORM analysis, performance optimization, SSH tunneling, and seamless multi-database support (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite)

DBCrust

One fast client for every database. PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, ClickHouse, MongoDB, Elasticsearch — and SQL over Parquet, CSV, and JSON files. Built in Rust, with an AI assistant, smart autocompletion, SSH tunneling, Vault integration, and a desktop GUI.

curl -fsSL https://clement-tourriere.github.io/dbcrust/install.sh | sh
dbcrust postgres://user:pass@localhost/mydb

Documentation · Quick start · Command reference · Python API

Why DBCrust

• Every database, one tool — the same REPL, commands, and muscle memory across PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, ClickHouse, MongoDB, and Elasticsearch.
• AI assistant built in — type ?? top 10 customers by revenue and get SQL generated from your actual schema, shown before it runs. Works with Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Ollama, and 20+ other providers.
• Files are databases too — run SQL directly on Parquet, CSV, and JSON via Apache DataFusion.
• Production-friendly plumbing — SSH tunnels (with auto-tunnel patterns), HashiCorp Vault dynamic credentials, Docker container auto-discovery, encrypted password storage.
• A REPL that helps — context-aware autocompletion, syntax highlighting, history search, external editor, EXPLAIN visualization (including an interactive TUI), named queries, saved sessions.
• Scriptable and embeddable — -c for one-shot queries, a Python API powered by the same Rust core, and a Django ORM performance analyzer.

Install

# Pre-built binary — macOS & Linux
curl -fsSL https://clement-tourriere.github.io/dbcrust/install.sh | sh

# Pre-built binary — Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://clement-tourriere.github.io/dbcrust/install.ps1 | iex

# Python 3.10+ (ships the same native binary)
uv tool install dbcrust          # or: pipx install dbcrust / pip install dbcrust
uvx dbcrust <url>                # run without installing

# From source (Rust 1.85+)
cargo install --path .

Two binaries are installed: dbcrust and the short alias dbc.

dbcrust --update                 # self-update (detects uv / pipx / pip / cargo / binary installs)
dbcrust --completions zsh        # shell completions (bash, zsh, fish, powershell, ...)

Quick start

dbcrust postgres://user:pass@localhost/mydb     # interactive session
dbcrust recent://                               # pick from recent connections
dbcrust sqlite:///path/to/db.sqlite -c "SELECT count(*) FROM users"   # run and exit

Every connection type is a URL:

Scheme	Example
PostgreSQL	postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/mydb?sslmode=require
MySQL	mysql://root:pass@localhost:3306/mydb
SQLite	sqlite:///path/to/db.sqlite
ClickHouse	clickhouse://user:pass@localhost:8123/default
MongoDB	mongodb://user:pass@localhost:27017/mydb
Elasticsearch	elasticsearch://localhost:9200
Parquet / CSV / JSON	parquet:///data/*.parquet · csv:///logs/app.csv?header=true · json:///events.json
Docker container	docker:// (interactive picker) · docker://my-postgres/mydb
Saved session	session://production_db
Recent connections	recent://
Vault credentials	vault://readonly@database/postgres-prod

Full details: URL schemes reference.

The interactive session

Connecting drops you into a REPL with context-aware SQL autocompletion, syntax highlighting, searchable history, and 60+ psql-style backslash commands. The most used:

	Commands
Explore	\l databases · \c <db> switch · \dt tables · \d <table> describe
Display	\x expanded · \cs column selection · \e EXPLAIN mode · \ev interactive EXPLAIN TUI
Edit & run	\ed open $EDITOR · \i <file> run SQL file · \w <file> write last query
Named queries	\n list · \ns <name> <sql> save · \nd <name> delete
Connections	\ss <name> save session · \s list sessions · \r recent · \docker containers
Credentials	\savepass store password · \vc Vault cache status
Meta	\ai AI assistant · \config settings editor · \h help · \q quit

Named queries support positional parameters ($1, $*, $@) and scopes — global, per-database-type, or session-local.

See the full command reference.

AI assistant

Turn natural language into SQL without leaving your session. The assistant uses your database's real schema as context, streams its answer, and always shows the SQL before running it (writes default to "No").

\ai setup                                        -- one-time wizard: provider, model, API key

?? top 10 customers by total order value this year
?? now only the active ones                      -- follow-ups keep conversation context

• Providers: Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Ollama, Groq, DeepSeek, xAI, OpenRouter, and more — 25+ via genai, including any OpenAI-compatible endpoint for self-hosted models.
• Private by design: disabled by default; only schema metadata and your question are sent — never row data. API keys live in your OS keychain, an encrypted file, or environment variables.

More in the AI assistant guide.

Tunnels, Vault & Docker

SSH tunneling — reach databases behind a jump host, explicitly or automatically via config patterns:

dbcrust postgres://[e-mail]/app --ssh-tunnel jumphost.example.com

# ~/.config/dbcrust/config.toml — auto-tunnel any host matching the pattern
[ssh_tunnel_patterns]
"^db\\.internal\\..*\\.com$" = "[e-mail]:2222"

HashiCorp Vault — dynamic database credentials with an encrypted local cache: dbcrust vault://readonly@database/postgres-prod.

Docker — dbcrust docker:// lists running database containers and connects without you hunting for ports or credentials.

Python & Django

The Python package wraps the same Rust core via PyO3 — identical URLs, commands, and behavior.

import dbcrust

dbcrust.run_command("postgres://user:pass@localhost/mydb", "SELECT * FROM users LIMIT 5")
dbcrust.run_cli("postgres://user:pass@localhost/mydb")     # full interactive REPL

from dbcrust import PostgresClient
client = PostgresClient(host="localhost", user="postgres", dbname="myapp")
tables = client.list_tables()

The Django integration detects N+1 queries and other ORM performance issues:

# settings.py
MIDDLEWARE = ["dbcrust.django.PerformanceAnalysisMiddleware", ...]

# or analyze a block of code explicitly
from dbcrust.django import analyzer
with analyzer.analyze() as analysis:
    for book in Book.objects.all():
        print(book.author.name)        # N+1 detected
results = analysis.get_results()

python manage.py dbcrust               # connect using your Django DB settings

Guides: Python API · Django analyzer.

Desktop GUI

A Tauri-based desktop app ships in the repo (built from source for now): CodeMirror SQL editor, schema explorer, visual EXPLAIN viewer, Docker discovery, multi-tab queries, and a system tray. See the GUI guide.

mise install && mise run gui:install
mise run gui:dev                       # development (hot-reload)
mise run gui:build                     # production .app / .dmg / .msi

Configuration

Settings live in ~/.config/dbcrust/, with user data kept in dedicated files:

File	Contents
config.toml	App settings (display, limits, SSH patterns, AI, logging, ...)
sessions.toml	Saved sessions
recent.toml	Recent connections
named_queries.toml	Named queries
vault_credentials.enc	Encrypted Vault credential cache
~/.dbcrust	Stored passwords (pgpass-style)

Edit configuration interactively or from scripts — no connection required:

dbcrust config                         # interactive menu (also \config inside the REPL)
dbcrust config get logging.level
dbcrust config set logging.level debug
dbcrust config edit                    # open config.toml in $EDITOR

Full list of options: configuration reference.

Development

DBCrust uses mise for toolchain and task management — mise install sets up everything (Bun for the GUI, commitizen, etc.).

mise run build:dev        # debug build          mise run build      # release build
mise run test             # cargo test           mise run check      # fmt + lint + test
mise run py:dev           # maturin develop      mise run py:test    # Python tests
mise run gui:dev          # GUI with hot-reload  mise run docs       # docs dev server

src/                Rust core — CLI, REPL, database backends, AI assistant
├── commands.rs     backslash command system (enum + strum)
├── database_*.rs   per-database implementations
└── explain_tui/    interactive EXPLAIN visualizer (ratatui)
gui/                Tauri desktop app (React + TypeScript, Bun)
python/             Python bindings (PyO3 + maturin) and Django integration
docs/               documentation site (Astro Starlight)

More in the development guide.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.