termibase 0.1.7

A terminal-native database learning playground

TermiBase 🚀

A terminal-native database learning playground that lets you run SQL queries and observe how they're parsed, planned, and executed—all from your command line.

Install in one command: brew install tejgokani/termibase/termibase or pip install termibase
Use immediately: Just type termibase and start querying!

🎯 What is TermiBase?

TermiBase is an educational tool designed to help developers understand database internals by providing:

• Interactive SQL REPL with real-time query analysis
• Multi-line query support (SQL*Plus style) - write queries across multiple lines
• Command history with arrow key navigation (↑↓)
• Execution plan visualization showing how queries are processed step-by-step
• Query optimization suggestions to learn best practices
• Interactive learning mode (.learn) with guided SQL lessons
• Commit/rollback tracking to manage database changes
• Beautiful terminal UI using Rich for a modern CLI experience
• No browser required - everything runs in your terminal

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

Option 1: Homebrew (Recommended for macOS)

brew install termibase

Option 2: pip (Recommended for Windows)

pip install termibase

Windows Easy Setup (Makes termibase command work): After installing with pip, run the setup helper to automatically add to PATH:

python -m termibase_setup

This will automatically find and add Python Scripts to your PATH so termibase command works!

Option 3: pip3

pip3 install termibase

Option 4: pipx (Recommended for CLI tools)

pipx install termibase

First Use

macOS/Linux:

termibase

Windows:

termibase

The database will be automatically initialized on first run. You'll see:

✨ TermiBase - Your Database Learning Playground

💡 Tip: Type SQL queries to see how they're executed step-by-step
   Use .help for commands, .exit to quit
   Write multi-line queries (end with ';') or use arrow keys for history

termibase> 

📖 Features

1. Multi-Line Query Input

Write SQL queries across multiple lines, just like SQL*Plus:

termibase> SELECT DISTINCT
      ->     c.customer_id,
      ->     c.first_name,
      ->     c.last_name
      -> FROM rental r
      -> INNER JOIN customer c ON r.customer_id = c.customer_id
      -> WHERE c.city = 'Lethbridge';

End your query with ; to execute. Use \ on an empty line to cancel.

2. Command History

Navigate your query history using arrow keys:

• ↑ - Previous query
• ↓ - Next query
• History is saved to .termibase_history and persists across sessions

3. Interactive Learning Mode

Learn SQL interactively with guided lessons:

termibase> .learn

Available Topics:

1. SELECT Basics
2. WHERE Clause
3. JOINs
4. GROUP BY & Aggregation
5. ORDER BY
6. Subqueries
7. Indexes & Performance

Each lesson includes:

• Detailed explanations
• Example queries
• Practice queries you can run
• Option to write your own queries

4. Commit/Rollback Tracking

TermiBase tracks uncommitted changes and prompts you to save before exiting:

termibase> INSERT INTO users (name, age, city) VALUES ('Alice', 25, 'NYC');
✓ Query executed successfully.
💡 Use .commit to save changes or .rollback to discard

termibase> .commit
✓ Changes committed successfully

Commands:

• .commit - Save pending changes
• .rollback - Discard pending changes

If you try to exit with uncommitted changes, you'll be prompted to commit.

5. Query Analysis & Visualization

Every query is automatically analyzed and visualized:

termibase> SELECT * FROM users WHERE age > 28;

Shows:

• Query structure (tables, columns, WHERE conditions)
• Execution plan (step-by-step processing)
• Query results (beautifully formatted tables)
• Optimization suggestions

6. Execution Plan Visualization

See how your query is executed internally:

Execution Plan
Query Execution
├── [1] TABLE_SCAN - Scanning table users (cost: 1.00, rows: 8)
├── [2] FILTER - Applying WHERE filter: age > 28 (cost: 0.30, rows: 4)
└── [3] PROJECT - Projecting all columns (cost: 0.20, rows: 4)

📚 REPL Commands

Inside the TermiBase REPL, use these commands:

Command	Description
.help	Show all available commands
.learn	Interactive SQL learning mode
.explain	Toggle execution plan display on/off
.commit	Commit pending database changes
.rollback	Rollback pending database changes
.tables	List all tables in the database
.schema	Show table schemas
.examples	Show example queries
.exit or .quit	Exit REPL

🎮 Usage Examples

Basic Queries

-- Simple select
SELECT * FROM users LIMIT 5;

-- Filtering
SELECT name, age FROM users WHERE age > 28;

-- Grouping
SELECT city, COUNT(*) as count FROM users GROUP BY city;

-- Joins
SELECT u.name, o.amount 
FROM users u 
JOIN orders o ON u.id = o.user_id;

Multi-Line Complex Query

termibase> SELECT DISTINCT
      ->     c.customer_id,
      ->     c.first_name,
      ->     c.last_name,
      ->     c.email,
      ->     s.store_id
      -> FROM rental r
      -> INNER JOIN staff st ON st.staff_id = r.staff_id
      -> INNER JOIN store s ON s.manager_staff_id = st.staff_id 
      ->     AND s.store_id = st.store_id
      -> INNER JOIN customer c ON r.customer_id = c.customer_id 
      ->     AND s.store_id = c.store_id
      -> INNER JOIN address a ON s.address_id = a.address_id
      -> INNER JOIN city ci ON ci.city_id = a.city_id
      -> WHERE ci.city = 'Lethbridge';

Using Learning Mode

termibase> .learn

📚 SQL Learning Topics

#  Topic                        Description
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1  SELECT Basics               Learn the fundamentals of SELECT queries
2  WHERE Clause                Filter data using WHERE conditions
3  JOINs                       Combine data from multiple tables
4  GROUP BY & Aggregation      Group data and use aggregate functions
5  ORDER BY                    Sort query results
6  Subqueries                  Nested queries and subqueries
7  Indexes & Performance       Understand indexes and query optimization

Select a topic (1-7) or 'q' to quit: 3

📖 JOINs

Explanation:
JOINs combine rows from two or more tables.

Types:
  • INNER JOIN - Returns matching rows from both tables
  • LEFT JOIN - Returns all rows from left table + matching from right
  ...

Options:
  1 - Run practice query
  2 - Write your own query
  3 - See execution plan
  4 - Back to topics

🛠️ Command-Line Commands

termibase (No Arguments)

Launches interactive REPL - the main way to use TermiBase.

termibase

termibase init

Initialize or reset the sandbox database with demo data.

termibase init
termibase init --db-path ./my-db.db

termibase repl

Explicitly launch REPL (same as termibase).

termibase repl
termibase repl --explain  # Always show execution plans

termibase run

Execute a single query with full visualization.

termibase run "SELECT * FROM users WHERE age > 25"
termibase run "SELECT * FROM users" --no-explain  # Skip execution plan

termibase explain

Show execution plan for a query without running it.

termibase explain "SELECT * FROM users JOIN orders ON users.id = orders.user_id"

termibase demo

Run educational demo queries.

termibase demo              # Run all demos
termibase demo basics       # Run specific demo

🎓 Demo Data

TermiBase comes with pre-loaded demo data:

Users Table:

• id (INTEGER PRIMARY KEY)
• name (TEXT)
• age (INTEGER)
• city (TEXT)

Orders Table:

• id (INTEGER PRIMARY KEY)
• user_id (INTEGER, FOREIGN KEY)
• amount (REAL)
• date (TEXT)

Indexes:

• idx_users_city on users(city)
• idx_orders_user_id on orders(user_id)

🏗️ Architecture

TermiBase is built with a modular architecture:

termibase/
├── cli/          # Command-line interface (Typer)
│   ├── main.py    # Main CLI commands
│   └── input_handler.py  # Multi-line input & history
├── parser/        # SQL parsing and analysis
├── engine/       # Query execution simulation
├── visualizer/   # Rich-based terminal rendering
├── storage/      # SQLite wrapper
├── learn/        # Interactive learning module
└── demos/        # Educational examples

Key Components

• CLI Interface: Handles commands, flags, and REPL loop
• Input Handler: Multi-line query input with readline history support
• SQL Parser: Parses SQL into tokens and AST using sqlparse
• Query Analyzer: Identifies query type, tables, indexes, joins
• Execution Simulator: Simulates logical execution steps
• Storage Engine: SQLite wrapper for actual query execution
• Visualizer: Renders execution plans and results using Rich
• Learning Module: Interactive SQL lessons and practice

📚 Educational Features

Query Analysis

Every query is analyzed to show:

• Query type (SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE)
• Tables involved
• Columns selected
• WHERE conditions
• JOIN operations
• GROUP BY and ORDER BY clauses
• LIMIT values

Execution Visualization

See how your query is executed:

• Table scans vs index scans
• Filter operations for WHERE clauses
• Join strategies (INNER, LEFT, etc.)
• Sorting for ORDER BY
• Grouping for GROUP BY
• Cost estimates for each step

Optimization Suggestions

Get tips on improving your queries:

• Index recommendations
• Full table scan warnings
• Large result set alerts
• Join optimization hints

🔧 Development

Setup Development Environment

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/tejgokani/TermiBase.git
cd TermiBase

# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install in editable mode
pip install -e .

Running Tests

pytest termibase/tests/

🎨 Design Philosophy

• Terminal-first: Everything works in the terminal, no browser needed
• Educational: Transparent about how queries are processed
• Fast feedback: Immediate visualization of query execution
• Developer-centric: Built for developers learning databases
• Interactive: Multi-line queries, history, and guided learning
• Safe: Commit/rollback tracking prevents accidental data loss

📝 Requirements

• Python 3.8 or higher
• SQLite (included with Python)

🌐 Platform Support

• ✅ macOS - Install via Homebrew or pip. Use termibase command.
• ✅ Linux - Install via pip or pipx. Use termibase command.
• ✅ Windows - Install via pip. Use python -m termibase (recommended) or add Scripts to PATH for termibase command.

🔄 Update TermiBase

Homebrew:

brew upgrade termibase

pip:

pip install --upgrade termibase

🗑️ Uninstall

Homebrew:

brew uninstall termibase

pip:

pip uninstall termibase

License

TermiBase is source-available. You are free to use and study the code, but modification and redistribution are not permitted without explicit permission.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Built with:

• Typer - Modern CLI framework
• Rich - Beautiful terminal output
• sqlparse - SQL parsing
• SQLite - Embedded database

📞 Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Documentation: This README

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Happy Learning! 🎉