One database client for your entire backend stack.
MySQL + PostgreSQL + Amazon Redshift + DynamoDB + Redis — one fast, free, native desktop IDE instead of five separate tools and five separate sets of saved credentials.
| macOS (recommended: Homebrew) | brew install --cask shubhesh07/db-connect/db-connect |
| macOS (no Homebrew) | curl -fsSL https://github.com/shubhesh07/db-connect/releases/latest/download/install.sh | bash |
| Windows | Download DBConnect-Windows-Setup.exe |
Full manual-download links (DMG, portable ZIPs) are in Manual downloads below.
- One tool, not three. If your stack is MySQL or PostgreSQL for transactional data, Redshift for analytics, DynamoDB for high-throughput key-value access and Redis for caching, you know the pain of five GUI clients, five credential stores, and five query histories. DB Connect treats all five as equal, first-class citizens.
- Free forever. No subscription, no trial limits, no feature paywall.
- Fast. Opens in under 2 seconds. 18MB installed. Built with Go + Wails — a native app, not Electron, so there's no bundled Chromium sitting in your dock for a database browser.
- DynamoDB done properly. A visual Scan/Query/GetItem builder and a PartiQL editor for writing real
SELECT * FROM "table" WHERE ...statements — most GUI database tools ignore DynamoDB entirely or bolt on a bare-bones table browser. - Built to work with your AI coding tools. A local MCP server lets Claude Code, Cursor, or any MCP-aware client query your already-open connections directly — schema, read-only queries, gated behind a per-install auth token, an explicit connection allow-list, and time-bounded write grants.
- No cloud sync, no telemetry. Credentials are AES-256-GCM encrypted with the key in your OS keychain. Nothing you connect to or query ever leaves your machine.
| MySQL | Redshift | DynamoDB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SQL query editor | ✅ | ✅ | — |
| PartiQL query editor | — | — | ✅ |
| Visual Scan/Query/GetItem builder | — | — | ✅ |
| Schema/table browser | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Context-aware autocomplete | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ (keywords, tables, per-table attributes) |
| EXPLAIN visualization | ✅ | ✅ | — |
| Inline row editing | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ (item editor) |
| Table designer (CREATE/ALTER) | ✅ | — | — |
| Index manager | ✅ | — | — |
| Transactions | ✅ | — | — |
| SSH tunnel | ✅ | — | — |
| GSI-aware querying | — | — | ✅ |
| Multiple AWS auth modes (access key, SSO profile, IAM role) | — | — | ✅ |
Real backup/restore (mysqldump) |
✅ | ✅ | — |
| Native performance monitoring | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ (capacity/throttle, no CloudWatch) |
| Export (CSV, JSON, Excel) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Feature | DB Connect | DBeaver (Community) | DataGrip | TablePlus | Beekeeper Studio (Community) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free | Free (non-commercial) / ~$99 yr¹ (commercial) | $99+ one-time² | Free |
| MySQL | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Redshift | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| DynamoDB | ✅ (PartiQL + visual builder) | — (paid tiers only) | — | — | — (paid tiers only)³ |
| Native app (not JVM/Electron) | ✅ | — | — | ✅ | — |
| Install size | ~18MB | ~400MB | ~800MB | ~80MB | ~500MB |
| Startup time | <2s | 5–15s | 10–30s | <3s | — (Electron) |
| SSH tunnel | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Query history (persists across restarts) | ✅ | — (session-only in Community) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Real backup/restore | ✅ | — | — | — | ✅ |
| Native performance monitoring | ✅ | — | — | — | — |
| Local MCP server (AI tool integration) | ✅ | — | — | — | — |
| macOS | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Windows | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
¹ DataGrip has been free for non-commercial use (learning, hobby, open-source) since October 2025; commercial use still requires a paid license. ² TablePlus's free tier caps open tabs/windows/filters; the one-time license runs $99–$129 depending on device count. ³ Beekeeper Studio's Community edition includes Redshift but gates DynamoDB to its paid Indie/Professional/Business tiers.
Comparison reflects each product's free/community tier where one exists, verified against each vendor's own docs as of this writing. Corrections welcome — open an issue if something's out of date.
DB Connect, DBeaver, DataGrip, TablePlus, and Beekeeper Studio above all support multiple database engines. MySQL Workbench and Sequel Ace are two of the most popular MySQL-only clients, so they get their own table instead of a row full of dashes above:
| Feature | DB Connect | MySQL Workbench | Sequel Ace |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free (Community) | Free (open source, MIT) |
| MySQL | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Redshift | ✅ | — | — |
| DynamoDB | ✅ | — | — |
| Native app | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS only |
| SSH tunnel | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Query history | ✅ | ✅ (persists across restarts) | ✅ |
| EXPLAIN | ✅ Visual | ✅ Visual | ✅ (text output) |
| Backup/restore | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ (SQL dump-based) |
MySQL Workbench is Oracle's official free tool and a genuinely solid choice if MySQL is the only engine you touch — its Visual Explain is long-standing and well-regarded. Sequel Ace (the free, open-source successor to Sequel Pro) is excellent if you're macOS-only and MySQL-only. Neither reaches beyond MySQL/MariaDB, which is the gap DB Connect fills if Redshift or DynamoDB are also in your stack.
brew install --cask shubhesh07/db-connect/db-connect- Launch DB Connect
- Add Connection → choose MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redshift, DynamoDB, or Redis
- Enter credentials → Test Connection → Save
- Write a query (or, for DynamoDB, use the visual builder or the PartiQL editor) →
Cmd+Enterto run
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Cmd+Enter |
Execute query |
Cmd+D |
Select current statement |
Cmd+K |
Command palette |
Cmd+T / Cmd+W |
New tab / close tab |
Cmd+S |
Save query |
Cmd+Shift+F |
Format SQL |
Cmd+E |
EXPLAIN current query |
- Credentials encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM; the encryption key lives in the OS keychain (macOS Keychain / Windows Credential Manager) — never in a plaintext file.
- No cloud sync. Connection profiles, query history, and saved queries all stay on your machine (
~/.querypilot/). - No telemetry.
- Production-safety confirmation before destructive statements (
DELETE/DROP/TRUNCATE/UPDATE/ALTER) on connections you've tagged as production — tiered by severity, not a single dismissible dialog. - The optional local MCP server (off by default) requires a per-install bearer token, validates Host/Origin on every request, only reaches an explicit connection allow-list, and gates writes behind time-bounded, desktop-UI-only grants — an AI agent reachable via MCP can never grant itself write access.
- Virtual scrolling — result grids render only visible rows plus a small buffer, so scrolling through hundreds of thousands of rows doesn't choke the DOM.
- Goroutine-per-query — every query runs in its own goroutine; a long-running analytics query on Redshift doesn't freeze the UI while you run a quick lookup on another tab.
- Native binary, no runtime — no JVM, no Electron/Chromium, no Node runtime. A single Go binary around 32MB (the SQL editor is bundled, no CDN), universal on macOS (Intel + Apple Silicon).
Reordered toward the broadest database-client market first:
- PostgreSQL support — shipped in v2.4.0
- Redis support — shipped in v3.0.0: auto-detected cluster, Visual key browser, Analyze pane, MCP tools. MySQL + PostgreSQL + Redshift + DynamoDB + Redis covers most backend stacks people actually run
- Linux build — Wails already supports it; needs a packaging/CI pipeline
- ER diagram visualization (auto-generated from foreign keys)
- Query result diffing (compare EXPLAIN output before/after an index change)
- MongoDB support
- Import/export connection profiles
Is this actually free, or free-with-a-catch? Free for personal and commercial use, no subscription, no feature paywall, no account required. Source code is not open source (see License).
Why not just use DBeaver — it's free too? DBeaver Community is a solid generalist tool, but it's Java/Eclipse-based (slower startup, heavier footprint) and its DynamoDB support sits behind the paid tiers (Lite and above) — it's not in the free Community edition. DB Connect is built specifically around MySQL + Redshift + DynamoDB as equal citizens, starts in under 2 seconds, and is 18MB installed.
Does DynamoDB support mean real SQL-like querying, or just a table browser?
Both. There's a visual Scan/Query/GetItem builder for form-based filtering, and a PartiQL editor for writing SELECT * FROM "table" WHERE ... directly via AWS's native PartiQL support — with autocomplete that learns each table's attributes as you query it.
Does the AI/MCP integration send my data anywhere?
No. The MCP server is off by default, binds to 127.0.0.1 only, requires a bearer token, and only ever reaches connections you've explicitly allow-listed. It never dials a new connection and never returns credentials.
Is my data or credentials ever synced to a cloud account?
No. There's no account, no cloud sync, and no telemetry. Everything lives in ~/.querypilot/ on your machine.
What platforms are supported? macOS 11.0+ (Intel & Apple Silicon) and Windows 10+ (64-bit) today. Linux is next on the roadmap.
I found a bug / want a feature. Open an issue on GitHub — see Author below.
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| DBConnect-macOS.dmg | macOS installer (DMG) |
| DBConnect-mac.zip | macOS portable (ZIP) |
If you downloaded the DMG manually and see "DBConnect is damaged and can't be opened", run this once in Terminal:
xattr -cr /Applications/DBConnect.appOr open the DMG and double-click the bundled
install-mac.sh— it does the same thing for you.
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| DBConnect-Windows-Setup.exe | Windows installer (NSIS) |
| DBConnect-Windows.zip | Windows portable (ZIP) |
All data stored locally at ~/.querypilot/:
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
connections.enc |
Encrypted connection profiles |
history.db |
Query execution history |
saved_queries.db |
Named saved queries |
- macOS: 11.0 (Big Sur) or later
- Windows: Windows 10 or later (64-bit)
- DB Connect: a database IDE that lets your AI assistant actually query your database — the v2.2.0 launch post, on the MCP integration and why it's built with Go + Wails instead of Electron.
Shubhesh Shukla
Free for personal and commercial use. Source code is not open source.
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