Browsing Data

The sidebar

The sidebar shows the tables and views of one schema at a time. Tables that share a prefix, such as book_, fold into a group. Inside an open group the prefix is dropped (book_covers shows as covers), the group’s tables stand in from its name, and a line runs along them; the pointer over one shows its full name. Groups have one level: book_cover_sizes sits under book_ as cover_sizes. You can also list them flat, with full names. On macOS and Windows, the objects you opened recently are listed above them.

Quick open (Cmd+P on macOS, Ctrl+P on Windows and Omarchy) finds any table or view by name without the sidebar, in this connection or in every open one. On macOS and Windows the sidebar’s “Find any object…” field opens it, and > typed first lists the commands instead (and, with a word after it, the settings); in the Omarchy look / in the sidebar filters its list.

System schemas such as pg_catalog and information_schema are hidden. A setting shows them.

The data grid

A table opens on its data. The grid marks primary keys and foreign keys, shows JSON at a glance, and draws enum, CHECK and boolean values as colored tags.

• Pages. The grid loads 1,000 rows at a time unless you change Rows per page in Settings. Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+Left and Right move between pages.
• Moving. The arrows move a cell at a time. Cmd/Ctrl with an arrow goes to the first or last row, or the first or last column, in the macOS and Windows looks.
• Sorting. Click a column’s header to sort by it: ascending, then descending, then not at all. The server does the sorting.
• Counts. The footer shows the range you are looking at and the table’s size. For a large table the size is the database’s estimate, such as ~1.2M. Click Count for the exact number.
• Cancel. Cmd/Ctrl+. cancels a running query. In the Omarchy look the key is Ctrl+C.
• Reload. Cmd/Ctrl+R loads the page again. In the Omarchy look the key is R.

A table without a primary key is marked Unordered: its rows may move between pages.

Filters

Press Cmd/Ctrl+F, or click Add filter. A filter is a list of conditions, and a row must match all of them. Each condition is a column, an operator and a value:

For anything else, tick Raw WHERE and write the condition yourself:

id > 10 AND name LIKE 'A%'

On MySQL, a raw WHERE reads "..." as a string, and names take backticks.

The row panel

Select a row and the panel on the right shows every one of its fields, with long text and JSON documents laid out to read. Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+R shows or hides it, and a connection opens with it as its window last left it.

A very large value is shown up to 256 KiB. Copying it gives the whole value.

A foreign key has a link next to it that opens the row it points to.

Structure

Switch a table from Rows to Structure to read its columns, indexes and foreign keys.

On PostgreSQL and MySQL the view shows the comments written on the table and its columns. The table’s comment stands above everything else. Each column’s is in the Comment column, on one line: hold the pointer over a comment that is cut to read all of it. SQLite keeps no comments, so its tables have no Comment column. In a table’s grid, hold the pointer over a column’s header to read its comment.

Above the columns, Label for foreign keys names the column that this table’s rows are read by in the list of a foreign key that points at it, and says whether the app picked it (Automatic) or you did (Set by you). The column itself is tagged label. Editing Data says what the label does.

• Change… (Cmd/Ctrl+L) opens the chooser of columns.
• Click a column’s line and press Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+L to use that column, or right-click the line for Use as label. With the keyboard, Tab or F6 comes to the columns, and Up and Down move between them.
• Use Automatic hands the pick back to the app.

No cell is edited and nothing is written to the database, so this works on a read-only connection. The Omarchy look does the same with gl and the :label lines of its Structure view.

DDL

Ctrl+Cmd+1, 2 and 3 show a table’s rows, its structure and its DDL on macOS, and Alt+1, 2 and 3 on Windows.

DDL, the third view of a table, a view or a materialized view, shows its definition as text you can select and copy but not change, in the SQL editor’s colours, with line numbers. Long lines do not wrap: scroll sideways to read them. Each tab keeps the view it shows, and a tab the window reopens comes back in it.

• On PostgreSQL, which has no SHOW CREATE TABLE, the text is built from the catalog in the order pg_dump writes it: the CREATE TABLE with its columns and constraints, then the indexes that back no constraint, the triggers (a disabled one followed by the ALTER TABLE that disables it) and the comments. Tables, types and functions are named with their schema, so the text runs whatever the search path. The owner, the grants, the row-level policies and the sequences the table owns are not included, as the footer says. Nor are an identity’s sequence options (its start and step), a tablespace or a table’s access method. Each table’s foreign keys are in its own CREATE TABLE, so two tables that point at each other cannot be made from their texts as they are.
• On MySQL it is SHOW CREATE TABLE (or SHOW CREATE VIEW), then each trigger’s SHOW CREATE TRIGGER under a -- Triggers line.
• On SQLite it is the text the file keeps for the table or view, then for its indexes and triggers. Indexes SQLite made by itself keep no text and are left out.

On MySQL and SQLite each statement is as the database returns it: the view only ends one with ; where it has none, and sets the statements apart.

The definition is read once, the first time the view shows, and kept with the tab: Reload (Cmd/Ctrl+R, or Reload over the text) reads it again, with the rows and the structure, as Reload does in the other views. Reading it only reads the catalog, and adds nothing to History. Where the connection’s user may not read it, the view shows the database’s error and Try again, never part of a text; Rows and Structure still work.

Over the text, Table, Indexes, Triggers and Comments go to that part, with how many statements each holds; a part with nothing is not listed, and the one at the top of the text is marked. A part near the end cannot come to the top: its link stays marked until you scroll. Copy (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+C) copies the selected text, or all of it with nothing selected. Open in SQL editor (Alt+Enter, Option+Return on macOS) puts the text in a new SQL editor that runs nothing until you run it. It opens read-only or not as Settings › Editor says for a new tab, and always read-only on production or on a connection that cannot write. On production, the table’s name has the production badge beside it.

Selecting

Each row has its number at the left of the grid. On macOS and Windows:

• Click a cell to select it. Drag over cells, Shift-click another cell, or hold Shift and press the arrows to select the cells between them. The footer says how many rows and columns they are.
• Click a row’s number to select the row. Shift-click another number to select the rows between them, and Cmd/Ctrl-click one to add it or take it out. Shift+Space selects the rows of the selected cells, and Cmd/Ctrl+A every row loaded.

In the Omarchy look, v starts a selection of cells on the cursor’s cell, Ctrl+V a block, and V whole rows. The moves stretch it, the status line says its mode (-- VISUAL --, -- VISUAL BLOCK --, -- VISUAL LINE --) and its size, and Esc leaves it.

A selection holds the rows loaded on the page. Filtering, sorting, reloading and going to another page end it. A SQL result’s rows are selected the same way.

Copying

On macOS and Windows, Cmd/Ctrl+C copies the selection with tabs between the values and a line for each row (the selected cell alone, without a selection), and Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+C its rows whole. In the Omarchy look y copies the selection, so v then y copies the cell, and yy copies the cursor’s row. One cell alone is copied as it is: its tabs and line breaks kept, a NULL as NULL, and a 16-byte value as the UUID the grid shows. Anything more, rows or a range, is written with a tab, a line break, a carriage return or a backslash inside a value as \t, \n, \r or \\, a NULL left empty, and binary values in hex (0x…).

Copy as copies the selection in another format: CSV, TSV, JSON, Markdown or SQL INSERT, or only the names of its columns, ready for a SELECT list. Open it with Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+C (gy in the Omarchy look) and pick with one letter: C, T, J, M, S or N. A right-click on a cell offers it too, as does Copy row ▾ at the top of the row panel for its row. With no range selected it copies the cursor’s row. Values are written as the database holds them, never as the grid formats them. A change not yet saved is copied as it now reads, and SQL INSERT writes a pending DEFAULT, or a new row’s unset value, as a save would. SQL INSERT writes into the table, or into result for a SQL result. The toast says what was copied: “Copied 4 rows × 2 columns as Markdown”.

The clipboard takes up to 10,000 rows and 20 MB. A larger selection is not copied, and the toast says so. Copying records nothing in the history.

Exporting

Export… writes a table, or a SQL editor’s result, to a file or to the clipboard: in the table’s header, in File › Export…, or with Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+E on the table in front or the one selected in the sidebar. In the Omarchy look press E on the rows or on a table in the sidebar, or type :export, or :export json to start in that format.

There are other ways in:

• The sidebar: right-click a table or view for Open, Structure, DDL, Copy name and Export…. Import… is there for later.
• Quick open: > Export reviews… exports the table in front, and > Export a table… lists the connection’s tables and views for you to pick one, which opens with the export over it. With a table or view picked in quick open, Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+E (Ctrl+E in the Omarchy look) opens it with the export over it. File › Export a Table… is the same as the second row. It has no key of its own: give it one in Settings › Keyboard.
• The grid: right-click a table’s or a result’s rows for Export selection…. It starts on the selected rows (on a single cell, its row). A block of cells starts on its own columns too, ticked under Choose, so the export holds just what you selected. With a range selected, Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+E, E and the header’s Export… start the same way; with none they start on all the rows matching the filter.
• Copy as: when a table’s selection is more than the clipboard takes, the toast offers Export…, which opens the export of that selection in the same format, to a file (Copy rows as TSV’s, with every column). In the Omarchy look the status line says E export, and the selection stays for E. A SQL result’s copy offers the same.
• The row panel: Copy row ▾ ends with Export row… (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+E on the panel, E in the Omarchy look), which exports the panel’s row alone, whatever else is selected.

The sheet asks for:

• Format: CSV, TSV, JSON, JSON Lines, SQL INSERT or Markdown, with the same options as Copy as. Each format keeps the options you last chose.
• Rows: the selected rows, the current page, all rows matching the filter (in the table’s sort), or the whole table (in its key’s order). The selected rows and the page are written as the grid loaded them. The others are read again from the database. Count exactly counts the rows matching a filter, which have no estimate.
• Columns: all of them, or Choose to leave some out and reorder them. Space includes or leaves out a column, Alt+Up and Alt+Down move it (K and J in the Omarchy look), and in the macOS look a drag on its handle moves it too.
• Destination: a file, or the clipboard (up to 10,000 rows and 20 MB).

Review SQL shows the SELECT the export will run, before anything runs. The export only reads: it runs on a read-only connection of its own, so the table stays usable while it runs, and production and read-only connections can export too. A change not yet saved is not exported, and the sheet says so. Values are written as the database holds them, and a value the grid cuts off at 256 KiB is written whole.

In the macOS look the system’s save panel names the file (on Linux, the desktop’s). In the Omarchy look the sheet’s save to line does: your downloads folder first, and a name you type without a folder goes there too. As you type, the line lists up to eight names of its folder that start with what you typed, folders first: Ctrl+N and Ctrl+P (or Down and Up) move in the list, Enter takes a name (a folder then lists its own), and Esc closes the list. Names starting with a dot are listed once you type the dot. Ctrl+O opens the desktop’s save dialog instead; the name you choose there fills the line, and nothing is written until you press Enter. Changing the format changes the name’s ending, and typing a known ending changes the format. :w ~/Downloads/reviews.csv writes the table straight away, in the format of its ending, with the filter and the sort, and :w! replaces a file of that name. :w alone still saves your changes to the database.

The file is written to a hidden temporary file beside it, then renamed into place, so a cancel or a failure never leaves half a file under its name. It is readable by your account only. While it runs the toast shows how far it is (hide it with ×; the pill at the bottom right brings it back), with Cancel; the Omarchy status line shows it too, and :export cancel stops it. When it is done the toast offers Show in Finder (Show in folder on Windows and Linux, go in the Omarchy look). A failure stays until you dismiss it, with what to do next: Try again, Choose folder… or Review SQL. In the Omarchy look :export does what the line offers: it tries again, shows the SQL after a timeout, or opens the float for another name, and Esc puts the line away.

Several exports can run at once, each on its own connection. In the macOS and Windows looks their toasts stack at the bottom, the newest last, each with its own Cancel and ×, and each hidden one is a pill of its own at the bottom right. Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+E and File › Export… always open the sheet for one more, and quick open finds Cancel exporting reviews.csv (Cancel copying for the clipboard) for each one running, once you type a word or >. The Omarchy status line names them all while two or more run (2 exports · reviews.csv 58% · events.jsonl 4,000 rows · :export cancel), and :export cancel then asks which: a digit, or Ctrl+N and Ctrl+P then Enter, cancels the one picked, and Esc closes it. An end takes the line while it shows, the last to end first, and go, Esc and :export act on that one.

An export to the clipboard that turns out larger than the clipboard takes offers Export… to a file instead (:export in the Omarchy look).

In the macOS and Windows looks Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+’ moves the keyboard to the newest export’s toast (or to Copy as’s offer): Tab and Shift+Tab go round every toast’s buttons, top to bottom, Return or Space presses one, and Esc gives the keyboard back to where it was.

When an export to a file finishes while Tabletist is not the window in front, it tells you: a desktop notification on Linux (“Exported 31,400 rows to reviews.csv”, which mako shows on Omarchy), the Dock icon’s bounce on macOS, and the taskbar button’s flash on Windows.

The history keeps the statement an export ran, as an Export entry, never its rows. Exporting the loaded rows runs nothing, and records nothing. File › Import… is there for later and does nothing yet.

Exporting a SQL result

A SQL editor’s result exports as a table does: Export… at the right of the results bar (on Results and on Messages), Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+E, E on the result’s rows or :export in the Omarchy look, Export selection… on the rows’ right-click menu, and > Export result of Query 1… in quick open, and File › Export… with the editor in front. Copy as beside it opens the Copy as menu on the cells you picked. The sheet is Export result, and its file is named query-1.csv (for Query 1).

Its rows are:

• Selected rows: the cells or rows you selected, as loaded.
• Rows already loaded: the result as the editor shows it, up to its row limit (“limit reached” when the limit cut it). Nothing runs.
• Run again without the limit: the statement runs again as you wrote it, with no row limit and no timeout from Settings › Editor, on the export’s own read-only connection, and every row it returns is streamed to the file. The rows are counted as they come. It is offered just where Show all is: for a result the limit cut, of a run that only read, while the editor still holds the statement as it ran. Otherwise it is greyed and says why (“this run changed data”, “every row is loaded”, or “the statement was edited since it ran”). A statement that writes is never run again, whatever it looks like: the export refuses it.

SQL INSERT writes into a table named result, with no CREATE TABLE (there is no table to read one from). Nothing exports while the editor runs, nor a result with no rows. :w ~/Downloads/query-1.csv writes the rows already loaded, at once. Running it again is recorded in the history as an Export of the editor (“Query 1”); exporting the loaded or selected rows records nothing.

Next

Edit a table’s values.