Tabletist

Getting Started

Look around first

You do not need a database to try Tabletist. Start it from a terminal with --demo:

tabletist --demo

It opens a small SQLite database with a few tables, a view, and one table of 100,000 rows for trying paging, sorting and cancel. The demo keeps everything in a throwaway folder that is removed when you quit, and it never touches your saved connections or your keyring.

Add a connection

Open Tabletist. With nothing saved yet, the picker says No connections yet. Press Cmd/Ctrl+N for a new connection (n in the Omarchy look).

The connection picker with five saved connections, each tagged with its environment and when it was last used

  1. Give it a Name and pick its Type: SQLite, PostgreSQL or MySQL.
  2. For SQLite, choose the file. For a server, fill in Host, Port, Database and User.
  3. Pick an Environment. It sets the connection’s color, and production opens read-only unless you turn that off.
  4. Press Test to check it, then Save & Connect.

The connection dialog for a production database behind an SSH tunnel, after a test that passed

If you have a connection URL, paste it in the URL tab instead and press Fill (in the Omarchy look, press u for Paste URL). For example:

postgres://app@db.example.com:5432/shop?sslmode=verify-full

TLS, SSH tunnels and where passwords are kept are covered in Connections.

Find your way around

  • The header holds a chip for each open connection. Click one to switch, or press Cmd/Ctrl+1 to 9 (Ctrl+Shift+1 to 9 in the Omarchy look).
  • The sidebar lists the tables and views of one schema. On macOS and Windows the ones you opened recently are on top. Cmd/Ctrl+B shows or hides it.
  • Quick open (Cmd/Ctrl+P) finds any table or view by name, from anywhere in the window.
  • Tabs hold the tables and SQL editors you have open.
  • The row panel on the right shows every field of the selected row. Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+R shows or hides it.

Press ? for a list of the keys, when no text field has the keyboard and no dialog is open. They are described in Keyboard Shortcuts.

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