Tabletist on macOS
On a Mac, Tabletist has the macOS look: rounded controls, IBM Plex Sans for the interface and IBM Plex Mono for data. There is no setting that switches to another look.
Install
Tabletist needs macOS 11 or later. One download runs on both Apple
Silicon and Intel. Install it with
brew install --cask igor-alexandrov/tabletist/tabletist, or from the
disk image as the
Download page shows.
The window
- The title bar holds your connections. There is no separate title: the chips of the open connections sit beside the window’s buttons, as tabs do in Safari. In full screen the window’s buttons are hidden and the bar takes the whole width.
- A window with no tab open shows the start screen. One line says which database you are on, which server serves it and how many tables and views it lists (a production connection gets its red strip there, with Read-only where it is). Under it, the five tables, views and SQL editors you opened last on this connection, newest first; Clear empties the list. On your first visit the screen lists the largest tables instead, from the database’s own statistics, so nothing is queried (a SQLite file lists its tables by name). Then three buttons: New SQL query, Switch database and Edit connection. Closing the last tab brings the screen back.
- A search field sits under the connection line. Start typing anywhere on the screen and what you type goes into it; the recents give way to the tables and views that match, grouped, with the first picked and the matched letters marked. It is the same search as Quick open (Cmd+P), which opens it from anywhere. Up and Down move the pick, Return opens it, Option+Return opens it in a new SQL editor reading its first rows, and Esc clears the search and brings the recents back.
- Light and dark follow the system. Tabletist changes with the Appearance setting while it runs. Settings › Appearance can keep it light or dark whatever the system says.
- The menu bar holds the commands. File, Edit, View, Query, Window and Help list the commands quick open runs, each with its key; Tabletist → About Tabletist shows the version, a link to the source code and the licenses of the fonts it bundles, and Tabletist → Settings… opens Settings. Tabletist → Check for Updates… opens Settings › Updates and asks GitHub for a newer version. Download and install there downloads and checks it; once it is ready, the start screen says so too, and Restart now installs it, or, with work open, Restart when done does once that work is done. View → History shows the window’s History tab, and View → Quick Open opens quick open. A menu greys the commands that do not apply now, while it is open. Its keys do what they do where you are: Cmd+N in the grid still adds a row, and the menu’s New Connection is a click away. Settings, New Connection, Connections, Keyboard Shortcuts and the text sizes work from the connection picker too. Previous Tab and Next Tab show no key in the menu, and their keys work all the same.
- The sidebar’s SQL Editor button has a clock. Its main part opens a new SQL editor; the clock at its right shows the History tab, and looks pressed while that tab is in front.
- Text has two sizes. Settings › Appearance sizes the interface (Small, Default or Large) and the data apart: grid cells, the SQL editor and JSON, from 11 to 16 points, in IBM Plex Mono or JetBrains Mono, which Tabletist bundles, or in a monospace font installed on the Mac (Menlo, or one of your own), which the menu lists after them. Cmd+= and Cmd+- change the data’s size wherever you are, and Cmd+0 puts back 12.5.
The keyboard
This page lists the keys of the macOS look, grouped by where they work.
The app’s own list (?) is shorter: it leaves out the keys of the
dialogs and of the lists that open in an editor.
Keys written with Ctrl are the Control key, not Cmd. Backspace is the key a Mac keyboard labels Delete.
These are the defaults. Settings › Keyboard changes any key that is not dimmed there: Changing a key. macOS keeps Cmd+Q, Cmd+W, Cmd+H, Cmd+Option+H, Cmd+M, Cmd+Tab, Cmd+Space, Ctrl+Cmd+F and Cmd+, for itself, and the copy, paste, cut, undo, redo and select all of every text field (Cmd+C, Cmd+V, Cmd+X, Cmd+Z, Cmd+Shift+Z, Cmd+A): none of them can be given to a command.
Everywhere
| Keys | Do |
|---|---|
| Cmd+O | Open the connection picker |
| Cmd+1 to 9, Ctrl+Tab, Ctrl+Shift+Tab | Switch connection |
| Cmd+Shift+W | Close the connection |
| Cmd+P | Quick open |
| Cmd+T | New SQL editor |
| Cmd+Shift+[ and ] | Previous and next tab |
| Cmd+W | Close the tab |
| Cmd+B | Show or hide the sidebar |
| Cmd+Option+A | Show the Agents tab |
| Cmd+Y | Show the History tab. Not while you type in a text field, where it is redo |
| F6, Shift+F6 | Next and previous part of the window |
| Cmd+, | Settings |
| Cmd+Shift+’ | Move the keyboard to the newest export’s toast. Tab goes round every toast’s buttons, Esc gives the keyboard back |
| Cmd+=, Cmd+-, Cmd+0 | Larger, smaller and default data text |
? |
The list of keys |
Quick open
Quick open floats over the window, from anywhere in it: the rows, the
SQL editor, the start screen or the Agents tab. The sidebar’s “Find any
object…” field and View › Quick Open in the menu bar open it too. With
nothing typed it lists what the start screen lists (what you opened
lately), then four commands: New SQL query, Switch database (where the
server has another), Agents and History. Typing lists the tables and
then the views that match, three of each and a row that shows the rest,
then the commands and the settings whose names match, three and a row
that shows the rest. The best matches come first: the whole name, then
its start, then the starts of its words (bc finds book_covers), then
any run of its letters; what you opened lately comes first among equals. Nothing is asked of the
database while you type. The chip beside the field says what is
searched; Tab searches every open connection, each under its name.
Start with > to list the commands alone: those of the window, such as
Reload schema, Close connection or Hide sidebar, and those of the tab in
front, such as Close tab, Save changes, Run all or Format SQL. A command
is listed only where it can do something now, with its key beside it
where the window has one. Typing after > finds the settings too, each
by where it is (Settings › General › Restore tabs and filters):
Return opens Settings at that row, with its control ready for the
keyboard.
| Keys | Do |
|---|---|
| Cmd+P | Open it. While it is open, select what is typed |
| Up, Down | Move in the list |
| Return | Open the one picked, or show its tab where it has one |
| Option+Return | Open a new SQL editor reading its first rows |
| Tab | Search every open connection, or this one again |
> |
Typed first: list the commands alone (and, with a word after it, the settings) |
| Cmd+Shift+E | Export the table or view picked: it opens, with the export over it |
| Esc | Close |
The picker
| Keys | Do |
|---|---|
| Arrows | Move |
| Cmd+Up, Cmd+Down | The first and the last connection |
| Return | Connect, or show the connection if it is open already |
| Shift+Return | Open it again |
| Cmd+N | New connection |
| Cmd+E | Edit |
| Cmd+D | Duplicate |
| Cmd+Backspace | Delete, once you say so. Esc keeps the connection |
| Esc | Cancel connecting |
The connection dialog
| Keys | Do |
|---|---|
| Cmd+T | Test |
| Cmd+S | Save |
| Cmd+Return | Save and connect |
| Backspace, Forward Delete | In the empty Password field: forget the saved password |
| Up, Down | In Add table…’s or Add column…’s list: move. Return adds the one chosen, or in Add column…’s puts a table chosen in the field for its columns, and Esc closes the field |
| Esc | Cancel |
The sidebar
| Keys | Do |
|---|---|
| Arrows, Home, End | Move |
| Cmd+Up, Cmd+Down | The top and the bottom, as Home and End |
| Return | Open the table or view |
| Cmd+R | Reload the list |
| Right-click | A table’s or view’s menu: Open, Structure, DDL, Copy name, Export… |
A table
| Keys | Do |
|---|---|
| Arrows, Page Up, Page Down, Home, End | Move in the grid |
| Cmd+Up, Cmd+Down | First and last row, as Home and End |
| Cmd+Left, Cmd+Right | First and last column |
| Cmd+Option+Left and Right | Previous and next page |
| Cmd+F | Filter bar |
| Cmd+C | Copy the selection, or the cell |
| Cmd+Shift+C | Copy the selected rows |
| Cmd+Option+C | Copy as: the selection in a format, one letter each |
| Cmd+Shift+E | Export the table, or the one selected in the sidebar. With a selection it starts on the selected rows, and a block on its columns. On the row panel, its row alone |
| Shift+arrows, Shift-click, drag | Select cells |
| Click a row’s number | Select the row. Shift-click selects through to another, Cmd-click adds or takes out one |
| Shift+Space | Select the rows of the selected cells |
| Cmd+A | Select every row loaded |
| Cmd+R | Reload |
| Cmd+. | Cancel the running query |
| Cmd+I | Open the row panel, with the keyboard on its fields. Esc goes back to the rows |
| Cmd+Shift+R | Show or hide the row panel |
| Ctrl+Cmd+1, 2, 3 | Show the rows, the structure, the DDL |
In its Structure view:
| Keys | Do |
|---|---|
| Cmd+L | Choose the column that labels the table’s rows for foreign keys |
| Up, Down | Move by column |
| Cmd+Option+L | Use the column under the cursor as that label |
The last two work with the keyboard on the view’s columns: click a column’s line, or come to them with Tab or F6.
In its DDL view:
| Keys | Do |
|---|---|
| Cmd+Shift+C | Copy the DDL: the selected text, or all of it |
| Option+Return | Open the DDL in a new SQL editor |
Editing
| Keys | Do |
|---|---|
| Return, F2 | Edit the cell. Typing on a selected cell starts an edit too, and so does a double-click |
| Cmd+N | Add a row, at the top of the grid |
| Down | On the table’s last row, on its last page: add a row below it |
| Cmd+D | Duplicate the selected rows, as new rows at the top of the grid |
| Backspace, Forward Delete | Delete the row: mark it for deletion, or restore a marked row. A new row that is not saved yet is dropped |
| Shift+Up, Shift+Down | Select cells across the rows above or below. Backspace then deletes their rows |
| Return, Tab, Shift+Tab | Keep the edit and move down, right or left |
| Esc | Cancel the edit |
| Cmd+L | In a foreign key cell’s list: choose the column that labels it. In the chooser, Up and Down move, Return chooses and Esc closes |
| Option+Return | Open the large editor. In it, Cmd+Return applies and Esc cancels |
| Cmd+Backspace | Set NULL |
| Cmd+’ | Set DEFAULT, where the column has a default |
| Space | Flip a boolean cell: true, false, NULL |
| Cmd+Z | Revert the cell |
| Cmd+S | Save all pending changes |
| Cmd+Option+Backspace | Discard all pending changes |
| Esc | With no cell being edited: discard all pending changes, asking first |
| Cmd+Shift+D | Show or hide the SQL of the pending changes |
| Cmd+Option+Down, Cmd+Option+Up | Next and previous error: a cell to fix, or a row a save failed on. Past the last it starts again at the first |
The SQL editor
| Keys | Do |
|---|---|
| Cmd+Return | Run the statement at the cursor, the whole script or the selection, as Settings › Editor says |
| Cmd+Shift+Return | Run all |
| Cmd+. | Cancel the run |
| Cmd+Shift+F | Format |
| Tab, Shift+Tab | Indent, outdent: at the cursor, or every line of the selection |
| Cmd+Shift+M | Switch between read-only and read-write runs |
| Cmd+Option+C | Copy as: the cells picked in the result, in a format |
| Cmd+Shift+E | Export the result, from the script or its rows. With a selection it starts on the selected rows |
| Cmd+Option+Down, Cmd+Option+Up | Put the cursor where the last run’s error is, while the script is the one that ran |
| Cmd+I, Ctrl+Space | Complete |
| Esc, Return | Cancel, when a run that changes every row of a table asks first. Return runs only from Run anyway, with the keyboard on it |
While the completion list is open, Up and Down move in it, Tab accepts and Esc closes it. Return accepts too, except when it stays a line break: the SQL Editor guide says when.
macOS may keep Ctrl+Space for switching input sources. Cmd+I always reaches Tabletist.
The History tab
| Keys | Do |
|---|---|
| Up, Down | Move among the statements |
| Cmd+Return | Run the selected read again, in a new SQL editor |
| Cmd+C | Copy the selected statement |
| Cmd+F | Search the statements |
| Cmd+Option+A | On an agent’s statement: show its call in the Agents Log |
| Esc | Keep the history, when Clear history… asks |
The Keychain
A password field in the connection dialog has a Keychain checkbox.
Ticked, the password is kept in your keychain under the name
dev.tabletist.Tabletist. Not ticked, Tabletist asks for the password
when you connect.
SSH agents
For an SSH tunnel that signs in with your agent, Tabletist uses the agent
~/.ssh/config names for the host with IdentityAgent, which is how
1Password’s agent is found. Without one it uses SSH_AUTH_SOCK.
Read about SSH tunnels.
Files
Everything Tabletist keeps is in one folder:
~/Library/Application Support/dev.tabletist.Tabletist
It holds settings.toml, connections.toml, known_hosts.json, the
themes folder and the logs. Settings shows where the settings file
is, and Reveal in Finder takes you there.
