SQLite Explorer

A powerful, open-source SQLite database viewer and editor for Visual Studio Code.

Try it in your browser | Website | Changelog

Demos

Inline Editing

Double-click any cell to edit. Add new rows and delete existing ones with ease.

Pin Columns

Keep important columns visible while scrolling horizontally through wide tables.

Pin Rows

Pin rows to the top for easy reference while navigating through data.

Large Tables

Handle tables with thousands of rows smoothly with pagination.

Features

Database Viewing

• Open SQLite files directly — Supports .sqlite, .db, .sqlite3, .db3, .sdb, .s3db, and .gpkg formats
• Schema browser — Explore tables, views, and indexes in a sidebar with search filtering
• Pagination — Navigate large datasets with configurable page sizes (100–100,000 rows)
• Column sorting — Click headers to sort ascending/descending
• Column & global filtering — Per-column search and full-table text search
• Pin columns & rows — Keep important data visible while scrolling
• SQL logging — View all executed queries (reads and writes) in the VS Code Output panel

Editing

• Inline cell editing — Double-click any cell to modify its value
• VS Code editor integration — Edit large values (JSON, SQL, text) in a full VS Code editor tab
• Batch updates — Update a column for multiple selected rows simultaneously via the sidebar
• Row operations — Insert new rows, delete selected rows
• Column operations — Add columns (with type and default value), delete columns
• Table creation — Create new tables with structured column definitions
• Drag & drop BLOBs — Upload files as binary data by dragging them onto cells
• Smart JSON patching — Edits to JSON cells use RFC 7396 Merge Patching (only diffs are sent)
• Full undo/redo — All operations (cell edits, row/column CRUD, batch updates) are undoable

Blob Inspector

• Image preview — PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP displayed inline
• Audio playback — MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC with native controls
• Video playback — MP4, WebM, MOV with native controls
• Text/JSON preview — View and format text and JSON content
• Hex view — Inspect raw binary data in hex dump format
• Download & replace — Save blobs to disk or upload replacements

Export

• Formats — CSV, JSON, SQL INSERT statements
• Options — Include/exclude headers, toggle table name in SQL output
• Selection export — Export only selected rows
• Streaming — Large exports use streaming and keyset pagination to prevent OOM

Database Settings

• Pragma editor — Configure SQLite pragmas (journal mode, foreign keys, synchronous, cache size, etc.) via GUI
• Query timeout — Configurable timeout prevents runaway queries (default 30s)
• Auto-commit — Optional instant-save mode for remote workspaces

Cross-Platform

• Dual backend — Native SQLite (txiki-js) for desktop performance, sql.js (WebAssembly) for universal compatibility
• Automatic fallback — If the native backend fails (sandboxing, permissions), falls back to WASM transparently
• VS Code for Web — Works in browser-based VS Code (vscode.dev)
• Remote development — Full support for SSH, WSL, and containers
• Web demo — Try it at sqlite-explorer.zknpr.xyz/demo — all processing is client-side

UI/UX

• Theme integration — Automatically matches your VS Code color theme (light, dark, high contrast)
• Resizable layout — Adjustable sidebar and column widths
• Multi-cell selection — Click, Shift+Click (range), Cmd/Ctrl+Click (multi), column/row selection
• Keyboard-driven — Full keyboard support for editing, navigation, and selection
• Localized — 14 languages (EN, DE, ES, FR, IT, JA, KO, NL, PL, PT-BR, RU, TR, ZH-CN, ZH-TW)

Security

• Strict CSP — Nonce-based Content Security Policy, no unsafe-inline
• XSS prevention — All cell data rendered via textContent, never innerHTML
• SQL injection prevention — Parameterized queries, escaped identifiers, validated SQL types
• PII masking — Email, phone, API keys, credit cards, SSNs are redacted in SQL logs
• Workspace isolation — File access restricted to the current workspace

Installation

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
3. Search for "SQLite Explorer"
4. Click Install

Or from the command line:

code --install-extension zknpr.sqlite-explorer

Usage

1. Open any .sqlite, .db, or .sqlite3 file in VS Code
2. Browse tables and views in the sidebar
3. Click a table to display its data
4. Double-click any cell to edit
5. Ctrl+S / Cmd+S to save changes

Keyboard Shortcuts

Configuration

Supported File Types

Requirements

• VS Code 1.110.0 or higher
• No external dependencies required

Architecture

┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│    Webview       │ ←→  │  Extension Host  │ ←→  │     Worker      │
│  (viewer.html)   │     │   (main.ts)      │     │  (worker.ts)    │
└─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘
        ↑                       ↑                       ↑
    UI Layer              VS Code API         SQLite (WASM or Native)

• Webview — Renders the data grid, sidebar, modals, and blob inspector
• Extension Host — Manages document lifecycle, RPC bridge, file I/O
• Worker — Runs SQLite in a separate thread (sql.js WASM or txiki-js native)

Communication uses a custom RPC protocol with correlation IDs, timeouts, and zero-copy Transfer wrappers for binary data.

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/zknpr/sqlite-explorer.git
cd sqlite-explorer

npm install          # Install dependencies
node scripts/build.mjs   # Build extension + worker
npm test             # Run 237 unit tests
npm run package      # Package as .vsix
./install.sh         # Build + package + install to VS Code

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests on GitHub.

Support

If you find this extension useful, consider supporting development:

Credits

• sql.js — WebAssembly SQLite implementation
• txiki.js — Native JavaScript runtime (native SQLite backend)
• @vscode/codicons — Icon font
• Icon — SQLite by Toms Design

License

MIT License — see LICENSE.md for details.

Built with Claude Code