Open DB Client

A free, lightweight database client for VS Code — with unlimited connections. No license, no account, no paywall, no "premium" tier. One tree for PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, SQLite, Redis, and AWS Athena, side by side.

Built on mature, pure-JS drivers (pg, mysql2, ioredis, AWS SDK) plus WASM sql.js — no native build step, so nothing breaks after a VS Code update.

Why this one?

• Unlimited connections, forever free. Most popular DB extensions cap you at 2–3 connections unless you pay. This one never will.
• Edit data where you see it. The results grid is writable — update cells, insert and delete rows — not just a read-only viewer.
• Five engines, one workflow. The same tree, query panel, and shortcuts cover Postgres, MySQL/MariaDB, SQLite, Redis, and AWS Athena — with Athena deliberately more cautious, because it bills per byte scanned.
• Your secrets stay secret. Passwords live in your OS keychain via VS Code SecretStorage — never in settings files or plain text.
• AI on your terms. Generate, explain, and fix SQL with your own API key — Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, a local Ollama, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. No subscription, no data middleman, and a local ledger showing exactly what each request cost.

Supported engines

SSH tunnelling is offered for PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB and Redis. SQLite is a local file, and Athena is signed HTTPS to a regional endpoint — neither has a host to tunnel to.

Features

Query & edit

• Query panel with autocomplete for tables, columns and keywords, SQL formatting, line-comment toggle (Ctrl/Cmd+/), and highlight-to-run — select a statement and run just that.
• Abort a long query. An ■ Abort button (or Esc) stops it — a real server-side cancellation on PostgreSQL and MySQL (pg_cancel_backend / KILL QUERY), not an abandoned promise. The Run button shows a live elapsed-seconds counter while it works.
• Editable results grid — update cells, insert and delete rows (primary-key based), with SQLite changes written back to the .db file.
• Column picker — Columns ▾ hides the noise in a wide SELECT *; the button reads Columns 6/9 so a narrowed view is never a mystery, and Export follows what you can see.
• A proper JSON/JSONB viewer — cells show a summary ({…} 12 keys) and ⤢ opens a collapsible, filterable tree with copy-for-value and copy-for-path ($.items[3].sku). Works on any result, not just table previews.
• Search, sort, per-column filters and a row-number gutter that follows the current sort.
• Export to CSV or JSON, or Copy as JSON straight to the clipboard.
• Query lock. A 🔒 toggle makes the panel read-only — and it engages by itself whenever a generated statement is a mutation, so the reflex Ctrl+Enter after an AI Generate can never run a write unreviewed.
• Saved queries — organize .sql files in folders right in the tree, and run them against any connection.

AI assistant — bring your own key

• Describe what you want in plain language and Generate the SQL, ask it to Explain a statement, or Fix a failed one — right in the query panel.
• Presets for Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI, OpenRouter and Ollama (local), plus a custom option for any other OpenAI-compatible endpoint — your key, your model, your choice.
• The model is given your real schema, column types and relations, so it writes SQL against the tables you actually have.
• Your key stays in your OS keychain; requests go straight from your machine to your provider. No middleman, nothing to subscribe to.
• A local usage ledger counts every request's exact tokens and estimated cost — priced from a locally stored copy of the LiteLLM price list covering 81 providers, with every row labelled by source and flagged when stale.
• Per-connection opt-out. Untick a connection and the assist bar goes away in its query panels — open ones included — so a regulated database can be kept out of reach of the AI while the rest of your connections keep it.

Browse & inspect

• Browse servers → databases → schemas → tables/views, with live table search on long lists.
• View DDL / structure for any table or view.
• Preview Rows pages through a table 100 rows at a time — ‹ › walks the whole table server-side, with sort and filters applied at the source.
• Connection notes — an optional free-text field on each connection, shown when you hover it in the tree and in the query panel, so "read replica — don't write here" is in front of you while you type.

Redis, first-class

• Browse and search keys server-side, view values, delete keys, and set/clear TTLs — plus run raw commands (GET foo) in the query panel.
• Values are editable in the grid like any other engine: a string, a list element by index, a hash field or its name, a set member. Editing a string carries its remaining TTL across rather than silently clearing it.

AWS Athena, priced honestly

• Connect with an AWS profile (SSO, credential_process and assume-role chains all resolve through the SDK), static access keys, or the machine's own role.
• Browsing costs nothing. The tree, autocomplete and DDL come from Athena's metadata APIs, which scan no data; information_schema is never touched because querying it is billed. Clicking a table does not preview it — on a billed engine a stray click should never start a scan.
• The results footer reports bytes scanned next to elapsed time. Abort or fail a query and the figure comes back in the message instead — "you are still billed for the 1.2 GB scanned before it stopped" — because AWS charges for those either way and hiding the number would be worse than not warning.

Connect from anywhere

• SSH tunnels — reach databases behind a bastion host, with key or password auth.
• Connection strings supported alongside the form.
• Import / export connections — move your whole setup between machines. Three flavors, safest first: without passwords, passphrase-encrypted (AES-256-GCM), or plain text behind an explicit warning that counts exactly what's about to be written.

Getting started

1. Install: search "Open DB Client" in the Extensions view (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+X), or ext install brianlab.open-database-client.
2. Click ＋ Add Connection in the panel title bar.
3. Pick an engine, fill host/port/user/password (or a file path for SQLite, or an AWS profile for Athena) — or paste a connection string.
4. Expand the connection to browse schemas → tables (or keys, for Redis).
5. Right-click a connection → New Query to run arbitrary SQL or Redis commands.

The Settings & Guides panel (gear icon in the panel title bar) has engine-specific walkthroughs, a "what's new" view, and a readout of exactly what the extension has stored on your machine.

Security & privacy

• Passwords, SSH secrets and AI API keys are stored in VS Code SecretStorage (your OS keychain) — never in settings files or plain text.
• Nothing is sent anywhere by default. AI requests go directly from your machine to the provider you configured; there is no telemetry and no server of ours in the path.
• Connection exports that contain credentials are encrypted with a passphrase you choose (scrypt + AES-256-GCM), or clearly marked and confirmed when you explicitly choose plain text. Connection notes are stored unencrypted and travel with every export flavor, so don't keep credentials in them.
• Reset All Data removes every connection, secret, saved query, AI key and usage record in one action.

Notes & limits

• Table previews page 100 rows at a time. Redis lists 500 keys at a time, and a list or sorted-set value shows its first 200 elements. Athena previews up to 500 rows and does not page. Every one of those says so when it truncates.
• A very large result renders the first 2,000 rows — search, sort, Export and Copy still cover the whole result, and the grid says so.
• Grid editing on a SQL table needs a primary key; rows without one are read-only. Redis values are editable by key, field or index instead. Athena has no primary keys, so its results are read-only and say so.
• SQLite cannot be interrupted mid-statement, so it shows no Abort button rather than a button that would do nothing.
• Requires VS Code 1.90 or newer.

Found a bug or missing a feature? Issues and PRs are welcome on GitHub — see DEVELOPMENT.md for how to build and run from source. Release history is in the changelog.