Postgres & MySQL Query Client, a SQL Database Tool for VS Code

A free PostgreSQL client and MySQL client, with unlimited connections, free row edits and streamed CSV export. Also MariaDB and SQLite. Press Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on macOS) to run SQL. No sign-in and no subscription.

Optional Zovo Pro (USD 19 once, every Zovo extension) adds Explain Plan with hints, table data compare with a sync script, an ER diagram, schema compare, CSV import and a query library. Each Pro tool has 3 free tries. Everything that is free today stays free.

Network: the extension connects only to the database servers you add. It sends no telemetry, makes no update check and calls no license server. It never runs a keep-alive or polling query, so your database sees nothing while you are idle. Passwords go to VS Code's secret storage, never to settings or logs.

Why this one

Measured against the complaints in reviews of other database extensions on the Marketplace (dates are review dates):

Features (free)

• Connections: PostgreSQL (pg driver), MySQL and MariaDB (mysql2 driver), and SQLite files. Paste a postgres:// or mysql:// URL, or fill in the form: host, port, user, database and SSL mode (disable, prefer, require, verify-ca or verify-full, with an optional CA file). Use "Test connection" before you save.
• Database Explorer: connections, databases, schemas, tables, views, columns with types and keys, indexes and estimated row counts. Each level loads when you open it, so a schema with 5,000 tables opens in one query.
• Query editor: any .sql file runs on the connection shown in the status bar.
  • Ctrl+Enter runs the statement at the cursor or the selection. Ctrl+Alt+Enter runs the whole file.
  • Each result gets its own tab, and a Messages tab lists every statement.
  • An error underlines the right place in your SQL.
  • Autocomplete knows your tables, views, columns and aliases, plus the keywords of each dialect.
• Results grid: virtual scroll, sort and filter, column resize, and copy as CSV, JSON, Markdown or tab-separated text.
  • The first 1,000 rows load at once, and scrolling down loads more.
  • When not every row is loaded, sort and filter run on the server, so a 5,000,000-row table sorts correctly.
  • Long text and binary cells open in an editor tab (JSON is formatted, binary shows as a hex dump).
• Cancel: stops the running statement on the server (pg_cancel_backend or KILL QUERY). In the gate test, a 60-second query stopped 0.13 seconds after the click.
• Edit rows: works for any table with a primary key. Double-click a cell, use + Row, or Delete. Review shows the exact UPDATE, INSERT and DELETE statements. They run in one transaction, and each one must change exactly one row, or nothing is saved. A result without a primary key stays read-only and says why.
• Export: CSV, JSON or SQL INSERT, for a result or a whole table. Rows stream to the file in batches. In the gate test, 5,000,000 rows exported in 5.3 seconds, and VS Code's extension host grew by less than 50 MB.
• Safety:
  • A read-only switch per connection: the server enforces it for PostgreSQL and MySQL.
  • A confirmation before an UPDATE or DELETE without WHERE, and before TRUNCATE.
  • Clear messages for a wrong password, a refused connection, a server that needs SSL or an untrusted certificate. A connection that does not answer gives up after 10 seconds instead of hanging.
• Query history per connection, kept on your computer. You can turn it off in Settings.
• Dark, light and high-contrast themes follow VS Code.

Zovo Pro (USD 19, paid once, for every Zovo extension)

You can try each Pro tool 3 times for free; the status bar says which try it was. After that, starting the tool shows one message that explains how to unlock it. There are no popups, ads or countdowns, and nothing above is ever locked.

• Explain Plan (Ctrl+Alt+E, Cmd+Alt+E on macOS): how the database runs the statement at the cursor, as a tree of steps with cost bars. It marks the slowest step and writes plain hints: a full scan of a filtered table (with the rows it threw away), a sort that spilled to disk, a step with no index, a row estimate that is 10 times off. "Explain Analyze" runs a read-only query and shows the real time and rows per step (PostgreSQL EXPLAIN ANALYZE, MySQL 8 EXPLAIN ANALYZE, MariaDB ANALYZE FORMAT=JSON). SQLite shows EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN. In the release tests on PostgreSQL 16, a filter on a 5,000,000-row table showed "reads the whole table and filters it".
• Table data compare: two tables on any two connections (PostgreSQL against MariaDB works), matched by primary key. You get a report (rows equal, changed, only on one side, with the first rows of each) and a SQL script that makes the second table match the first. The script is opened, not run: you read it, then run it with Ctrl+Alt+Enter. Both tables are read in key order as a stream: in the release tests, 5,000,000 rows on PostgreSQL 16 against 5,000,000 on MariaDB compared in 25 seconds while memory grew by about 130 MB. Text keys are sorted by code point on both servers, so different collations do not break the match.
• ER diagram of a schema: tables, keys and foreign-key links. Drag to arrange, then save it as SVG.
• Schema compare: two schemas side by side in VS Code's diff view, from any two connections.
• CSV import into a table: the file is read as a stream, header names are matched to columns, and rows are inserted in batches of 500.
• Query library: named queries saved on this computer that open on any connection.

Zovo Pro is USD 19 once on GitHub Sponsors (the "$19 one time" tier). If you bought that tier, or have a monthly sponsorship of USD 10 or more that is still running, run "Zovo: Unlock Pro with GitHub Sponsors". The "$15 one time" and "$5 a month" tiers on the same page are for Obsidian plugins and do not include Zovo Pro. No GitHub account? Send USD 19 to paypal.com/paypalme/najzzz/19 with "Zovo Pro" in the note, and you get a license key by email within a day. That sends one question to GitHub and nothing else. A license key is checked on your computer.

To hide the Pro tools from menus and the command palette, set zovoSql.showProFeatures to false.

Getting started

1. Open the SQL Client view in the activity bar and click Add Connection.
2. Paste a URL such as postgres://me@localhost:5432/shop or fill in the fields. Click Test connection, then Save.
3. Click New Query on the connection, type SQL and press Ctrl+Enter.
4. Click a table to browse it. Double-click a cell to edit it, and use Export to save every row.

Settings

Privacy

• Connection settings (without passwords) are stored in VS Code's global storage. Passwords are stored in VS Code's secret storage, which uses the system keychain.
• The extension makes no network calls except to your database servers. The one exception is when you choose "Unlock with GitHub Sponsors": it asks GitHub one question. Monthly sponsors get one silent recheck every 30 days.
• Nothing runs while you are idle. There is no connection on startup, no keep-alive and no polling.

Support Zovo

Zovo extensions are free, with no ads and no tracking. They are made by theluckystrike on GitHub. If this one saves you time, you can support the work:

• Sponsor on GitHub
• PayPal
• Follow theluckystrike on GitHub

More tools by Zovo

• SQLite Viewer & SQLite3 DB File Browser, Database Explorer browses SQLite tables read-only and runs SELECT queries.
• XLSX Viewer & CSV Preview for Excel, XLS & Parquet opens CSV, TSV, Excel and Parquet files as a sortable, filterable table.
• Large JSON Viewer, JSON Browser & JSON Tree shows large JSON files as a searchable tree, copies JSONPath and turns arrays of objects into a table.
• JSONL Viewer, Large JSONL Table & NDJSON Viewer opens JSONL and NDJSON files as a table, as records or as a chat view.
• Avro Viewer, Apache Arrow Viewer & Feather Viewer opens Avro, Arrow and Feather files as a paged table.

See all Zovo extensions on the Marketplace.

License

MIT. Drivers: pg (MIT), mysql2 (MIT), sql.js (MIT). See THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.