Dbeast Manager

DBeast

A fast, native database client for PostgreSQL, MySQL and SQLite

Written from scratch in Rust. Opens in a blink, stays light on memory and scrolls large results smoothly, with the tools you expect from a professional database IDE.

Features · Screenshots · Download · Building from source · AI agents · Documentation · Contributing

Why DBeast

Database IDEs built on a virtual machine pay for it every day: a slow start, gigabytes of memory and stutter on large result sets. DBeast is a native application with a renderer that draws only what is visible, drivers that talk the databases' own protocols and a UI thread that never waits for the network.

• Instant. The first frame appears in about 0.1 s on a warm start, the idle window uses no CPU and the whole process stays around 100 MB.
• Complete. SQL console with completion and folding, an editable result grid, query plans, data import and export, schema graph, live activity monitor and more.
• Safe with AI. A built-in MCP server lets AI agents read the databases you share with them, with exact-SQL approval prompts and enforced read-only access.

Features

Write and run SQL

• Console per tab with its own session, clause-aware completion, syntax highlighting, code folding, formatting, find and replace.
• Run the statement under the caret or the whole script; the statement that will run is outlined.
• Manual or automatic transactions, cancel at any time, query history and filter history.
• Per-console default schema for PostgreSQL and MySQL.

Work with results

• Virtualized result grid with paging, sorting, Transpose, Record View and a JSON-aware value editor.
• Edit table data and simple console results, then Submit or Revert as one batch.
• Find in results, local filters per column, aggregates of the selection.
• Related Rows along foreign keys and Compare Data between fetched pages.

Understand the database

• Lazy Database Explorer with speed search, object counters, groups and DDL.
• Explain Plan and Explain Analyse for PostgreSQL and MySQL, as a tree, raw text or a diagram.
• Database Graph: tables, views and relations in 3D or 2D, sized by rows or storage.
• DDL Diff between two tables or views.

Move and watch data

• Export to CSV, TSV, JSON, SQL INSERT, Markdown, HTML and XML; import CSV and TSV into new or existing tables.
• pg_dump, pg_restore and psql with a guided dialog and a Run window for background tasks.
• Activity Monitor for PostgreSQL: live sessions, blocking chains, cancel and terminate.
• Geo Viewer for PostGIS and MySQL geometry, Depth View for time series.

Connect securely

• PostgreSQL, MySQL and SQLite with native Rust drivers; CSV, TSV, Data Package and SQLite files open as temporary sources.
• SSH tunnel (password, key or agent) written in Rust, TLS with CA, client certificates and host verification.
• Passwords in the macOS Keychain, the Linux Secret Service or encrypted with Windows DPAPI, never in plain text.

Work with AI agents

• Local MCP server on loopback with a separate token per agent connection.
• Share a whole source, one database or one table as catalog only, read-only or read-write.
• Every other request shows the exact SQL for approval; read-only access is enforced by an SQL policy, read-only transactions and locks.
• Bundled agent skills in .agents/skills.

Screenshots

More in the user guide.

Download

Ready-to-run builds for macOS (Apple Silicon), Linux (x86-64) and Windows (x86-64) are attached to every GitHub release, with install notes and SHA-256 checksums. The builds are not code-signed yet: macOS asks for a right-click and Open on the first start, and Windows SmartScreen for Run anyway.

Building from source

You need a recent stable Rust toolchain.

macOS

git clone https://github.com/macolszewski/dbeast_manager.git
cd dbeast_manager
./scripts/bundle-macos.sh          # builds target/release/DBeast.app
open target/release/DBeast.app

Move DBeast.app to Applications if you like. The bundle is signed ad hoc on your machine, so macOS may ask again for Keychain access after you rebuild it. DBeast renders with Metal and integrates its toolbar into the title bar.

Linux

Install the build dependencies (Debian and Ubuntu package names), then build:

sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config libssl-dev libxkbcommon-dev libwayland-dev \
  libx11-dev libxcursor-dev libxrandr-dev libxi-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libegl1-mesa-dev \
  libgtk-3-dev libasound2-dev
cargo build --release
./target/release/dbeast

On Linux DBeast renders with OpenGL and uses the system title bar. Saved passwords go to the Secret Service (GNOME Keyring, KWallet, KeePassXC); without one, choose Until restart. Shortcuts use Ctrl in place of ⌘ and Alt in place of ⌥.

Windows

DBeast runs on Windows 10 and 11 (x86-64). On Windows, install Rust from rustup.rs with the Visual Studio Build Tools, then:

cargo build --release
.\target\release\dbeast.exe

To build a Windows zip from macOS or Linux, install the mingw-w64 toolchain (brew install mingw-w64 or apt install mingw-w64) and run:

rustup target add x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
./scripts/build-windows.sh         # target/dist/DBeast-<version>-windows-x86_64.zip

The executable needs no extra DLLs. Saved passwords are encrypted with DPAPI for your Windows account, and SSH agent authentication works with the OpenSSH Authentication Agent service or Pageant. Shortcuts use Ctrl in place of ⌘ and Alt in place of ⌥.

Configuration

Set DBEAST_CONFIG to use another configuration file, for example a throwaway one while testing. Neither file ever contains passwords; on macOS and Linux both are written with 0600 permissions, on Windows they live in your user profile.

Quick start

1. Open Data Sources and Drivers (the gear button or Find Action, ⌘⇧A) and add a PostgreSQL, MySQL or SQLite source. Test Connection shows whether TLS was verified.
2. Expand the source in Database Explorer; objects load level by level.
3. Open a console (⌘⇧L or the QL button), type a query and press ⌘↵.
4. Double-click a table to browse and edit its data; Submit writes your changes.

The getting started guide walks through the main window, and the keyboard shortcuts reference lists every shortcut.

AI agents and MCP

DBeast includes a local Model Context Protocol server, so assistants such as Claude Code or Codex can work with your databases without ever seeing a password or a connection string.

1. Open Settings > MCP Server, pick a port and press Start. The server listens on 127.0.0.1 only.
2. Share what the agent may use: a source, a database or a table, as Catalog Only, Read-Only Access or Read and Write Access.
3. Choose Create Agent Connection and paste the generated configuration into the client. Each connection has its own token.

Read-only queries run through query_sql, which accepts only SQL that a full parser and the database itself prove to be read-only. Anything else goes through request_sql, which waits for you to approve the exact statement. Details: AI agents guide and the MCP contract.

Performance

Measured on Apple Silicon with an empty configuration:

The UI thread only draws: database, network and disk work runs on a Tokio runtime, the grid and the explorer render only visible rows, and expensive results are cached and invalidated explicitly. Methodology and per-feature measurements are in the performance reference.

Documentation

The documentation site at https://macolszewski.github.io/dbeast_manager/ is built with MkDocs from docs/:

• User guide: every feature, with screenshots.
• Reference: keyboard shortcuts, performance, testing and known limitations.
• Design notes: the MCP contract, credential storage, TLS and other technical decisions.

Preview it locally with pip install -r docs/requirements.txt && mkdocs serve.

Roadmap

• Code-signed and notarized releases, and an Intel macOS build.
• More drivers and formats (DuckDB, Parquet).
• Schema comparison beyond a single object and entity relationship diagrams.
• Broader editing of console results and multi-record Related Rows.

The known limitations page lists the current boundaries of each feature.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Read CONTRIBUTING.md for the setup, tests and conventions, and AGENTS.md for the architecture. Please report security issues privately as described in SECURITY.md.

./scripts/test-dbs.sh        # PostgreSQL, PostGIS, MySQL and SSH test containers
cargo clippy --all-targets
cargo test

License

DBeast is created by Maciej Olszewski and released under the Apache License 2.0. Bundled fonts and third-party components are listed in NOTICE.

The dark color palette is taken from the dark theme of the IntelliJ Platform (Apache License 2.0). IntelliJ and JetBrains are trademarks of JetBrains s.r.o.; DBeast is an independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by JetBrains.