SQL ExplorerGetting started
SQL Explorer is a native desktop app — no account, no server to set up. This is the quickest path from install to running SQL against your own database, in about a minute.
1. Install SQL Explorer
Grab the build for your OS from the download page — Windows, macOS or Linux. There is no account and no telemetry wall; the installer notes per platform (Gatekeeper, AppImage permissions) are on that page.
2. Add a connection
Click New connection, pick an engine and fill in the details. SQL Server, MySQL / MariaDB, PostgreSQL and SQLite are built in; MongoDB, Redis, DragonflyDB and Elasticsearch install from the Plugin Store. Test first, then Save — credentials go into your OS keychain, never a plain-text file.
See Connections for folders, connection colours and the full field list.
3. Browse your schema
Expand the connection to walk databases, schemas, tables, views and routines. The tree loads lazily, so large servers stay responsive. Double-click a table to open a browse tab — paging, a WHERE filter and column sorting, without writing SQL.
4. Run your first query
Open a SQL tab and start typing, or load a file with Ctrl+O. Press F5 to run. Results land in the grid below, and when a result traces back to a single table with a primary key you can edit it in place — the generated INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE is shown for review and runs in one transaction.
5. Add plugins
Open Tools → Plugin Store to add providers, tools and extensions. The four SQL engines ship with the app; everything else — first-party or third-party — installs the same way, into a per-user folder that needs no admin rights. See Plugin types.
6. Connect an AI assistant (optional)
Enable the MCP server per connection — opt-in and fail-closed — so an AI assistant can query your data over the Model Context Protocol, on a loopback port, with an audit log you control.