Alternatives to dblab
An open-source terminal UI client for browsing and querying PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite and other databases. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
dblab
An open-source terminal UI client for browsing and querying PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite and other databases.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as dblab.
Harlequin
A SQL IDE that runs in the terminal, with adapters for DuckDB, SQLite, Postgres and more.
Harlequin is a full terminal SQL IDE installed through Python, with adapters for DuckDB, SQLite, Postgres and more, plus an hsql companion for scripts.
LazySQL
Browse and query databases through a terminal interface.
LazySQL is an MIT-licensed cross-platform terminal interface for browsing and querying databases, but the project describes itself as alpha software.
rainfrog
Query databases through a terminal editor with history and favorites.
rainfrog is an MIT-licensed terminal query editor that adds query history, favorites and table inspection, though its database drivers vary in support and stability.
usql
Use one command-line interface for many database systems.
usql gives one consistent command-line interface across many database engines, but as a shell rather than a browsing UI, and driver features vary by database.
pgcli
A command-line PostgreSQL client with auto-completion and syntax highlighting.
pgcli is a command-line client only for PostgreSQL, adding context-aware auto-completion and syntax highlighting while using standard libpq connection environment variables.
mycli
A command-line MySQL client with auto-completion, syntax highlighting and fuzzy history search.
mycli is a command-line client for MySQL, MariaDB, Percona, TiDB and Apache Doris with auto-completion and fzf history search, and it does not cover PostgreSQL or SQLite.
LiteCLI
A command-line SQLite client with auto-completion and syntax highlighting.
LiteCLI is a command-line client limited to SQLite with auto-completion and syntax highlighting, installed through pip or Homebrew, and it has no graphical table browser.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
sq
An open-source command-line tool to inspect, query, join, import and export data across databases and files.
VisiData
An interactive terminal multitool for exploring, cleaning and converting tabular data in many formats.
trdsql
Query structured files with SQL from the command line.
DBeaver Community
One database client for more than a hundred databases, with a proper SQL editor and ER diagrams.
