psqlite

Interactive command-line shell for PGlite—PostgreSQL compiled to WebAssembly—with a sqlite3-shaped interface: flags, one-shot SQL, piping, and dot commands.

Install

npm install -g @alancnet/psqlite

The psqlite command name is unchanged after install.

Requires Node.js 18+. PGlite is not installed by this package. Install @electric-sql/pglite in your project or globally (npm install -g @electric-sql/pglite). At runtime, psqlite loads PGlite from the nearest package.json directory when walking up from your current working directory, then from the global npm modules folder if needed.

Usage

Same overall shape as sqlite3: optional flags, then FILENAME (the PGlite data directory), then optional SQL to run once. If you omit FILENAME, PSQLITE_DATA_DIR, and -d, psqlite uses the current directory when it looks like an initialized PGlite/PostgreSQL data directory (e.g. it contains PG_VERSION—typical when your shell is cd’d into the cluster).

Start the REPL:

psqlite ./mydb
# or
PSQLITE_DATA_DIR=./data psqlite
# or
psqlite -d ./data

Run SQL and exit:

psqlite ./mydb -e "SELECT version()"
psqlite ./mydb "SELECT 1"

Other common options:

psqlite --help
psqlite -version
psqlite -csv -noheader ./data "SELECT * FROM mytable LIMIT 5"
psqlite -init schema.sql ./data
psqlite --file queries.sql -d ./data
echo "SELECT 1" | psqlite -batch ./mydb

Environment

| Variable | Meaning | |----------|---------| | PSQLITE_DATA_DIR | Database directory when you omit FILENAME on the command line (-d / --data-dir overrides this and FILENAME) |

Dot commands (interactive)

At the pglite> prompt: .tables, .schema, .indexes, .mode, .headers, .pretty, .databases, .quit / .exit / \q.

Developing this repo

This package does not ship @electric-sql/pglite. Install it in this directory (or run the CLI from another project that already depends on PGlite):

npm install
npm install @electric-sql/pglite
node bin/psqlite.js --help

Link globally while hacking:

npm link
psqlite -version

License

MIT