database-devtools

Inspect and debug SQLite in React Native and Expo apps from your browser — browse tables, run SQL, and edit live data on connected devices.

database-devtools is a Chrome DevTools-like toolkit for mobile app databases. Add one component to your app, run npx database-devtools on your machine, and inspect your local SQLite database in a full browser UI.

Features

• React Native SQLite inspector — zero-config expo-sqlite auto-detection
• Expo & React Native debugging — floating dev overlay in your app during development
• Browser database explorer — tables, schema, paginated rows, search, and sort
• SQL workspace — run queries with history, favorites, and export (TSV, CSV, JSON)
• Edit mode — transactional inserts, updates, and deletes on the live device database
• Offline exports — snapshot saved per app; inspect even when the device disconnects
• Single npm install — no extra inspector packages required

Install

npm install database-devtools

Expo projects (recommended — aligns native module versions with your SDK):

npx expo install database-devtools expo-sqlite

database-devtools bundles its mobile UI dependencies (@expo/vector-icons, @react-native-async-storage/async-storage, expo-constants, expo-clipboard). You still need expo-sqlite in your app for the database itself (react and react-native are expected to already be present).

If AsyncStorage is not linked into your native binary (common when it is only a nested dependency), DevTools still works with a session-only device id. To persist device ids across restarts, install and rebuild:

npx expo install @react-native-async-storage/async-storage

Quick start — React Native / Expo

import * as SQLite from 'expo-sqlite';
import { DatabaseDevTools } from 'database-devtools';

const db = await SQLite.openDatabaseAsync('myapp.db');

export function App() {
  return (
    <>
      {/* your app */}
      <DatabaseDevTools database={db} />
    </>
  );
}

SQLite is auto-detected from the raw expo-sqlite instance. Optional:

<DatabaseDevTools database={db} type="sqlite" />
<DatabaseDevTools database={db} adapter={customAdapter} />

Run the inspector hub

After installing, start the local hub and browser UI:

npx database-devtools

Opens http://localhost:3847. Connect your app (simulator, emulator, or physical device on the same network), then Refresh to pull a database snapshot.

Physical device

Point the mobile app at your machine's LAN IP:

EXPO_PUBLIC_DATABASE_DEVTOOLS_URL=ws://192.168.1.10:3847/ws

| Variable | Default | Purpose | |----------|---------|---------| | DATABASE_DEVTOOLS_PORT | 3847 | Hub and web UI port | | DATABASE_DEVTOOLS_NO_OPEN | unset | Set to 1 to skip opening the browser |

Advanced exports

| Import | Use case | |--------|----------| | database-devtools/adapters/sqlite | Custom SQLite adapter wiring | | database-devtools/inspector-sqlite | Browser-side sql.js inspector (custom UI) | | database-devtools/client | WebSocket client for custom tools | | database-devtools/server | Embed the hub in Node.js |

Documentation

• Repository: github.com/tamangRajkumar/database-devtools
• Issues: github.com/tamangRajkumar/database-devtools/issues

Security

For local development only. The hub listens on 0.0.0.0. The RN overlay is disabled in production by default (__DEV__). Edit mode writes to the live device database.

License

MIT © tamangRajkumar/database-devtools

Publishing (maintainers)

The npm package ships two artifacts: the JS library (dist/*.js) and the static browser hub (dist/web/ including sql-wasm.wasm).

Always run the full build before publishing:

pnpm build                    # from monorepo root
pnpm --filter database-devtools publish --no-git-checks --otp=CODE

Do not run tsup alone — it wipes dist/ and does not rebuild the web UI. prepublishOnly will fail if dist/web or wasm assets are missing.