🗄️ sqlmate-mcp

Give Claude a database. Give yourself a GUI.

Zero-config SQL database MCP server with a live browser GUI — for Claude Code, Zed, and any MCP client.

Point it at your project, and Claude can explore your MySQL · MariaDB · SQLite · MSSQL · PostgreSQL databases while you browse, edit, and query them in a beautiful browser dashboard that updates in real time.

npm install -g sqlmate-mcp
claude mcp add --transport stdio sqlmate-mcp sqlmate-mcp

That's the whole setup. It reads your existing .env — no config files to write.

✨ Why sqlmate-mcp?

Most database MCP servers give the AI tools and leave you in the dark. sqlmate-mcp does both halves:

• 🤖 For Claude — 8 focused tools to inspect schemas, run queries, and make guarded writes.
• 👀 For you — a browser GUI that opens automatically, so you can watch what the agent touches, edit data by hand, and run your own SQL side by side.

No API keys. No cloud. No node-gyp. It reads the config you already have.

🚀 Features

| | | |---|---| | ⚡ Zero config | Reads DB_* vars or DATABASE_URL straight from your project's .env | | 🔌 5 databases | MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, MSSQL, and PostgreSQL from one server | | 🧠 Schema intelligence | get_schema returns every table's columns, PKs, foreign keys, and indexes in a single call | | 📊 Query plans | explain_query returns the execution plan without running your statement — opt into analyze for real timing | | 🛡️ Write safety | DELETE/UPDATE without WHERE, DROP, and TRUNCATE require explicit confirmation | | 🖥️ Browser GUI | Paginated grid, inline cell editing, row delete, schema view, and a SQL editor with EXPLAIN + timing | | 🕸️ ERD visualizer | Interactive entity-relationship diagram per connection, with foreign-key edges and click-to-open tables | | 🗂️ Unified dashboard | Open several projects at once and see them all in one GUI, grouped by project | | 📡 Live agent feed | Watch every MCP tool call stream into the browser in real time | | 🪶 No native builds | SQLite uses Node's built-in node:sqlite — nothing to compile |

📦 Setup

1. Install

npm install -g sqlmate-mcp

2. Register with your editor

claude mcp add --transport stdio sqlmate-mcp sqlmate-mcp

Open your Zed settings.json (Cmd/Ctrl + ,) and add:

{
  "context_servers": {
    "sqlmate-mcp": {
      "command": "sqlmate-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

To pin a specific project's database, set SQLMATE_PROJECT_ROOT in the env block:

{
  "context_servers": {
    "sqlmate-mcp": {
      "command": "sqlmate-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": { "SQLMATE_PROJECT_ROOT": "/absolute/path/to/your/project" }
    }
  }
}

The sqlmate-mcp tools then appear in the Zed Agent Panel.

3. That's it

sqlmate-mcp reads connections from the root of whichever project you open (the directory you launch your editor from). Each project uses its own .env or .sqlmaterc — no global config. See Connection Setup.

🔧 Connection Setup

sqlmate-mcp reads connections from your project root at startup (defaults to cwd, override with SQLMATE_PROJECT_ROOT).

Option 1 — .env

Laravel-style variables:

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=myapp
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=secret

Or a connection URL:

DATABASE_URL=mysql://root:[email protected]:3306/myapp
DATABASE_URL=sqlite:///relative/path/app.db
DATABASE_URL=sqlserver://sa:pass@localhost:1433/master
DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:[email protected]:5432/myapp

Supported schemes: mysql, mariadb, sqlite, sqlserver / mssql, pgsql / postgres / postgresql.

Option 2 — .sqlmaterc

A JSON array of connection objects in your project root:

[
  { "name": "Local MySQL", "type": "mysql", "host": "127.0.0.1", "port": 3306, "username": "root", "password": "", "database": "myapp" },
  { "name": "App SQLite", "type": "sqlite", "path": "./database/app.db" },
  { "name": "Local Postgres", "type": "postgres", "host": "127.0.0.1", "port": 5432, "username": "postgres", "password": "", "database": "myapp" }
]

A copy-paste starting point lives in docs/sqlmaterc-example.json.

🛠️ MCP Tools

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | list_connections | List all detected connections (id, name, type, source) | | add_connection | Add a connection for the session via URL, config file, or params | | list_tables(connectionId) | List table names for a connection | | describe_table(connectionId, table) | Column names, types, nullability, and primary key info | | get_schema(connectionId, [table]) | Full schema graph — columns, PKs, foreign keys, and indexes | | run_query(connectionId, sql) | Run a read-only query (SELECT, EXPLAIN, SHOW, PRAGMA) | | explain_query(connectionId, sql, [analyze]) | Return the execution plan; analyze runs read-only statements for real timing | | run_write(connectionId, sql) | Run an INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, or DDL statement |

run_write runs a risk assessment first. Operations affecting all rows (no WHERE), DROP, TRUNCATE, or ALTER…DROP COLUMN pause and ask Claude to confirm with confirm: true before proceeding.

🖥️ Browser GUI

Opens automatically at http://localhost:4737 on startup.

• 📄 Browse any table with a paginated data grid
• ✏️ Click a cell to edit it inline; delete rows with the trash icon
• 🔀 Toggle between data view and column schema view
• 💬 Run arbitrary SQL in the built-in editor, with Explain for the plan and per-query timing
• 🕸️ Visualize a database as an interactive ERD — PK/FK badges, relationship edges, click-to-open
• 🔄 Reconnect a database without restarting the server
• 📡 Watch a live feed of every MCP tool call Claude makes

🗂️ Multiple Projects, One Dashboard

Open your editor in more than one project at a time and each runs its own sqlmate-mcp process — but you only ever see one browser GUI, showing all projects at once.

• The first process to start binds the GUI port (SQLMATE_PORT, default 4737), becomes the host, and opens the browser.
• Every other process detects the port is taken, confirms it's a compatible sqlmate-mcp host, and attaches — no second tab, no error.
• The sidebar groups connections by project (each labeled with its host/database); open tables, run SQL, and view ERDs across projects side by side. The live feed spans every project, labeled by project.
• If the host exits, a remaining attached process automatically takes over — the GUI keeps working.

Fully automatic, zero configuration.

⚙️ Environment Variables

| Variable | Default | Description | |----------|---------|-------------| | SQLMATE_PROJECT_ROOT | cwd | Directory to search for .env and .sqlmaterc | | SQLMATE_PORT | 4737 | Port for the browser GUI | | SQLMATE_NO_OPEN | — | Set to 1 to skip auto-opening the browser |

🧑‍💻 Development

git clone https://github.com/adamrpostjr/sqlmate-mcp.git
cd sqlmate-mcp
npm install
npm run build      # builds the Svelte GUI into /public

node src/index.js  # start the backend (serves the GUI at :4737)

cd frontend && npm run dev   # frontend hot-reload (proxies /api to :4737)

The frontend is Svelte 5 + Vite + Tailwind. Production build output goes to /public, served statically by Express. Backend is pure Node.js ES modules — no TypeScript, no build step.

📋 Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 22.5 (for the native node:sqlite module)

📄 License

MIT  ·  Built by Adam Post

If sqlmate-mcp saves you a trip to a database client, consider giving it a ⭐