databasecli

Manage your databases with AI agents. A CLI, TUI, and MCP server providing secure read-only access to PostgreSQL databases.

For Whom

• Backend Developers — manage connections to multiple databases across environments. Switch between dev, staging, and production without remembering connection strings.
• Database Administrators — monitor database health at a glance. Run quick connectivity checks across your entire fleet and spot issues before they become incidents.
• DevOps Engineers — integrate health checks into your workflow. Script database connectivity verification or use the TUI for interactive troubleshooting.

Features

• Full-screen TUI with interactive database management, health monitoring, schema browsing, and query execution
• CLI subcommands for scripting: list, health-check, schema, query, analyze, summary, erd, compare, trend, sample
• MCP server exposing 14 read-only tools for AI agents (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and other MCP clients)
• Multi-database support — connect to specific databases with --db or all at once with --all
• INI-based configuration with per-database connection settings
• Cross-platform: macOS, Linux, Windows

Installation

macOS (Homebrew)

brew tap maximgorbatyuk/tap
brew install databasecli
brew install databasecli-mcp   # MCP server for AI agents

databasecli --version

Linux

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/maximgorbatyuk/databasecli/releases/latest/download/databasecli-installer.sh | sh
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/maximgorbatyuk/databasecli/releases/latest/download/databasecli-mcp-installer.sh | sh

Windows

PowerShell:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://github.com/maximgorbatyuk/databasecli/releases/latest/download/databasecli-installer.ps1 | iex"
powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://github.com/maximgorbatyuk/databasecli/releases/latest/download/databasecli-mcp-installer.ps1 | iex"

MSI installers are also available on the releases page.

From source

cargo install --git https://github.com/maximgorbatyuk/databasecli databasecli
cargo install --git https://github.com/maximgorbatyuk/databasecli databasecli-mcp

Quick Start

Option 1: Call init command

databasecli init

The command will create .ini file in directory <project_path>/.databasecli/databases.ini. Also, this command will write MCP server to the folder.

Option 2: Manual setup

1. Create a config file at ~/.databasecli/databases.ini (or <project>/.databasecli/databases.ini when using -D):

[production]
host = localhost
port = 5432
user = admin
password = secret123
dbname = myapp

[staging]
host = staging-db.example.com
port = 5432
user = readonly
password = secret456
dbname = myapp_staging

2. Create .mcp.json in your project root to enable AI agent access:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "databasecli": {
      "command": "databasecli-mcp",
      "args": ["-D", "."]
    }
  }
}

3. Run:

databasecli                              # launch TUI
databasecli list                         # list stored connections
databasecli health-check --all           # check all databases
databasecli schema --db production       # inspect schema
databasecli query --db production "SELECT count(*) FROM users"

MCP Server

The databasecli-mcp binary is a read-only MCP server that gives AI agents secure access to your PostgreSQL databases over stdio. All connections enforce read-only mode at both the server and client level.

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "databasecli": {
      "command": "databasecli-mcp",
      "args": ["-D", "/path/to/project"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Add to .claude/settings.local.json in your project (machine-specific, not committed):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "databasecli": {
      "command": "databasecli-mcp",
      "args": ["-D", "."]
    }
  }
}

Or to .mcp.json in your project root if you want to share the config with your team.

For the full tools reference and security model, see docs/mcp.md.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.