SQEEL

Fast, vim-native SQL client. No Electron. No JVM.

Features

• Native Rust — instant startup
• Vim bindings — first class (operators, text objects, visual modes, marks, jumplist, page scroll, H/M/L, case/indent ops, dot-repeat)
• Mouse support in all panes
• Two UIs: terminal (sqeel) or native GUI (sqeel-gui)
• MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL via sqlx
• tree-sitter SQL syntax highlighting (dialect-aware)
• LSP integration (sqls) — completions + inline diagnostic underlines + gutter signs, tree-sitter fallback for parse errors, auto-generated sqls config from the active connection
• Schema browser — click or keyboard to expand/collapse
• Editor tabs with lazy loading and 5-min RAM eviction
• Auto-save SQL buffers, result history, query history
• tmux-aware pane navigation
• Vim-style status bar + command mode (:)
• Vim-style results pane — cell cursor, visual-line / visual-block selection with TSV yank, / search, count prefix nav

Layout

┌──────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│          │  [tab1] [tab2]              │
│  Schema  │         Editor              │
│  (15%)   │         (85%)               │
│          │                             │
│          ├─────────────────────────────┤
│          │         Results             │
│          │      (shows on query)       │
└──────────┴─────────────────────────────┘

Results hidden → editor fills right pane. Query runs → results expand to 50%.

Install

cargo install --git https://github.com/sqeel-sql/sqeel --bin sqeel
cargo install --git https://github.com/sqeel-sql/sqeel --bin sqeel-gui

Or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/sqeel-sql/sqeel
cd sqeel
cargo build --release

Binaries land in target/release/sqeel and target/release/sqeel-gui.

Config

Main — ~/.config/sqeel/config.toml

[editor]
keybindings = "vim"

# Path to the SQL LSP binary (sqls recommended: https://github.com/sqls-server/sqls)
lsp_binary = "sqls"

# Lines scrolled per mouse wheel tick (all panes)
mouse_scroll_lines = 3

# Leader key for chord shortcuts (e.g. <leader>c opens the connection switcher).
# Single character; " " for Space.
leader_key = " "

# Stop a Ctrl+Shift+Enter batch on the first query error.
stop_on_error = true

Connections — ~/.config/sqeel/conns/<name>.toml

Each file is one connection. Filename = display name in UI.

url = "mysql://localhost/mydb"

url = "postgres://user:pass@host/db"

sqeel scans conns/ on startup and loads all .toml files.

Keybindings

Press ? in normal mode to open the help overlay.

Global

Key	Action
?	Open help overlay (normal mode)
Ctrl+Enter	Run statement under cursor
Ctrl+Shift+Enter	Run all statements in file
:q	Quit
Ctrl+C	Cancel running query / batch
Esc Esc	Dismiss all toasts

Leader (default Space — config: editor.leader_key)

Key	Action
<leader>c	Connection switcher
<leader>n	New scratch tab
<leader>r	Rename current tab
<leader>d	Delete current tab (confirm)
<leader><leader>	Fuzzy file picker

Pane Focus

Key	Action
Ctrl+H / click	Focus schema
Ctrl+L / click	Focus editor
Ctrl+J / click	Focus results
Ctrl+K / click	Focus editor

Tabs

Key	Action
Shift+L	Next tab
Shift+H	Prev tab
Click tab name	Switch to tab

Editor — Vim

Core motions, operators, text objects, and visual modes all work. The help overlay (?) is the authoritative list; the table below is a cheat sheet of features that go beyond basic vim.

Key	Action
i / Esc	Insert / Normal
v / V / Ctrl+V	Visual (char / line / block)
:	Command mode
/ + n / N	Search + next / previous
* / #	Search word under cursor fwd / back
Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u	Half-page scroll (cursor follows)
Ctrl+f / Ctrl+b	Full-page scroll
H / M / L	Cursor to viewport top / middle / bottom
gg / G	First / last line
zz / zt / zb	Center / top / bottom viewport on cursor
m{a-z}	Set mark
`{a-z} / '{a-z}	Jump to mark (charwise / linewise)
Ctrl+o / Ctrl+i	Jumplist back / forward
gU / gu / g~	Uppercase / lowercase / toggle-case op
> / <	Indent / outdent op
Ctrl+a / Ctrl+x	Increment / decrement number under cursor
K	LSP hover popup for symbol under cursor
Ctrl+P / Ctrl+N	Query history prev / next

Explorer Pane

Key	Action
j / k	Navigate down / up
Enter / l	Expand / collapse node
/	Search

Results Pane

Vim-native navigation over the cell grid. Arrow keys mirror hjkl.

Key / Mouse	Action
j / k / h / l	Cursor / scroll (count-prefixable, arrows alias)
gg / G	First / last row
0 / $	First / last column of current row
/ + n / N	Search cells (case-insensitive) + next / prev
V	Visual-line select rows
v / Ctrl+V	Visual-block select rectangle
y	Yank selection / row (TSV)
Esc	Clear selection / close / prompt
Shift+H / Shift+L	Prev / next result tab
Enter	Jump editor cursor to error line:col (error tab)
Left click	Copy column value
Right click	Copy full row
Left click (error)	Copy query or error text
q / Ctrl+C	Dismiss results

Connection Switcher

Key	Action
j / k	Navigate
Enter	Connect
n	New connection
e	Edit connection
d	Delete connection
Esc	Close

Add / Edit Connection

Key	Action
Tab	Switch Name / URL field
Enter	Save
Esc	Cancel

Data

~/.local/share/sqeel/
  queries/    # auto-saved SQL buffers (grouped by connection)
  results/    # last 10 successful results (JSON, grouped by connection)

Workspace

sqeel-core/            # state, DB, query runner, schema, config
sqeel-tui/             # ratatui terminal provider
sqeel-gui/             # iced native GUI provider
sqeel-vim/             # vim-mode editor widget (on top of tui-textarea)
sqeel/                 # binaries: sqeel + sqeel-gui
vendor/tui-textarea/   # vendored + patched text area (render cache, signs)

License

MIT