Getting Started

Getting Started

Let's get from zero to a query result. We'll use SQLite, because it needs nothing but a file.

Install

Grab a build from Releases: a .dmg for macOS, .deb or .AppImage for Linux, an installer for Windows.

On macOS the app is ad-hoc signed, not notarized, so Gatekeeper will refuse it the first time. Tell it you mean it:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Quarry.app

Or build it yourself, and macOS won't complain at all:

git clone https://github.com/thekodeking/quarry && cd quarry
make run

Something to look at

Make a tiny shop:

sqlite3 shop.db <<'SQL'
CREATE TABLE customers (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT, email TEXT);
CREATE TABLE orders (
  id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
  customer_id INTEGER REFERENCES customers(id),
  total REAL
);
INSERT INTO customers VALUES (1, 'Ada', 'ada@example.com'), (2, 'Grace', 'grace@exmaple.com');
INSERT INTO orders VALUES (1, 1, 42.50), (2, 1, 19.00), (3, 2, 99.95);
SQL

Yes, Grace's email has a typo. We'll fix it in Editing Data Safely.

Connect

Press ⇧⌘N (Ctrl+Shift+N elsewhere) for a new connection, pick SQLite, and point it at shop.db.

You don't have to fill in fields one by one. Paste a URL and Quarry figures out the driver:

postgres://me@localhost:5432/shop
mysql://root@127.0.0.1:3306/shop
sqlserver://sa@127.0.0.1:1433/master
oracle://scott@db.internal:1521/FREEPDB1

Passwords go into your OS keychain, not into a config file. More on that in Connections and Production.

Run something

⌘T opens a query tab. Type:

SELECT c.name, sum(o.total) AS spent
FROM customers c
JOIN orders o ON o.customer_id = c.id
GROUP BY c.name;

Press ⌘↵. Quarry runs the statement under the cursor, not the whole file, so you can keep a scratchpad of twenty queries and run them one at a time. ⇧⌘↵ runs them all.

Now select both cells in the spent column. The status bar shows the sum, average, min and max. No SELECT sum(...) required.

Three keys to remember

Key	Does
⌘K	The command bar. Tables, recent queries, every action. When in doubt, press this.
⌘↵	Run the statement at the cursor.
⌘S	Review staged edits before they hit the database.

Everything else you can find through ⌘K.