A fast, local-first database client for PostgreSQL, MySQL and SQLite. No accounts, no cloud sync, no telemetry — just you and your data.
The database counterpart of Relay, formerly called Relay DB. Built with Go, Svelte 5 and Wails.
Grab the latest build from the releases page.
| Platform | File |
|---|---|
| macOS 12+ on Apple Silicon (M1 and later) | -darwin-arm64.dmg — drag Plugboard to Applications |
| macOS 12+ on Intel | -darwin-amd64.dmg |
| Windows 10/11 (x64 or Arm64) | -installer.exe |
| Linux (x64) | .AppImage — chmod +x, then run it |
Plugboard looks for a new version when it starts and offers to install it, or installs it by itself if you turn that on in Settings. Every release ships SHA-256 checksums and signatures, and the app refuses an update that fails either. What changed in each version is in the changelog.
The builds aren't signed by Apple or Microsoft yet, so both systems warn on the first launch. Check the download against SHA256SUMS.txt on the release page, then:
- macOS — "can't be opened because Apple cannot check it": open it once, then click Open Anyway in System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security. If it says the app is damaged, run
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Plugboard.app". - Windows — SmartScreen's "Windows protected your PC": click More info ▸ Run anyway.
You do this once; updates the app installs itself don't ask again.
Connections
- PostgreSQL, MySQL and MariaDB, and SQLite files — several open at once, each with its own tabs.
⌘Kjumps to any of them by name. - Tag a connection local, dev, staging or prod: the tag colours the window, so you always know where you are.
- Paste a connection URL —
postgres://…,mysql://…, a JDBC URL or a line from a.envfile — and the form fills itself in. - SSH tunnels through a bastion, or straight into the database server, with a password, a private key or ssh-agent. A dropped tunnel comes back on its own.
- Passwords stay in the system keychain (Keychain, Windows Credential Manager, Secret Service) — never in a file on disk.
Hard to break production by accident
- Read-only connections, on by default for anything tagged Production. Plugboard refuses writing statements before they run, and the database session itself is read-only too, so a statement that slips past one still meets the other.
- Writes to a Production connection ask first, and show exactly what they will run.
- Edits in the grid are applied in one transaction — every change lands, or none does — and a value too long for its column is an error, never quietly cut short.
- If a connection drops while a statement is running, Plugboard never re-runs a write behind your back, and tells you when an open transaction was lost.
- A changed SSH host key is refused until you've seen the new fingerprint and trusted it.
Tables
- Big tables page by primary key, so the last page of a few million rows opens as fast as the first. The row count shows the server's estimate at once and the exact number on request.
- Filter rows by any column (
⌘F): equals, contains, starts with, in a list, is NULL and more — or right-click a cell and Filter by this value. - Edit like a spreadsheet: type into a cell,
⌥⌫for NULL,⌘Ito add a row,⌘⌫to delete. Right-click offers what fits the column — true/false,now(), DEFAULT, the values of an enum. - Changes wait until
⌘S; Preview SQL shows the statements first. - A Structure tab with types, nullability, defaults and keys.
- Follow a foreign key: the arrow in a key cell opens the row it points at.
- A schema diagram of tables, columns and foreign keys, laid out for you; click a relation to see what it joins.
SQL editor
- Highlighting for each database's dialect and completion of table names.
⌘↵runs the statement under the cursor,⇧⌘↵the whole script, Stop cancels.- Statements share one connection, so
BEGIN … COMMIT,SETand temporary tables behave the way you expect. - Results arrive a thousand rows at a time instead of the whole table at once.
Everything else
- Keyboard-first (
Ctrlinstead of⌘on Windows and Linux): tabs with⌘1–⌘9,⌘Tfor a new query,⌘Wto close,⌘C/⇧⌘Cto copy a cell or a row,⌘Afor the whole result as TSV. - Dark and light themes, or follow the system.
Local-first. Your connections live in a plain JSON file in your profile folder and your passwords in the system keychain. Plugboard talks to your databases, your SSH servers and, at launch, to GitHub to look for updates — nothing else.
| Profile folder | |
|---|---|
| macOS | ~/Library/Application Support/Plugboard |
| Windows | %AppData%\Plugboard |
| Linux | ~/.config/Plugboard |
You need Go 1.26+, Node.js 22.12+ and the Wails v2 CLI.
git clone https://github.com/relay-client/plugboard
cd plugboard
npm install
make devmake build builds the app for your platform, make check runs the tests. CONTRIBUTING.md has the rest: sample databases to develop against, what CI checks, and how the code is laid out.
Bug reports, ideas and pull requests are welcome — start with CONTRIBUTING.md. Everyone taking part is expected to follow the Code of Conduct.
Found a security problem — a way past read-only, a leaked password, an SSH key accepted when it shouldn't be? Please don't open a public issue; see SECURITY.md.
MIT. Bundled icons, logos and fonts keep their own licences — see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.