sqlmate-mcp

Zero-config SQL database MCP server with a browser GUI for Claude Code.

Connect Claude to your MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, or MSSQL databases. sqlmate-mcp reads your existing .env or a .sqlmaterc config, exposes your databases as MCP tools, and opens a live browser GUI so you can browse, edit, and run SQL alongside your AI assistant.

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Features

• Zero config — reads DB_* vars or DATABASE_URL straight from your project's .env
• Multi-connection — manage MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, and MSSQL from a single server
• 5 MCP tools — list connections, list tables, describe schema, run read queries, run writes
• Write safety — risky operations (DELETE/UPDATE without WHERE, DROP, TRUNCATE) require explicit confirmation
• Browser GUI — paginated data grid, inline cell editing, row delete, schema view, SQL editor
• Live agent feed — watch every MCP tool call stream in real time in the browser
• No native builds — SQLite uses Node.js's built-in node:sqlite (no node-gyp)

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Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 22.5

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Setup

1. Install

npm install -g sqlmate-mcp

2. Register with your editor

Claude Code

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

Zed

Open your Zed settings.json (<kbd>Cmd/Ctrl</kbd> + <kbd>,</kbd>) and add a context_servers entry:

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

If you need to point at a specific project's database, pass SQLMATE_PROJECT_ROOT in the env block:

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

Once added, the sqlmate-mcp tools will appear in the Zed Agent Panel.

3. Configure your connections

sqlmate-mcp reads connections from the root of whichever project you open in Claude Code (the directory you run claude from). No global config needed — each project uses its own .env or .sqlmaterc. See Connection Setup below.

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Manual Installation (from source)

git clone https://github.com/adamrpostjr/sqlmate-mcp.git
cd sqlmate-mcp
npm install
npm run build

Then register using the full path:

claude mcp add --transport stdio sqlmate-mcp node /absolute/path/to/src/index.js

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Connection Setup

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

Option 1 — .env file

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:secret@127.0.0.1:3306/myapp
DATABASE_URL=sqlite:///relative/path/app.db
DATABASE_URL=sqlserver://sa:pass@localhost:1433/master

Supported DB_CONNECTION / URL schemes: mysql, mariadb, sqlite, sqlserver / mssql

Option 2 — .sqlmaterc file

Place 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": "MSSQL Dev",
    "type": "mssql",
    "host": "localhost",
    "port": 1433,
    "username": "sa",
    "password": "YourPassword123",
    "database": "master",
    "options": { "trustServerCertificate": true }
  }
]

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

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MCP Tools

Tool	Description
list_connections	List all detected connections (id, name, type, source)
list_tables(connectionId)	List table names for a connection
describe_table(connectionId, table)	Column names, types, nullability, and primary key info
run_query(connectionId, sql)	Run a read-only query (SELECT, EXPLAIN, SHOW, PRAGMA)
run_write(connectionId, sql)	Run an INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, or DDL statement

run_write performs risk assessment before executing. Operations that affect all rows (no WHERE clause), DROP, TRUNCATE, or ALTER...DROP COLUMN will pause and ask Claude to confirm with confirm: true before proceeding.

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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 SQL editor
• Reconnect a database without restarting the server
• Watch a live feed of every MCP tool call Claude makes

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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

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Development

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

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

The frontend is Svelte 5 + Vite + Tailwind. Production build output goes to /public, which Express serves statically.

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License

MIT