RDB — native database manager

Native cross-platform database manager.
PostgreSQL · MySQL · MariaDB · Redis · Valkey · MongoDB · SQLite · Cassandra · Scylla · SQL Server · Oracle · ClickHouse — one binary, no Electron.

A native, lightweight, cross-platform database manager built with Rust and Slint — in the spirit of TablePlus but compiled from a single codebase for macOS and Linux.

Where RDB is headed and why — see VISION.md.

Features

• Multi-engine — PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Redis, Valkey, MongoDB, SQLite, Cassandra, SQL Server, Oracle, ClickHouse in one app
• Native UI — GPU-rendered via Slint (no webview, no Chromium, no Electron)
• Fast & light — no GC, no runtime; aggressive release optimization (LTO, opt-level=z, panic=abort)
• Secure connections — passwords stored in OS keychain (macOS Keychain, libsecret) with AES-GCM encrypted-file fallback
• Schema browser — sidebar tree: databases → tables/collections/keys → columns/fields
• Tabbed query editor — multiple tabs per session, one per engine
• Results grid — resizable columns, client-side row filtering, copy support
• Command palette — Cmd+K to jump to any connection or table instantly
• DSN import — paste a connection URL, fields auto-fill
• Connection test — verify creds before saving
• Light / dark mode toggle

Supported Engines

Engine	Protocol	Result type
PostgreSQL	tokio-postgres	Tabular
MySQL	mysql_async	Tabular
MariaDB	mysql_async (MySQL-protocol-compatible)	Tabular
Redis	redis crate	Key-value / raw
Valkey	redis crate (RESP-compatible)	Key-value / raw
MongoDB	mongodb crate	Documents (JSON)
SQLite	rusqlite	Tabular
Cassandra	scylla	Tabular
SQL Server	tiberius	Tabular
Oracle	oracle (ODPI-C)	Tabular
ClickHouse	clickhouse (HTTP)	Tabular

Oracle needs the Oracle Instant Client. It is the one engine RDB cannot reach with the binary alone: Oracle ships no public wire-protocol spec, so the driver goes through Oracle's own client library, which is loaded at runtime and is not redistributable. Install the Basic or Basic Light package from Oracle's Instant Client downloads and put it on the library path (DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH on macOS, LD_LIBRARY_PATH on Linux, PATH on Windows). Nothing is needed to build RDB — only to connect to Oracle — and every other engine stays dependency-free.

Known gap: Oracle 21c+ native JSON columns are not readable yet (rust-oracle#107); read them as JSON_SERIALIZE(<col> RETURNING VARCHAR2).

Design

Core design rule

The UI (app/) depends only on rdb-core. It never imports a concrete driver crate. Adding a new engine = a new driver-* crate that implements the Driver trait; the UI is untouched.

Async bridge

Slint's event loop runs on the main thread. All I/O (connect, query, schema fetch) spawns on a tokio multi-thread runtime. Results return to the UI thread via invoke_from_event_loop.

Driver trait

#[async_trait]
pub trait Driver: Send + Sync {
    async fn connect(cfg: &ConnConfig) -> Result<Self> where Self: Sized;
    async fn ping(&self) -> Result<()>;
    async fn schema(&self) -> Result<Schema>;
    async fn query(&self, q: &Query) -> Result<ResultSet>;
    async fn close(self) -> Result<()>;
}

Query enum

pub enum Query {
    Sql(String),           // PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, SQL Server, Oracle, ClickHouse
    Cql(String),           // Cassandra/ScyllaDB
    Command(Vec<String>),  // Redis/Valkey: ["GET", "key"]
    Mongo(MongoOp),        // find / insert / aggregate
}

ResultSet enum

pub enum ResultSet {
    Tabular   { cols: Vec<Column>, rows: Vec<Row> },
    Documents(Vec<serde_json::Value>),
    KeyValue(Vec<(String, RedisValue)>),
    Affected(u64),
}

Install

Prebuilt installers are expected to be attached to GitHub Releases.

npm (all platforms)

npm i -g @suiflex/rdb

The postinstall step downloads the prebuilt rdb binary for your platform from the matching GitHub Release, then rdb launches it. On macOS it also installs RDB.app into ~/Applications so it shows up in Launchpad.

macOS / Linux

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/suiflex/rdb/develop/scripts/install.sh | bash

Optional:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/suiflex/rdb/develop/scripts/install.sh | RDB_VERSION=v0.1.0 INSTALL_DIR="$HOME/.local/bin" bash

On macOS the script installs RDB.app into Applications (Launchpad) and symlinks the rdb command into ~/.local/bin. On Linux it installs the rdb binary into /usr/local/bin when writable, otherwise ~/.local/bin.

Homebrew (macOS / Linux)

For the macOS app (Launchpad):

brew install --cask suiflex/tap/rdb

For the CLI binary only:

brew install suiflex/tap/rdb

Upgrade later with brew upgrade rdb.

macOS Gatekeeper note: the .app is ad-hoc signed (no paid Apple Developer notarization). The cask and install.sh both strip the quarantine flag automatically, so a normal install just works. If you downloaded the .dmg straight from a GitHub Release and macOS says the app is damaged / rejected, clear it yourself:

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

Windows

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/suiflex/rdb/develop/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

Optional:

$env:RDB_VERSION="v0.28.0"; $env:INSTALL_DIR="$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\RDB\bin"; irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/suiflex/rdb/develop/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

The script installs rdb.exe into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\RDB\bin by default and warns if that directory is not on PATH.

Scoop (Windows)

scoop bucket add suiflex https://github.com/suiflex/scoop-bucket
scoop install rdb

Upgrade later with scoop update rdb.

Build from source

Tool	Version
Rust	stable (see rust-toolchain.toml)
Cargo	bundled with Rust

No additional native dependencies needed on macOS. Linux requires a few system packages for Slint rendering (see below).

Linux system packages

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install libxkbcommon-dev libfontconfig1-dev libgl1-mesa-dev

# Fedora / RHEL
sudo dnf install libxkbcommon-devel fontconfig-devel mesa-libGL-devel

Build

# Development
cargo build -p rdb

# Optimized release (~smaller binary)
cargo build --release -p rdb

# Run directly
cargo run -p rdb

The release binary lands at target/release/rdb.

Usage

Add a connection

1. Launch RDB — connection picker opens.
2. Click + → fill in host, port, credentials, database.
3. Or paste a DSN URL into the Import URL field — fields auto-fill.
4. Click Test to verify, then Save.

Connect & query

1. Click a saved connection → connects, schema loads in sidebar.
2. Type a query for the connected engine — syntax differs per engine, see below.
3. Cmd+Enter (macOS) / Ctrl+Enter (Linux) to run.
4. Click a table/collection in the sidebar to auto-generate and run a SELECT * / find query.

Query syntax per engine

Engine	Language	Example
PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, SQL Server, Oracle, ClickHouse	SQL	SELECT * FROM users
Cassandra	CQL (no JOIN/subquery/HAVING)	SELECT * FROM keyspace.table
Redis, Valkey	command tokens	GET user:1, SET user:1 value
MongoDB	mongosh chain	db.users.find({ age: { $gt: 20 } }).limit(5) use('shop') db.getCollection('fs.files').find({}).sort({ _id: -1 })

More detail (including MongoDB's supported methods/modifiers) is on the docs page.

Command palette

Cmd+K — fuzzy-search all connections and schema objects.

Filter results

Type in the Filter box above the grid — filters rows client-side without re-querying.

Project status

Active development. Ships 11 engines (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Redis, Valkey, MongoDB, SQLite, Cassandra, SQL Server, Oracle, ClickHouse); planned expansion to ~20 (BigQuery and more).

Crate overview

Crate	Description
rdb	Desktop binary (app/)
rdb-core	Driver trait, Query, ResultSet, Schema, RdbError
rdb-connstore	Saved connections — JSON on disk + OS keychain / AES-GCM file
rdb-driver-postgres	PostgreSQL driver via tokio-postgres
rdb-driver-mysql	MySQL/MariaDB driver via mysql_async
rdb-driver-redis	Redis/Valkey driver via redis crate
rdb-driver-mongo	MongoDB driver via mongodb crate
rdb-driver-sqlite	SQLite driver via rusqlite
rdb-driver-cassandra	Cassandra driver via scylla
rdb-driver-mssql	SQL Server driver via tiberius
rdb-driver-oracle	Oracle driver via oracle (ODPI-C)
rdb-driver-clickhouse	ClickHouse driver via the clickhouse HTTP crate

License

Apache-2.0