Deflatable

A no-code database browser and editor that runs in your terminal.

Deflatable provides a fast, keyboard-driven interface for exploring and modifying any SQL database without writing queries. Built with Textual, it offers a modern TUI experience with mouse and keyboard support.

Features¶

• No-code editing: Browse, filter, sort, add, edit, and delete rows without SQL

• Database agnostic: Works with SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL, DuckDB, and more via SQLAlchemy

• Custom views: Save filtered, sorted, and grouped views for quick access

• Foreign keys: Automatically detects and displays relationships with dropdowns

• Record links: Display fields from related tables inline using lookup columns

• Fast navigation: Keyboard shortcuts for everything (with mouse support too)

• Terminal native: Runs anywhere you have a terminal - local or remote

Quick Start¶

Install Deflatable from source:

git clone https://github.com/ryanlovett/deflatable.git
cd deflatable
pip install -e .

Create a config file for your database:

# For SQLite
deflatable init myconfig.yaml sqlite:///path/to/database.db

# For PostgreSQL
deflatable init myconfig.yaml postgresql://user:pass@localhost/dbname

# For DuckDB
deflatable init myconfig.yaml duckdb:///data.duckdb

Run the TUI:

deflatable myconfig.yaml

Why Deflatable?¶

For developers: Quickly inspect and modify database state during development without context switching or writing throwaway SQL queries.

For data analysts: Interactively explore datasets with filtering, sorting, and grouping capabilities.

For database administrators: Manage databases efficiently with keyboard-driven navigation and custom views for common tasks.

For teams: Share consistent database workflows through version-controlled configuration files that define views, filters, and display preferences.

For everyone: Work with any SQL database using a unified, intuitive interface - no SQL knowledge required.

Learn More¶

Key Concepts¶

Config File: A YAML file that specifies your database connection and saved views.

Views: Named combinations of filters, sorts, grouping, and visible fields. Create as many as you need and switch between them instantly.

State Management: Deflatable tracks your current view configuration and marks it as modified when you make changes. Save changes back to the config file to persist them.

Foreign Keys: Deflatable automatically detects foreign key relationships and displays them as dropdowns in edit forms, showing human-readable names instead of IDs.

Project Status¶

Deflatable is under active development. Current features:

• Browse tables with pagination

• Add, edit, and delete rows

• Filter with comparison operators (>, <, =, contains, etc.)

• Sort by multiple columns

• Group by columns

• Custom views with saved configurations

• Foreign key detection and display

• Search within tables

Community¶

• Issues: GitHub Issues

• Discussions: GitHub Discussions

License¶

BSD 3-Clause License - see LICENSE file for details.