SQL Editor

The SQL Editor in Tabularis is built around a highly customized integration of Monaco (the exact editor engine that powers VS Code). It provides a world-class typing experience optimized specifically for complex database querying.

Intelligent Context-Aware Autocomplete

Unlike basic editors that simply suggest a static list of SQL keywords and table names, Tabularis implements a dynamic, context-aware autocomplete engine.

How It Works

  1. AST Parsing: As you type, a lightweight local parser analyzes your SQL statement to build an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST).
  2. Scope Resolution: The engine identifies which tables are present in the FROM and JOIN clauses.
  3. Alias Mapping: It maps aliases to their source tables (e.g., FROM customer_orders AS co).
  4. Targeted Suggestions: When you type co., the editor immediately suggests only the columns belonging to the customer_orders table, along with their data types.

Clause Awareness

Since v0.17.0 the completion engine also understands where the cursor is. A context analyzer classifies the cursor into one of 29 clause contexts and filters suggestions accordingly:

  • After FROM, JOIN, UPDATE, or INSERT INTO — tables and keywords.
  • After WHERE, ON, GROUP BY, SET, inside function arguments or an IN (...) list — columns and keywords.
  • Inside an INSERT INTO t (...) column list — columns only.
  • Inside a string literal or a comment — no suggestions at all.
  • On an empty buffer, after ;, or after UNION — keywords only.

Subqueries are scoped per parenthesis frame (the outer clause is restored when the subquery closes), and CTEs, nested CASE … END, quoted identifiers, and escape sequences are all handled. Anything the analyzer doesn't recognize falls back to the previous suggest-everything behavior, so a miss can never hide valid suggestions.

CTE and Derived-Table Columns

Since v0.28.0, an alias that points at a CTE or a derived table resolves to that query's columns: typing c. after WITH c AS (SELECT id, name FROM users) or FROM (SELECT …) AS c suggests id and name. Explicit column lists (WITH c (a, b) AS …), quoted aliases, SQL Server brackets and LATERAL are handled, and a FROM alias wins over a CTE with the same name.

Autocomplete after tc. suggesting the columns of the top_customers CTE

Nearest-Table Ranking

Since v0.24.0, when multiple tables are in scope, autocomplete ranks columns from the nearest relevant table first. In an ON or USING clause this is the table currently being joined; in SELECT, WHERE and SET contexts it is the primary table. Aliases and nested subquery scopes are respected. Other in-scope columns remain available below them, and single-table queries are unchanged. Since v0.26.0 quoted identifiers and keyword-like table names no longer break the detection, and the nearest table is always fetched first, so it is not cut off when more than five tables are in scope and its columns win for shared names such as id.

Accepting suggestions

When the autocomplete dropdown is open, Enter accepts the highlighted suggestion by default (matching the behavior of every other Monaco-based editor). If you prefer Enter to insert a newline instead, toggle Settings → Appearance → SQL Editor → Accept Suggestion with Enter off. The setting is honored across every editor surface — main SQL tabs, notebook cells, and the Raw SQL tab of the trigger editor.

Tab always accepts the highlighted suggestion, regardless of the setting.

Keyword Case

Since v0.28.0, Settings → Appearance → SQL Editor → Autocomplete → Keyword case sets the case of the keywords autocomplete inserts: Match typing (default), where sel becomes select and Sel becomes SELECT, UPPER, or lower. Table and column names are never recased. The setting is saved as autocompleteKeywordCase in config.json.

Autocomplete keyword case setting with Match typing, UPPER and lower

Caching Strategy

To ensure the editor remains responsive even on databases with thousands of tables, Tabularis caches schema metadata:

  • TTL: Table metadata is cached in memory for 5 minutes.
  • Size limit: The cache holds metadata for at most 50 tables. When the limit is exceeded, expired entries are evicted first; if still over the limit, the oldest entries are removed.
  • Manual Invalidation: You can force a cache clear by clicking the "Refresh Schema" button in the sidebar or via the Command Palette.

Editor Features & Shortcuts

The Monaco integration brings powerful developer features:

Feature Shortcut (Mac) Shortcut (Win/Linux) Description
Execute Cmd + Enter or Cmd + F5 Ctrl + Enter or Ctrl + F5 Runs the selected text; with nothing selected, runs the statement under the cursor.
Run All Cmd + Shift + Enter Ctrl + Shift + Enter Executes every statement in the editor (also Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + F5, or the entry at the top of the Run dropdown).
Execute Selection (context menu only) (context menu only) Right-click → "Execute Selection" to run highlighted text.
Format SQL Shift + Option + F Shift + Alt + F Formats the whole buffer — or just the selection — using the active connection's dialect (also in the toolbar and the context menu). Style is configurable, see below.
Toggle Comment Cmd + / Ctrl + / Comments/uncomments the current line or selection (built-in Monaco).
Multi-Cursor (click) Cmd + Click Ctrl + Click Place multiple cursors for simultaneous editing.
Add Next Occurrence Cmd + D Ctrl + D Select the next occurrence of the current selection and add a cursor.
Select All Occurrences Cmd + Shift + L Ctrl + Shift + L Select all occurrences of the current selection and add cursors.
Cursors at Line Ends Option + Shift + I Alt + Shift + I Add a cursor at the end of each line in the current selection.
Copy Line Up Option + Shift + ↑ Shift + Alt + ↑ (Windows) / Ctrl + Shift + Alt + ↑ (Linux) Duplicate the current line above.
Copy Line Down Option + Shift + ↓ Shift + Alt + ↓ (Windows) / Ctrl + Shift + Alt + ↓ (Linux) Duplicate the current line below.
Command Palette F1 F1 Open the Monaco command palette.
Zoom In Cmd + = Ctrl + = Since v0.29.0. Increases the editor font size by 1px (+ also works).
Zoom Out Cmd + - Ctrl + - Since v0.29.0. Decreases the editor font size by 1px.
Reset Zoom Cmd + 0 Ctrl + 0 Since v0.29.0. Resets the editor font size to 14px.

Zoom

The zoom shortcuts change the same editorFontSize setting as the font size slider in Settings → Appearance, within its 10–20px range. The size is saved, every open editor follows it, and the slider stays in sync. The three shortcuts are listed in Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts (Editor: increase font size, decrease font size, reset font size) and can be rebound.

Context Menu Actions

Since v0.29.0 the editor context menu has these additional actions:

  • Select current statement selects the statement under the cursor, using the same dialect-aware boundaries as Run. The caret can also sit after the delimiter on the statement's own line; on a blank line between statements the selection is left unchanged. It has no default shortcut.
  • Transform to Uppercase / Transform to Lowercase, shown only with a selection, change the case of every selection (multi-cursor included) in one undo step. They apply to the whole selection, string literals and comments included.
  • Copy SQL Without Comments copies the selection, or the whole document when nothing is selected, with line and block comments removed. Quoted identifiers, string literals, dollar-quoted bodies, optimizer hints and MySQL/MariaDB executable comments (/*! … */, /*M! … */) are kept, and a comment between two tokens is replaced with a space so they do not merge. A toast confirms the copy. The action is hidden on plugin connections that declare only the generic dialect without a sql_syntax.

Running-Tab Indicators

Since v0.24.0, a tab with a query in flight replaces its type icon with a spinner in the connection's accent colour, with an Executing query tooltip. It remains visible while another tab is active, alongside the existing pulsing underline. Notebook tabs show it while at least one cell is executing, including Run All. Loading state is not restored across app sessions.

Reopen and Duplicate Tabs

Since v0.28.0, Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + T reopens the last closed tab, also available as Reopen Closed Tab in the tab context menu. Closed tabs go onto a stack of 20 per connection, kept in memory only, and come back at their previous position with their SQL, title, filter, sort and parameters; results are not kept, so the query has to be run again. Every close path feeds the stack, including Close Others and Close to the Right. The shortcut can be rebound in Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts.

Tab context menu with Duplicate Tab and Reopen Closed Tab

Duplicate Tab in the tab context menu opens a copy right after the original, with the same SQL and parameters. A duplicated read-only tab, such as a materialized-view definition, stays read-only.

Renaming Tabs

Since v0.29.0 console tabs that are not bound to a .sql file can be renamed, as notebook tabs already could: pick Rename in the tab context menu or double-click the title. Enter confirms, Escape cancels, and an empty name is ignored. Table tabs and file-backed console tabs do not offer Rename.

Hovering a tab shows its full name as a tooltip, qualified with the schema (and database, on a PostgreSQL multi-database connection) when the tab has them; screen readers get the same name.

Switching Tabs by Recency

Since v0.28.0, Ctrl + Tab goes back to the tab you used before instead of the next one in the bar: after visiting A, C and A again, Ctrl + Tab selects C. The order stays fixed while Ctrl is held, repeated Tab presses walk through it, and Ctrl + Shift + Tab walks back. Each connection keeps its own history.

Reordering Tabs

Since v0.18.0 tabs can be dragged along the tab bar to reorder them. Console, table, query-builder and notebook tabs share one tab bar, so any tab type can be moved — there is no console-only restriction. Reordering is scoped to the active connection: dragging reshuffles only that connection's tabs and leaves the others where they are. An insertion line shows where the tab will land, and dragging near an edge auto-scrolls the bar. The new order is persisted with the rest of your tabs in preferences.json.

Since v0.29.0 the tab context menu also has Move Tab Left and Move Tab Right, which move the tab one position among the connection's tabs without dragging. Move Tab Left is disabled on the first tab and Move Tab Right on the last. The move keeps the tab's SQL, results and pending changes, and the order is saved as for a drag.

Long-Query Notifications

Since v0.28.0, when a query runs longer than a threshold and Tabularis is not the focused window when it finishes, a desktop notification shows the tab title, the outcome and the duration. Run All sends one notification for the whole batch, with the count of succeeded and failed statements. Table auto-refresh never notifies. Two settings under Settings → General → Query Execution control it: Notify when long queries finish (on by default) and Notification threshold (20 seconds by default), saved as notifyLongQueries and notifyLongQueriesThresholdSec in config.json.

Settings, General, Query execution: Notify when long queries finish with a 20-second threshold

SQL Files

Since v0.23.0 the editor can work on files on disk. A folder icon in the tab strip opens a native file picker filtered on .sql, .psql and .pgsql; the file content becomes a new console tab titled with the file name and bound to that path, and nothing is executed on open. On a multi-database connection the tab inherits the currently selected database.

  • Save writes the editor text back to the bound path. Save As asks for a new path, rebinds the tab and renames it. Both live in the toolbar's save split button (the main action saves, or opens Save As when the console is not bound to a file yet, and is disabled when there is nothing to save; the chevron menu also offers Add to Saved Queries) and at the top of the tab's right-click menu.
  • Ctrl/Cmd+S on a file-backed console tab saves the file. On every other tab it keeps its previous meaning and submits pending grid changes.
  • An amber dot next to the save icon and a bullet in the tab title mark unsaved changes. The dirty state is a comparison between the editor text and the content last read from or written to disk, so typing a character and deleting it again leaves the file clean. The tab tooltip shows the full path.
  • File bindings and the last saved content are persisted with the tab, so a restored tab can still be saved to the same path after a restart.
  • Close, Close Others, Close to the Right / Left and Close All ask for confirmation when any tab being closed has unsaved file changes.

The editor toolbar's save split button expanded over a console tab: Save (greyed out, Not saved to a file yet), Save As… with the .sql hint, and Add to Saved Queries…, next to the folder icon in the tab strip that opens a .sql file

Reads are capped at 50 MB and go through the Rust backend, so files anywhere on disk can be opened and saved, not only those under the app data directory.

Statement Folding

Since v0.21.0 every multiline statement in the main query editor gets its own fold range in the Monaco gutter, computed with the same dialect-aware splitter that powers run-at-cursor, so dollar-quoted bodies and custom-DELIMITER blocks fold as one unit. Fold controls stay visible instead of appearing only on hover. Hovering a collapsed statement shows a syntax-highlighted preview of its content; you can move into the preview and scroll it without expanding the fold.

Same-Name Tables From Different Schemas

Since v0.27.0, when the same table is open from two schemas on one connection (for example mira.clubs and mira_dev.clubs), each of those tabs reads schema.table in the tab bar and the tab switcher. The prefix appears only while the names collide; closing one tab turns the other back into the plain table name. Only the label changes, and tabs with a custom title are left alone.

Convert Selection to SQL List

Since v0.27.0 the editor's context menu has Convert Selection to SQL List, shown only when text is selected. It turns the selected values, for example a column pasted from a spreadsheet, into a list ready for IN (...):

alice@example.com
bob@example.com

becomes 'alice@example.com', 'bob@example.com'.

  • Values are split on newlines, tabs and commas, trimmed, and blanks are skipped.
  • Embedded single quotes are doubled (O'Brien → 'O''Brien').
  • Purely numeric input stays unquoted (1, 2, 3). Values with a leading zero (007) or a leading + count as text, so IDs and phone numbers are not turned into numbers; mixed input is quoted throughout.
  • Every selection, multi-cursor included, is replaced in one undo step.

Invisible and Look-Alike Characters

Since v0.28.0 the editor highlights invisible and look-alike characters that often come with SQL copied from chat apps, PDFs and documents: zero-width spaces, non-breaking spaces, bidi markers, curly quotes and similar. Clean up pasted characters in the editor context menu replaces them, on the selection or the whole document, in one undo step. Characters inside string literals and quoted identifiers are left alone. The highlight can be turned off with Settings → Appearance → SQL Editor → Show invisible characters (editorHighlightInvisibleCharacters in config.json).

Pasted SQL with invisible characters and curly quotes highlighted, with Clean up pasted characters in the context menu

SQL Formatting

Format SQL (since v0.17.0) is available as a keyboard shortcut (Shift+Alt+F, Shift+Option+F on macOS), a toolbar button, and a right-click context-menu entry. Select text first to format only the selection; with no selection the whole buffer is formatted and the cursor position preserved. The dialect follows the active connection (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, T-SQL, PL/SQL), and formatting pushes to the undo stack, so Cmd/Ctrl+Z reverses it.

The style is configurable in Settings → Appearance → SQL Editor → SQL Formatter:

Setting Options Default
Keyword Case UPPER / lower / Preserve UPPER
Function Case UPPER / lower / Preserve Preserve
Indent Style Standard / Tabular Left / Tabular Right Standard
Indent Width 2 / 4 2
Use Tabs on / off Off
Lines Between Queries 0–5 1
Dense Operators on / off Off

Settings persist in config.json and take effect on the next format action — no restart needed.

Multi-Statement Execution

When the editor contains multiple semicolon-separated statements, execution is cursor-driven (since v0.16.0):

Run the Statement at the Cursor

Press Execute (Ctrl/Cmd + Enter or Ctrl/Cmd + F5) with nothing selected and Tabularis runs the single statement the cursor is inside — no whole-file execution, no picker dialog. A subtle highlight shows which statement is armed to run; it disappears as soon as you make a selection. Explain follows the same rule, explaining the statement under the cursor.

Prefer picking from a list? Turn off Run statement under cursor in Settings → General → Query Execution to restore the Query Selection Modal instead.

The Run Button Says What It Will Run

Since v0.18.0 the Run button is labelled with its actual target, so a multi-statement script cannot quietly execute one statement while the button still reads "Run":

State Label
A text selection is active Run Selection
Multiple statements, nothing selected Run Statement
A single statement, or a table tab Run

Behaviour is unchanged — this only makes it visible before you commit to it. When the button would run one statement out of several, the tooltip also surfaces Run All (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Enter), which is exactly the escape hatch you want at the moment the label warns you.

Run All

Press Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Enter in the editor (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + F5 globally), or pick Run All at the top of the Run dropdown, to execute every statement in the editor. Results from each query appear in separate tabs in the results panel.

Session continuity — multi-statement scripts run via Run All share a single physical database connection across all statements (built-in drivers only). User variables (SET @var := …), LAST_INSERT_ID() / LASTVAL(), explicit BEGIN / COMMIT blocks, temporary tables, and PREPARE / EXECUTE pairs all behave the way they do in mysql CLI / psql / DBeaver. Plugin drivers fall back to sequential execution on separate pooled connections (ordering preserved, session state not guaranteed).

The Query Selection Modal (Optional)

With Run statement under cursor turned off in Settings → General, pressing Execute on a multi-statement buffer opens the Query Selection Modal instead:

  • Run a single query — click any query in the list, or press its number 1–9.
  • Run All — press Ctrl/Cmd + Enter inside the modal.
  • Run Selected — check specific queries and press Shift + Enter (or click Run Selected (N)); Space toggles the focused query, ↑/↓ move focus.

Execute Selection

If you highlight a text selection in the editor and run it, Tabularis splits the selection into statements and executes them one after another, in order, on the same session. Results appear as separate tabs in the multi-result panel.

T-SQL Batches

Since v0.27.0, on dialects with a batch separator (T-SQL, used by the SQL Server plugin) scripts are split on GO only, the way SSMS does, and the ;-separated statements of a batch are sent together. DECLARE @var, temporary tables and SET options are scoped to the batch, so they stay visible to every statement in it. This applies to every execution path: the Run button, Run All, a selection, Execute Selection, the run dropdown and auto-run. Running at the cursor runs the whole batch under the cursor, up to the surrounding GO, and the Run button label counts batches. Each SELECT in a batch still gets its own result tab. The destructive query confirmation checks each statement inside a batch, so a DELETE without WHERE cannot hide behind a SELECT. Other dialects are split per statement as before.

Multi-Result Panel

When multiple queries are executed (via Run All or Execute Selection), results are displayed in a results panel at the bottom of the editor. Each query gets its own result with independent pagination, error handling, and loading state. The rows-per-page selector in the pagination bar applies to the whole tab (see Data Grid → Pagination), and query errors are selectable with a Copy button.

The panel supports two view modes — Tab view (default) and Stacked view — switchable via the toggle button in the top-right corner of the results bar.

Tab View

The default view. Each query result lives in its own tab. Click a tab to switch between results.

Since v0.27.0 a result tab is named after its statement's leading comment: -- Active customers or /* Active customers */ before a statement becomes the tab name, with whitespace collapsed and the label capped at 80 characters. Statements without a comment keep the numbered name, and renaming a tab by hand overrides it.

Action How
Switch tab Click the tab header
Close tab Click the X button or middle-click
Rename tab Double-click the tab header or right-click → Rename
AI rename Click the sparkles icon (requires AI enabled in Settings)
Context menu Right-click a tab for Close / Close Others / Close Right / Close Left / Close All
Re-run Click the play icon on a tab to re-execute that query

A summary bar shows the total number of queries and how many succeeded or failed. Each tab displays a collapsible query preview, row count, and execution time.

Stacked View

Inspired by SQL Server Management Studio, the stacked view displays all query results vertically in a single scrollable panel — no tab switching required.

Action How
Collapse / Expand Click a result header to toggle its content
Collapse All / Expand All Click the collapse button in the top bar
Close result Click the X button or middle-click on the header
Rename Double-click the result label
AI rename Click the sparkles icon on the header
Re-run Click the play icon on the header
Resize Drag the resize handle between results to adjust height

Each result section shows the query label, a collapsible SQL preview, row count, execution time, and pagination controls — all inline in the header. When collapsed, the header still shows key metadata (row count, execution time, error summary).

Since v0.26.0 every result grid, in tab and stacked view alike, keeps its scroll position when you switch to another editor tab and back. The position is reset by a new run, a page change or a re-run of that result.

Window Controls & Detachable Results

The right side of the results bar carries a set of window controls:

Control What it does
Minimize Collapses the panel without losing data — the Show Results button restores it.
Maximize Hides the editor so results take the full height; click again to restore the split.
Detach Pops the active tab's results into a separate OS window.
Close Collapses the panel (same as Minimize; data is kept).

Manual drag-to-resize of the panel is unchanged.

Detach is the one to reach for on a multi-monitor setup: it moves the active tab's results into their own window so you can keep the grid on one screen while you keep editing SQL on the other. The detached window stays in sync with the tab it came from, and closing it folds the results back into the main layout.

Success Feedback for Non-SELECT Statements

A statement that returns no result set — INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE or DDL such as CREATE/ALTER/DROP — no longer shows a misleading "0 rows retrieved" empty grid. Instead the result area renders a success panel: a check icon, "Query executed successfully", the affected-row count when there is one, and the execution time. This applies to both single statements and multi-statement batches.

Query Parameters

When running multiple queries that contain :param placeholders, Tabularis collects parameters across all queries and prompts you once via the parameters modal before execution begins.

Parameter detection skips string literals and comments (since v0.17.0): WHERE value = 'x:y' no longer prompts for :y, and URLs, timestamps, or JSON-in-text with colons pass through untouched. Detection reuses the same dialect-aware tokenizer as the query splitter below.

Destructive Query Confirmation

Both the SQL editor and notebook cells guard against the queries that are easiest to regret. Before it runs a DELETE or UPDATE with no WHERE clause, or a DROP or TRUNCATE, Tabularis pops a confirmation dialog with kind-specific copy and a read-only preview of the exact statement it flagged. Since v0.21.0 the five-second countdown on the confirm button is opt-in: enable Delay safety confirmations in Settings → General to bring it back, and it then applies to production-write confirmations too. On a production connection only the production warning is shown; the standard destructive-query dialog is suppressed because the production one already covers it.

The detection is not a naïve substring match — it ignores comments and string literals (including backslash-escaped quotes), understands data-modifying CTEs, and handles multi-statement batches.

Result Status Bar

Since v0.29.0 the status bar of a result shows the column count after the row count, for example 120 rows retrieved · 8 columns, in the single result bar, the result tabs and the stacked view. On PostgreSQL, MySQL and SQLite, hovering the duration shows a breakdown: Execution (until the first row arrives), Fetch (reading the remaining rows) and Total. Plugin drivers and statements without a result set show only the total.

Result Charts

Since v0.30.0 the result status bar has a Grid | Chart switch, in query tabs, in the result tabs of the multi-result panel and in the detached results window. Chart draws the result as a Bar or Line chart, with one column on the X axis and one or more numeric columns on the Y axis.

  • Defaults. When the result has a date column, it goes on X and the chart starts as a line; otherwise the first text column goes on X and the chart starts as bars. Y takes the first numeric column that is not X, skipping id and *_id columns when there is another choice. A column whose values are all numbers or numeric strings counts as numeric, so DECIMAL values sent as strings work.
  • Rows. Only the rows already loaded are drawn, up to 1,000 points, without running another query. The toolbar shows Rows plotted and says when more rows were not loaded or the cap applies. NULL values leave a gap.
  • State. The view and the chart settings are kept per tab and per result while the tab is open. Switching back to Grid keeps the selection, pending edits and scroll position; pending edits can still be submitted or rolled back from the chart view. Re-running a query that changes the columns falls back to new defaults.
  • Look. Colors follow the theme, lines after the first are dashed, and the chart honors reduced motion. With the keyboard, the arrow keys move between points and the tooltip follows.

A result with no numeric column shows an empty state with Show grid. Table tabs and the stacked multi-result view have no chart view. The chart works the same with every driver, plugins included, because it only reads the loaded result. For charts saved with a document, see Notebooks.

Total Row Count

The pager shows the exact size of the current result — {total} rows next to the page indicator — counted against the reconstructed filtered query, so a filtered grid reports the filtered total rather than the base table's. The count resets when the query or filter changes and is preserved across pagination.

A filtered grid showing the total row count next to the page indicator

Query Splitting

Tabularis splits multi-statement SQL with its own dialect-aware splitter — a tokenizer that understands the quoting and block rules of each engine (postgres, mysql, mssql, sqlite, oracle, and a generic fallback) rather than naively breaking on every ;. It correctly handles stored procedures and functions that contain internal semicolons:

CREATE FUNCTION example()
RETURNS INT
LANGUAGE PLPGSQL
AS $$
BEGIN
    RETURN 10::INT;
END;
$$;

The splitter treats this as a single statement rather than breaking on the internal ; inside the $$ dollar-quoted block. Beyond dollar-quoting, it also tracks:

  • Comments — leading/trailing comment-only segments are folded into the adjacent statement instead of becoming empty statements.
  • Oracle PL/SQL blocks — BEGIN ... END; source units are merged up to the terminating /.
  • MySQL DELIMITER changes — the active statement delimiter is tracked as it is redefined.

Each split statement is also classified (e.g. result-set-returning vs. not) to drive the Query Selection Modal and per-statement result handling.

Autocomplete: Multi-Database and Multi-Schema

Autocomplete suggestions are scoped to the active context:

  • Schema-aware connections (PostgreSQL): when a non-default schema is active, suggestions come from the tables in that schema only.
  • Multi-database connections (MySQL / MariaDB): suggestions come from the tables of all selected databases.

This ensures that you see relevant completions regardless of how many schemas or databases your connection exposes.

Query Execution & Data Grid

When you execute a query, Tabularis handles the results asynchronously, streaming them into the integrated Data Grid.

Query History Sidebar

Every execution is also written to the Explorer's History tab for the active connection.

Query History tab in the Explorer sidebar

What gets stored

Each history entry includes:

  • The SQL text
  • Execution timestamp
  • Execution duration
  • Success or error status
  • Rows affected when available

History is stored per connection, newest first. If you run the exact same SQL twice in a row, Tabularis updates the latest entry instead of appending a duplicate immediately after it.

Working from history

The History tab supports:

  • Search by SQL text
  • Outcome (any, succeeded, failed) and Time range (last hour, today, last 7 or 30 days) filters, since v0.28.0, combined with the search box
  • Database filter, since v0.30.0: All databases, one of the databases recorded in the loaded entries, or No database recorded when some entries have none
  • Custom range… in the time-range select, since v0.30.0: From and To dates, both inclusive and computed in the display timezone. Either side can stay empty; an inverted or invalid range is refused with a message. Clear filters resets the time range to all time and the database to all databases
  • Date grouping such as Today / Yesterday / older buckets
  • Double-click (or Enter) to open a query in a new console tab and run it
  • Context menu actions: Copy Query, Copy Details (since v0.29.0: database, execution time, duration, rows affected and status or error message as plain text, followed by the SQL; values that were not recorded are left out), Run Query, Insert to Editor / Open in New Tab (both open the query in a console without running it), Add to Favorites, and delete the entry
  • Clear All for the current connection only

Query History filtered to the blog_demo database and a custom range from October 20 to October 26, showing 3 of 5 entries

This makes the sidebar history a fast iteration loop: run a query, tweak it, and jump back to any earlier version without digging through editor tabs.

Pausing history capture

Since v0.29.0 the History tab has a Pause history capture toggle. While it is paused, queries still run normally but are not recorded, and the panel shows Query history capture paused. Resume history capture records new queries again; queries run while paused are not added afterwards. The pause lasts for the current session only: capture is active again after a restart.

History retention

The maximum number of stored entries is controlled in Settings → General → Query History. The backing config key is queryHistoryMaxEntries, with a default of 500.

Durability & corruption recovery

Since v0.13.0, history writes are atomic (written to a temp file, then renamed onto the target) and serialized per connection, so multi-statement scripts recording many entries concurrently can never corrupt the file. If a history file from an earlier version is found corrupt, Tabularis backs it up as <id>.json.corrupt-<timestamp>, starts fresh, and shows a dismissible banner in the History panel with the backup path — instead of silently showing an empty panel and recording nothing.

Transaction Management

By default, queries are executed in auto-commit mode. However, you can manually wrap your statements in BEGIN; ... COMMIT; blocks. If an error occurs midway through a block, Tabularis halts execution and outputs the precise line and database engine error.

A tab keeps its transaction between runs (PostgreSQL)

Since v0.26.0, on PostgreSQL (the built-in driver, and the PostgreSQL plugin from 1.0.0-rc.5), an editor tab behaves like a session. BEGIN, the changes, a verifying SELECT and the final COMMIT can each be a separate run: when a run leaves an explicit transaction open, the tab keeps that connection instead of returning it to the pool, and the next run from the same tab continues the same transaction.

  • While a transaction is open the tab shows a TX badge ("Transaction open — this tab keeps its connection until you COMMIT or ROLLBACK"). Its uncommitted changes are not visible to other tabs.
  • COMMIT, ROLLBACK, closing the tab, disconnecting, quitting the app or 30 minutes of inactivity release the connection. A released connection is always rolled back before it goes back to the pool.
  • Transaction control is detected from a statement's leading keywords (BEGIN, START TRANSACTION, COMMIT, END, ROLLBACK, ABORT, PREPARE TRANSACTION, ... AND CHAIN). ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT keeps the transaction open.
  • After a failed statement the transaction stays open but aborted, so you can ROLLBACK from the same tab. A failed COMMIT ends it.
  • Paging, row counts, exports and Copy all rows run on the tab's session, so they see its uncommitted changes.
  • Tabs that never open a transaction hold no connection. Other drivers keep the per-run behaviour.

Powerful Data Grid

The results grid is heavily optimized to handle thousands of rows without dropping frames:

  • Inline Editing: Double-click any cell to modify its content. Changes are marked in yellow and can be committed back to the database with a single click (generating UPDATE statements securely via primary keys).
  • Rich Data Types: JSON / JSONB columns and long text columns open in a Monaco editor with diff and side-by-side toggles; JSON cells additionally open in a standalone Tauri window (see Data Grid → JSON & long text cells). Spatial data displays coordinates.
  • Foreign Key Navigation: FK cells get a click-to-navigate affordance and a context-menu entry that opens the referenced table filtered to the matching row. See Data Grid → Foreign Key Navigation.
  • Exporting: Export the current view to CSV, JSON or Markdown, or the loaded rows to HTML or NDJSON (see Data Grid → Exporting Results).
  • Copying with headers: The Export column names toggle in the results toolbar adds a header row to CSV and Markdown copies, so data pastes cleanly into Excel or Google Sheets.