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Show HN: Base, an SQLite database editor for macOS

(menial.co.uk)
676 points __bb | 2 comments | 25 Aug 25 14:17 UTC | HN request time: 0.445s | source

I recently released v3 of Base, my SQLite editor for macOS.

The goal of this app is to provide a comfortable native GUI for SQLite, without it turning into a massive IDE-style app.

The coolest features are

- That it can handle full altering of tables, which is quite finicky to do manually with SQLite.

- It has a more detailed display of column constraints than most editors. Each constraint is shown as an icon if active, with full details available on clicking the icon.

This update also adds support for attaching databases, which is a bit fiddly with macOS sandboxing.

I'd love to hear any feedback or answer any questions.

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markusw ◴[25 Aug 25 15:19 UTC] No.45014822[source]▶
I've just tried it out, looks nice!

I've been using TablePlus a lot, but there are some SQLite-specific features I'd really like to have in an app:

- Foreign keys enabled by default, so I don't have to remember to enable that in every session.

- Support for loading extensions automatically. I'm using sqlite-vec for example. Right now, browsing virtual tables for that just doesn't show that much, and executing a query just results in "no such module: vec0"

I'll keep an eye on the project. :-)

replies(1): >>45015870 #
1. __bb ◴[25 Aug 25 16:49 UTC] No.45015870[source]▶
Thanks!

Auto-enabling foreign keys absolutely should be an option. I'll make a note of it.

I don't know about auto-loading extensions though. Will have a look. That might not mix well with the App Store rules and I'm reluctant to let the direct/app store versions drift apart in terms of features.

replies(1): >>45018614 #
2. markusw ◴[25 Aug 25 20:29 UTC] No.45018614[source]▶
Thank you for answering. That's fair re. App Store rules. Feature flags FTW? :D

I was happy to see that FTS5 was always enabled as a compile-time option.