picklock

A TUI data browser for people who don't leave the terminal.
Relational · Document · Key-Value · Wide-Column · Graph
SQLite · PostgreSQL · MySQL · MariaDB · SQL Server · MongoDB · Redis · Cassandra · Neo4j

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Browse tables, documents, key-values, and graph structures, run queries and inspect schemas — all from the keyboard, all in one window. No Electron, no browser tab, no mouse required.

First time? picklock connects to databases that already exist — it doesn't start servers. See USAGE.md for a step-by-step guide: create a test database, connect and run your first query.

Try it right now: go run ./cmd/demo creates demo.db with 20 tables and a few thousand rows each (no server needed). With docker compose up -d first, go run ./cmd/demo --all seeds the same dataset into PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, MongoDB, Redis, Cassandra, and Neo4j too.

Supported Data Paradigms & Engines

Paradigm	Engines	Catalog Unit	Data View	Structure Inspector	Query Language
Relational	SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server	Tables	Table rows (keyset pagination)	Columns (PK, NN, DEF), Indexes	SQL
Document	MongoDB	Collections	BSON/JSON Documents, IDs, Summaries	Collection stats, Indexes, Inferred Fields	MQL (db.col.find(), JSON)
Key-Value	Redis	Keys (with badge by type)	Strings, Hashes, Lists, Sets, ZSets	Key info, TTL, Memory, Server metrics	RESP Commands (GET, HGETALL)
Wide-Column	Apache Cassandra / ScyllaDB	Tables	Column rows (page state cursors)	Partition Keys (PK), Clustering Columns (CC)	CQL
Graph	Neo4j	Node Labels	Nodes, Labels, Properties, Incident Edges	Label schema, Properties, Indexes, Relationships	Cypher

Install

Requires Go 1.26.6+.

go install github.com/agmonetti/picklock@latest

Or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/agmonetti/picklock
cd picklock
go build -o picklock ./cmd/picklock

Usage

picklock

The connection screen opens. Pick the engine with ←/→, fill in the fields and press Enter. For SQLite you only need the file path.

To skip the connection screen, pass a DSN directly:

# Relational
picklock ./app.db                                         # SQLite file
picklock postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/test  # PostgreSQL
picklock mysql://root:root@localhost:3306/test            # MySQL
picklock 'sqlserver://sa:Str0ng!Passw0rd@localhost:1433?database=master'

# Non-Relational
picklock mongodb://localhost:27017/test                   # MongoDB
picklock redis://localhost:6379/0                         # Redis
picklock cassandra://localhost:9042/picklock_demo             # Cassandra
picklock neo4j://neo4j:password@localhost:7687/neo4j     # Neo4j

# Read-only enforcement
picklock --read-only postgres://user:pass@host:5432/mydb
picklock --read-only redis://localhost:6379/0

What you get

• Single-window adaptive layout — sidebar (catalog), main data viewer (tables, documents, key-values, graph nodes) and editor always visible, always in sync.
• Multi-paradigm pagination — relational keyset pagination, MongoDB skip/limit pages, Redis SCAN/paging, Cassandra page states, and Cypher skip/limits.
• Native Query Editor — executes SQL, MQL, RESP, CQL, and Cypher with statement segmentation (delimited by ; for SQL/CQL/Cypher and newlines for Redis) targeting the statement under the cursor, with history of your last 100 queries (~/.config/picklock/history.json).
• Structure Inspector (i) — view columns, indexes, foreign keys, and incoming references for relational objects. Pure association tables are grouped under RELATIONS without hiding their physical rows.
• Detail View (v) — full values for table rows, pretty-printed JSON for documents, full key-value entries, and graph node properties + incident edges.
• Universal Export (Alt+E) — export tabular queries, documents, and key structures directly to CSV or formatted JSON.
• Saved connections — stored securely in ~/.config/picklock/connections.json.
• Read-only enforcement across all 9 engines.

Shortcuts

Key	Action
Tab	Cycle focus: sidebar → main view → editor
Alt+1 / Alt+2 / Alt+3	Jump directly to sidebar / main view / editor
↑↓ / k j	Navigate rows, items, documents, keys, or nodes
Enter (sidebar)	Open item and focus main panel
PgUp / PgDn	Change page / cursor forward or backward
i	Structure inspection
v	Detail view (full row, JSON document, KV entries, graph node)
r	Refresh active item and catalog
Alt+E	Export result / current page to CSV or JSON
Alt+C / Ctrl+Y	Copy active query to clipboard
Alt+B	Toggle sidebar
Alt+M	Toggle main data view
Alt+Q	Toggle query editor
Alt+Z	Zoom / maximize active pane
Ctrl+R	Run query (SQL / MQL / RESP / CQL / Cypher)
Esc	Cancel running query or return from detail/structure
Ctrl+L	Clear editor
↑↓ (editor)	Query history
←→ (main) / Alt+←→ (editor)	Scroll table columns horizontally
Ctrl+N	New connection
Ctrl+S	Save connection
Ctrl+P	Settings (query timeout)
?	Help / Cheatsheet
Ctrl+C / q	Quit
click drag (editor)	Select & auto-copy query text
right-click drag	Resize panes
scroll wheel / swipe	Scroll pane / table columns under cursor

MCP Server (Model Context Protocol)

picklock includes a dedicated Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes browsing and querying capabilities for all 9 database engines to AI agents (such as Antigravity / agy, Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.).

Tools Provided

Tool	Description
list_objects	Discover all catalog items (tables, collections, keys, node labels)
browse	Paginate data with keyset, skip/limit, SCAN, or cursor mechanics
inspect	Inspect schemas, columns, types, indexes, and engine metadata
query	Execute native queries (SQL, MQL, RESP, CQL, Cypher). Mutations blocked in read-only mode
connect	Switch or open database connections dynamically via DSN or saved connection name
list_connections	Read saved connection profiles from ~/.config/picklock/connections.json

Setup & Configuration

1. Run directly with Go (No install needed)

Run on the fly using go run:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "picklock": {
      "command": "go",
      "args": ["run", "github.com/agmonetti/picklock/cmd/picklock-mcp@latest", "--read-only", "postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/mydb"]
    }
  }
}

2. Install Globally

Install the binary into $GOPATH/bin:

go install github.com/agmonetti/picklock/cmd/picklock-mcp@latest

Configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "picklock": {
      "command": "picklock-mcp",
      "args": ["--read-only", "/path/to/database.db"]
    }
  }
}

3. Install from Source

Clone the repository and build the binary locally:

git clone https://github.com/agmonetti/picklock.git
cd picklock
go build -o picklock-mcp ./cmd/picklock-mcp

Configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "picklock": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/picklock/picklock-mcp",
      "args": ["--read-only", "/absolute/path/to/demo.db"]
    }
  }
}

Note: The DSN argument is optional. If omitted, the AI agent can use the connect tool to connect to any supported database on demand.

Development

go run ./cmd/picklock   # run
go test ./...       # tests
go vet ./...        # lint

Integration environment (all 9 engines)

docker compose up -d --wait

make demo-all       # seeds all 9 engines with sample data

Documentation

• USAGE.md — step-by-step guide for relational and non-relational engines.
• docs/non-relational/ — research, composable architecture, engine profiles, interaction design, and technical limitations.
• docs/design/ — original foundational design specifications.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.