Steampipe is an AGPL-3.0, Go-based zero-ETL tool that maps APIs and services to SQL tables, letting anyone who already writes SQL — cloud engineers, DevSecOps and security teams, data engineers — query live data from AWS, Azure, GCP, GitHub and Kubernetes without building a pipeline or running a database.

What it is

Steampipe is a single Go binary that translates APIs into database tables. Community and Turbot-maintained plugins map services such as AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, GitHub, Microsoft 365 and Salesforce to tables, and the project documents more than 2000 tables in total, each with copy/paste/run examples. It ships in several forms: the Steampipe CLI, which queries a Postgres instance bundled with Steampipe; Postgres Foreign Data Wrappers, which expose APIs as foreign tables in native Postgres; SQLite extensions, which expose them as SQLite virtual tables; standalone export binaries that pull data from APIs with no database; and Turbot Pipes, which runs Steampipe in the cloud. The project sits in the Data & Analytics / Data Engineering & Integration category and is maintained by Turbot.

The problem it solves is the ETL step itself. Instead of extracting API responses, loading them into a warehouse and querying a stale copy, Steampipe queries the API and returns rows in real time, running many data sources concurrently. What it replaces is the bespoke script or scheduled sync that would otherwise be written for each service, and because it is one binary it works the same on a laptop and in a CI/CD pipeline.

Key capabilities

• Plugin catalogue maps APIs to tables; steampipe plugin install hackernews adds a source, with official plugins for AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, GitHub, Microsoft 365 and Salesforce.
• Interactive SQL through steampipe query, for example select * from hackernews_new limit 10.
• Postgres Foreign Data Wrappers expose the same APIs as foreign tables inside an existing Postgres instance.
• SQLite extensions expose APIs as virtual tables for SQLite users.
• Standalone export binaries pull data from APIs with no database required.
• Single-binary deployment, usable locally or inside CI/CD pipelines.
• Source builds via git clone, cd steampipe, make, placing the binary in /usr/local/bin/steampipe unless OUTPUT_DIR is set.

Who uses it and how

• Cloud and DevSecOps teams querying AWS, Azure and GCP configuration data with SQL; the repository topics include CIS, CSPM and CNAPP, reflecting that posture and compliance checks are a primary use.
• CI/CD pipelines, where the single binary can be installed and run without provisioning a database.
• Security teams that want live answers about cloud resources rather than a nightly export.
• Data engineers joining live API data against existing Postgres tables through the foreign data wrappers.
• Practitioners who prefer SQLite, using the extensions as virtual tables in a local database.

Getting started

On macOS, install with brew install turbot/tap/steampipe; on Linux or Windows (WSL2), run the install script at https://steampipe.io/install/steampipe.sh. Then add a plugin with steampipe plugin install hackernews and start querying with steampipe query.

How it compares

The facts provided do not name any paid product that Steampipe replaces, and they name no comparable open-source tool either. On the evidence available, it stands alone in this registry.

When to use it — and when not to

Self-hosters of the CLI distribution operate a bundled Postgres instance and must supply credentials for every API they connect, though the export binaries and SQLite extensions avoid the database. The AGPL-3.0 licence and its copyleft obligations will not suit every organisation, and teams wanting a fully managed service without Turbot Pipes should look elsewhere. The README is also thin on its own — its demonstration section is a placeholder and the substantive material lives on steampipe.io/docs — so expect to read the documentation site rather than the repository.

# MacOS
brew install turbot/tap/steampipe

# Linux or Windows (WSL2)
sudo /bin/sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://steampipe.io/install/steampipe.sh)"

steampipe plugin install hackernews

steampipe query
> select * from hackernews_new limit 10

git clone [email protected]:turbot/steampipe

cd steampipe
make

$ steampipe --version
steampipe version 0.22.0

$ steampipe plugin install steampipe

steampipe query
> .inspect steampipe
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| TABLE                             | DESCRIPTION                       |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| steampipe_registry_plugin         | Steampipe Registry Plugins        |
| steampipe_registry_plugin_version | Steampipe Registry Plugin Version |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+

> select * from steampipe_registry_plugin;