TablePro is a free, AGPL-3.0-licensed database client built with native frameworks for macOS 14.4+ and iOS/iPadOS 18+, aimed at developers who work across several SQL and NoSQL engines and want a fast, open alternative to proprietary desktop clients.

What it is

TablePro is a native database GUI written in Swift, distributed as a desktop app for macOS and as an app for iOS and iPadOS. It is built on native frameworks on every platform it targets, with no Electron shell, no JDBC layer, and no JavaScript runtime in the stack. It reports a cold start under one second and idle memory around 80 MB. Drivers for the major engines ship inside the app, while less common engines install on demand from a separate plugin registry, and the plugin system is open to new drivers written in Swift. Platforms listed are macOS 14.4+ (stable), iOS/iPadOS 18+ (stable), a Linux prototype with nothing to install yet, and no Windows support.

The concrete problem is the gap in native macOS database tooling. The project's own framing splits the field into three groups: single-database open-source clients such as Sequel Ace, which is MySQL-only, and Postico, which is PostgreSQL-only; multi-database but closed-source clients such as TablePlus, which is polished and native but proprietary; and multi-database clients that are not native, such as DBeaver on the JVM and Beekeeper Studio and DBGate on Electron, which are cross-platform but slow to start and heavy on memory. TablePro positions itself as the missing fourth option: native, multi-database, and open source. The README describes it as what its author wanted TablePlus to be.

Key capabilities

• SQL editor with autocomplete, multi-cursor editing, Vim mode and syntax themes.
• Data grid with inline editing, sort, filter and undo/redo.
• Built-in drivers for MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Amazon Redshift, CockroachDB, SQLite, ClickHouse and Redis; plugin drivers for Microsoft SQL Server, MongoDB, Oracle Database, Dameng DM8, DuckDB, Beancount, Cassandra/ScyllaDB, Etcd, Cloudflare D1, DynamoDB, BigQuery, Spanner and libSQL/Turso.
• SSH tunnels with password and key authentication, plus SSL/TLS.
• Query history with full-text search, and iCloud sync for connections, groups, tags, settings and SSH profiles.
• AI chat, inline suggestions and Explain/Optimize, using a user-supplied API key, a chosen provider, or a local Ollama instance.
• MCP server and URL scheme that let Cursor, Raycast and Claude Desktop talk to databases, alongside a plugin system for writing your own driver in Swift.

Who uses it and how

• Mac-based developers on macOS 14.4 or later, plus iPad users on iOS/iPadOS 18+, who want the same client on both.
• Teams working across several engines at once, replacing a per-engine set of tools with one window and a shared connection list.
• Developers who drive queries from Cursor, Raycast or Claude Desktop through the built-in MCP server rather than the GUI.
• Contributors writing Swift drivers for engines the built-in set does not cover, published through the plugin registry.
• Individual developers who keep connections, groups, tags, settings and SSH profiles in step across Mac and iPad via iCloud sync. The repository shows 5,897 stars, 394 forks and 58 open issues.

Getting started

Install on macOS with Homebrew using brew install --cask tablepro, or download the build from GitHub Releases. Source builds need macOS 14.4+, Xcode 26+, and XcodeGen, followed by scripts/download-libs.sh and scripts/generate-project.sh before generating TablePro.xcodeproj from project.yml.

How it compares

Against Sequel Ace and Postico, TablePro covers many engines instead of one, and against DBeaver, Beekeeper Studio and DBGate it keeps a native stack rather than the JVM or Electron. Against TablePlus it matches the native, multi-database shape while being open source under AGPL-3.0. The app is free under that licence, and paid licences bought at tablepro.app fund the next release; users who cannot afford one are told to use the free version.

When to use it — and when not to

Skip TablePro if the team is Windows-only or Linux-only, since Windows is unsupported and Linux is a prototype with nothing to install. Plugin drivers install on demand from the plugin registry, so a restricted or offline network needs a plan for that; the AI features also need an API key or a local Ollama setup. The AGPL-3.0 licence carries copyleft obligations for anyone redistributing modified versions, and ongoing development is funded by licence purchases, so it depends on that revenue.

brew install --cask tablepro

brew install xcodegen
scripts/download-libs.sh
scripts/generate-project.sh

xcodebuild \
  -project TablePro.xcodeproj \
  -scheme TablePro \
  -configuration Debug \
  -skipPackagePluginValidation \
  CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO \
  build