[opensourcedex]

whodb is a free, open source data engineering & integration project written in Go and released under Apache-2.0. It has 5,031 GitHub stars, 238 forks and 42 open issues, and was last pushed 6 hours ago. On this registry it ranks #13 of 39 tracked projects in Data Engineering & Integration, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 3 stars over the last 3 tracked days.

What is whodb?

What it is

WhoDB is an Apache-2.0, Go-based open-source data workspace that gives users one place to explore databases, edit data, run queries, and understand how a schema fits together. It runs in the browser, is available as a desktop application, and also provides a terminal CLI, so it fits the open-source data engineering and integration ecosystem for internal tools, data platforms, database management, data governance, data integration, data pipelines, data catalogs, data lineage, and ER diagrams.

The concrete problem it solves is the friction of working with many database systems through heavyweight clients, scattered tools, or unfamiliar schemas. WhoDB lets a user inspect a local database, help a teammate explore unfamiliar data, and work without installing a heavyweight database client. It also supports optional AI features when a user connects Ollama, OpenAI, Anthropic, LM Studio, or another OpenAI-compatible provider and asks questions in plain English.

Key capabilities

  • Browse and edit database rows in a spreadsheet-style grid with sorting, filtering, pagination, and inline editing.
  • Understand a schema visually through an interactive graph of tables and relationships.
  • Work through queries in a scratchpad with multiple cells, autocomplete, history, and results kept alongside each query.
  • Move data in and out with imports, exports, and mock-data generation for development and testing.
  • Ask questions in plain English through a local or hosted AI provider chosen by the user.
  • Operate from a terminal through the WhoDB CLI and its MCP server.

Who uses it and how

  • Users inspect a local database, browse tables, filter rows, edit values, and run queries without installing a heavyweight database client.
  • Teams use it to help a teammate explore unfamiliar data by combining the spreadsheet-style grid, the schema graph, and the query scratchpad in one browser workspace.
  • Terminal users and AI-agent workflows use the WhoDB CLI and MCP server to browse, filter, and edit data from the command line.
  • Self-hosters use it as a lightweight internal tool for database management, data governance, data integration, data pipeline, data platform, and data catalog work.

Getting started

Run WhoDB with Docker by starting the clidey/whodb image, publishing port 8080, opening http://localhost:8080, and entering database connection details. WhoDB is also available as a Windows app, a macOS app, a Snap package, and a CLI.

When to use it — and when not to

Use WhoDB when a lightweight, self-hosted workspace is enough for browsing, querying, schema review, and optional AI-assisted exploration. Do not choose it if you need a managed hosted option, because the README lists Docker, desktop, Snap, and CLI deployment instead; also avoid it if your required database is outside the Community support list, or if you do not want to supply your own AI provider for plain-English questions.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

WhoDB

MCP Toplist

A lightweight, self-hosted workspace for your databases

Release workflow Release version Release date Total downloads Docker size

Commits per month Last commit Contributors Closed issues Closed PRs

License GitHub stars Go TypeScript

Available on

Docker Windows macOS Snap CLI

Quick start · Documentation · Live demo · Community

WhoDB showing a database table

WhoDB gives you one place to explore your databases, edit data, run queries, and understand how a schema fits together. It runs in the browser, is easy to self-host, and is available as a desktop app or terminal CLI too.

Use it when you want to inspect a local database, help a teammate explore unfamiliar data, or work without installing a heavyweight database client. AI features are optional: connect Ollama, OpenAI, Anthropic, LM Studio, or another OpenAI-compatible provider if you want to ask questions in plain English.

Quick start

Run WhoDB with Docker:

docker run --rm -it -p 8080:8080 clidey/whodb

Then open http://localhost:8080 and enter your database connection details.

Want to look around first? Try the live demo or watch the video walkthrough.

What you can do

  • Browse and edit data in a spreadsheet-style grid with sorting, filtering, pagination, and inline editing.
  • Understand a schema visually with an interactive graph of tables and relationships.
  • Work through queries in a scratchpad with multiple cells, autocomplete, history, and results kept alongside each query.
  • Move data in and out with imports, exports, and mock-data generation for development and testing.
  • Ask questions in plain English using a local or hosted AI provider that you choose.
  • Work from your terminal through the WhoDB CLI and its MCP server.
Browsing rows in the WhoDB data grid Exploring database relationships in the WhoDB schema graph
Browse, filter, and edit data Follow relationships through the schema graph

Supported databases

WhoDB Community supports:

  • PostgreSQL, CockroachDB, YugabyteDB, and QuestDB
  • MySQL, MariaDB, and TiDB
  • SQLite and DuckDB
  • MongoDB and FerretDB
  • Redis, Valkey, and Dragonfly
  • Elasticsearch and OpenSearch
  • ClickHouse and Memcached

Support varies by database because not every system has the same concepts or capabilities. The connection screen shows the options available for each source.

Installation options

Docker with persistent sessions

The one-line Docker command is ideal for trying WhoDB. To keep encrypted login sessions when the container is replaced, first generate a key and save it somewhere secure:

openssl rand -hex 32

Then mount /data and reuse that key whenever you start the container:

docker run -it -p 8080:8080 \
  -v whodb-data:/data \
  -e WHODB_ENCRYPTION_KEY=your_saved_64_character_hex_key \
  clidey/whodb

Keep that key somewhere safe. Changing it invalidates existing sessions. If WhoDB is served through an HTTPS reverse proxy, also set WHODB_SECURE=true so browsers only send the session cookie over HTTPS.

See the documentation for Docker Compose, connection profiles, SSL, AI providers, and other configuration options.

Desktop

CLI and MCP server

The CLI includes an interactive terminal UI and an MCP server for AI tools:

# macOS and Linux
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/clidey/whodb/main/cli/install/install.sh | bash

# or install with npm
npm install -g @clidey/whodb

whodb             # open the terminal UI
whodb mcp serve   # start the MCP server

See the CLI guide for connection examples and the full command reference.

AI providers

You can add a hosted AI provider directly from WhoDB—no backend configuration or restart is required. Open Chat, choose Add Provider from the provider menu, then select OpenAI, Anthropic, or Gemini and enter your API key. WhoDB will fetch the available models from that provider.

Ollama and LM Studio are available as local options in WhoDB Community. By default, the backend looks for Ollama at localhost:11434 and LM Studio at localhost:1234/v1, with local addresses adjusted automatically for Docker and WSL. Use WHODB_OLLAMA_HOST, WHODB_OLLAMA_PORT, or WHODB_LMSTUDIO_BASE_URL only when those defaults are not suitable for your setup.

Optional backend provider configuration

Environment variables let deployment administrators declare providers when the server starts. This is useful for preconfiguring OpenAI or Anthropic, changing provider endpoints, or adding an OpenAI-compatible service for everyone using that deployment:

  • WHODB_OPENAI_* for OpenAI
  • WHODB_ANTHROPIC_* for Anthropic
  • WHODB_OLLAMA_* for Ollama connection settings
  • WHODB_LMSTUDIO_* for LM Studio connection settings
  • WHODB_AI_GENERIC__* for OpenAI-compatible providers

See the installation guide for the complete environment variable list and the AI provider guide for setup examples.

WhoDB Community and WhoDB Platform

This repository contains WhoDB Community, the Apache-2.0-licensed database workspace described above. It is free to self-host and is the best place to start if you want to explore and work with databases.

WhoDB Platform is the commercial, self-hosted edition for organizations that need shared projects, more data sources, SSO, fine-grained access controls, audit logs, pipelines, reporting, and internal apps. You can read the WhoDB overview or compare plans on the pricing page.

Development

WhoDB has a Go backend and a React/TypeScript frontend. For local development, run them in separate terminals.

Requirements:

  • Go
  • Node.js and pnpm

Start the backend:

cd core
go ru

readme truncated — read the full docs on github

Frequently asked questions

Is whodb free to use?

whodb is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does whodb do?

Where data access meets operational intelligence

What is whodb written in?

whodb is primarily written in Go. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/clidey/whodb, and it has 5,031 GitHub stars.