Command-line SQLite DB Browser

A lightweight, terminal-based (curses) SQLite database browser for viewing, editing, and deleting records.

Author: Yahor Zaleski License: MIT Version: 0.1.0

Features

• Navigate and view tables in an SQLite database.
• Two table list view modes: compact list and detailed columns (Name, Rows, Size).
• View table schema (DDL, columns, indices, foreign keys, triggers).
• View records within a table.
• Toggle wrapping for long record lines.
• Edit records using your system's default editor ($EDITOR or vi).
• Delete records (with confirmation).
• Execute arbitrary SQL queries directly.
• Automatically detects database file from config.php (if present and PHP CLI is installed) or accepts a path as an argument.

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• curses library (standard on Linux/macOS, may require windows-curses on Windows, though this script is primarily Unix-oriented).
• (Optional) php CLI: if you want to use the config.php feature to auto-detect the database file.
• (Optional) readline Python module: for command history in the SQL prompt.

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/zebrig/sqlite_browser.git
   cd sqlite_browser
   chmod 755 sqlite_browser.py

Usage

Run the script with the path to your SQLite database file:

python3 sqlite_browser.py /path/to/your/database.db

or

sqlite_browser.py /path/to/your/database.db

Or, if you have a config.php file in the same directory as the script defining DB_FILE, you can run it without arguments (requires PHP CLI to be installed and in your PATH):

Create a config.php file (see config.php.example) in the script's directory:

<?php
// config.php
define('DB_FILE', '/path/to/your/database.db');
// or relative to config.php:
// define('DB_FILE', 'data/my_app.sqlite');
?>

and then

python3 db_browser.py

"Screenshots"

Tables view

Tables:
  Name               Rows     Size
  auth_sessions       15   12.0KB
  change_log          51    4.0KB
  companies            4   12.0KB
  contract_files       2    4.0KB
  contracts            1    4.0KB
  currencies           3    4.0KB
  customer_prefixes   34    4.0KB
  customers            7   60.0KB
  dbstat             133
  invoices            85  312.0KB
  payments           140   32.0KB
  services             7    4.0KB
  sqlite_sequence     11    4.0KB
  user_customers       5    4.0KB
  users                3    4.0KB

Up/Down: Navigate  Enter: Select  v: Toggle view  i: Schema  w: Wrap  s: SQL  q: Quit

Schema view

Schema: change_log (encoding: UTF-8)

CREATE TABLE change_log (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
    change_date TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
    event_type TEXT NOT NULL,
    invoice_id INTEGER,
    payment_id INTEGER,
    prev_value TEXT,
    new_value TEXT,
    reason TEXT,
    balance_before REAL,
    balance_after REAL,
    user_id INTEGER,
    ip_address TEXT,
    FOREIGN KEY(invoice_id) REFERENCES invoices(id),
    FOREIGN KEY(payment_id) REFERENCES pko_payments(id),
    FOREIGN KEY(user_id) REFERENCES users(id)
)

Name            Type     Limit  Not Null  Default            PK  Hidden
id              INTEGER         NO                           1
change_date     TEXT            YES       CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
event_type      TEXT            YES
invoice_id      INTEGER         NO
payment_id      INTEGER         NO
prev_value      TEXT            NO
new_value       TEXT            NO
reason          TEXT            NO
balance_before  REAL            NO
balance_after   REAL            NO
user_id         INTEGER         NO
ip_address      TEXT            NO

Indices:

Foreign keys:
  users(id) <- user_id on_update=NO ACTION on_delete=NO ACTION
  pko_payments(id) <- payment_id on_update=NO ACTION on_delete=NO ACTION
  invoices(id) <- invoice_id on_update=NO ACTION on_delete=NO ACTION

Rows: 51, Size: 4.0KB

Triggers:

Up/Down: Scroll  b/q/ESC: Back

Table entries view

Table: auth_sessions (15 rows)
id | token | user_id | created_at | created_ip | created_user_agent | last_used_at | last_
2 | 717e70b973909a5a215e6d6ff1b22e096138093a85145f685d38311f4bb2b53f | 1 | 2025-06-02 18:0
5 | 72a99e2e4777ee69b43908c02f48d31af4b3dd129d2c57b735a27f5fdcd2e674 | 3 | 2025-06-02 20:0
7 | caa48e1bc7f935c63bce03a7ff4f2994b314cac90fa0d97df617aa5085e4eb9c | 1 | 2025-06-02 21:4
8 | 7630d10c02233cd5b6215eb62eb04362f5b195fdf265e2641e0ab367095a989e | 1 | 2025-06-05 06:1
13 | 7b093be0759d5ec7177723b952ddfb2fb289411393b44d998de5ff84ce7e35e2 | 1 | 2025-06-06 08:
14 | 18eb110fa019f3cf4777ee69b8dfd1a18fcabc6746716205da9b526851b4eee3 | 1 | 2025-06-08 21:
16 | a775a6f30410e6ecfffb1dfd17724ec1b2e573b184f4d29f06673887b989bb46 | 3 | 2025-06-09 10:
17 | 22da373e45e62bd879dd9b1f2a1e0e35bbe28c536f1454c734777183491a5650 | 1 | 2025-06-09 11:
18 | 992687b933995d72aa4dd31efea050b9eb37481699123ab9ba44e4e0db372aa4 | 1 | 2025-06-09 13:
19 | 8e62083f2015e5a4335519a1dc578594be44e0c261e6ee00703fcd279e2f164b | 1 | 2025-06-11 06:
20 | 06afbdc496a8c13a9c857666c10652a873d5b373887592ebb572dbaa176e5749 | 3 | 2025-06-11 15:
21 | c2a1ebe4e6c91cf3d3f5954e9b1a37fc701d9481aec622f8109ae2912ca64430 | 3 | 2025-06-11 17:
22 | 3158abfca64861d54e27a095803ba297c8ef096f3e4edfeada838e554fe8fa0a | 1 | 2025-06-11 18:
23 | 24ee74919332ca0a31e1397e96ec8ba35af0eaf04107ae068d194a414f3eff21 | 1 | 2025-06-16 11:
24 | 34a24a456fc8835063e4d8e275315ce6d0e9b9d753ff806b120abfae48e70257 | 1 | 2025-06-17 12:

Up/Down: Navigate  e: Edit  d: Delete  r: Reload  i: Schema  w: Wrap  s: SQL  b/q: Back

Controls

In Table List:

• Up/Down Arrows (or k/j): Navigate tables
• Enter: Select/enter table
• v: Toggle column/inline view for table list
• i: View schema for selected table
• s: Execute arbitrary SQL query
• q (or Esc): Quit

In Record View:

• Up/Down Arrows (or k/j): Navigate records
• e: Edit selected record (opens $EDITOR or vi)
• d: Delete selected record (with confirmation)
• r: Reload records for the current table
• i: View table schema
• w: Toggle wrap for long record rows
• s: Execute arbitrary SQL query
• b or q (or Esc): Back to table list

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.