What is A lightweight VS Code extension that auto-loads your database and provides affordances from your database to aid development and debugging.?
DevDb is a lightweight VS Code extension that auto-loads your database and provides affordances to aid development and debugging. It features an MCP Server for database connections, quick table access, zero-config support for various frameworks, and powerful IDE integrations.
Documentation
DevDb
A lightweight VS Code extension that auto-loads your database and provides affordances from your database to aid development and debugging.
Built with π for developers.
Featured In
Latest Features
MCP Server for providing database connections to Cursor, Windsurf, etc.
Quick table access: Press Cmd+K Cmd+G (Mac) or Ctrl+K Ctrl+G (Windows/Linux) to quickly open any table
New zero-config support: applications running in DDEV
New zero-config support: Django - SQLite, MySQL, and PostgreSQL
New zero-config support: Ruby on Rails - SQLite, MySQL, and PostgreSQL
New zero-config support: Adonis (Lucid ORM) - MySQL and PostgreSQL
Sponsors
We are genuinely grateful to the following sponsors of DevDb:
DevWorkspace Pro - The Ultimate GUI for DDEV, also tuned to supercharge your productivity
Traycer AI - A Powerful AI assistance, natively integrated into your VS Code workflow.
Features
MCP Server: Provide your database information to AI-powered IDEs and MCP clients like Cursor, Windsurf, etc.
Quick table open command: Press Cmd+K Cmd+G (Mac) or Ctrl+K Ctrl+G (Windows/Linux) to quickly open any table.
Zero-config Database Auto-discovery: Automatically discover and load your database β no manual configuration required. Supports environments like DDEV, Adonis, Laravel, containerized setups (Laravel Sail), etc.
Database affordances for Local Development: Because of a deep understanding of your database schema, DevDb is able to provide affordances that aid development and debugging, such as one-click generation of Eloquent Model factories, etc.
Powerful IDE Integrations: DevDb nicely integrates your database with your IDE to provide very useful IDE-powered features like Context Menu & CodeLens Integrations directly in your editor, providing features like opening tables from code, invoking SQL query explainer when working on query optimization tasks, etc.
Rich Database Client with Intuitive UX: Dedicated database client view with one-click data browsing, inline editing, deletion, one-click reconnection, etc. Easily modify, set values to null, preview complex JSON data, all within a responsive interface.
Data Export: Export table data as well-formatted JSON or SQL INSERT statements copied to your clipboard or saved to file.
Comprehensive Multi-database Support: Seamlessly interface with SQLite, MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, and Microsoft SQL Server; with more to come!
Intuitive Configuration System: In environments where automatic zero-config is unavailable, DevDb provides quick snippets that produce well-formatted templates, as well as JSON Schema validation IntelliSense, which altogether makes creating configuration file for connecting to your database an awesome experience.
Integrated Framework & Tool Support: Tailored support for popular frameworks and tools including Laravel, DDEV, Ruby on Rails, and Adonis ensures a seamless development experience. Need special feature(s) for your environment? We're listening!.
Cross-platform Compatibility: Engineered to perform consistently on Linux, macOS, and Windows, ensuring maximum flexibility as you can carry on your work across all these platforms.
Cmd + Click table name in the sidebar to open the table in the current tab
Cmd + Click on a database value to edit it
Click any value to preview it in the pane (useful for viewing prettified JSON string values)
The right pane offers options to view the current table schema or selected value
During edit sessions (activated during data edit/delete), the control box appears as shown in the screenshot
During edit sessions: Cmd + Z to undo changes, Cmd + Y to redo changes, and Cmd + S to save changes
Added new "Suggest New Feature" button
One-click Actions (Data Manipulation)
Click the trash icon on a table row to delete it
Click the Set null button on a database value to set the value to null
Supported Databases
Currently supported databases:
SQLite
MySQL
MariaDB
PostgreSQL
Microsoft SQL Server
Loading Databases
DevDb can automatically discover and load your database using connection details from your VS Code workspace (zero-config mode). When this zero-config auto-discovery isn't available, a configuration file option is provided.
1. Zero-config (Automatic Database Discovery)
No configuration file is needed when the workspace root contains any of the following:
Laravel with default .env config for MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL, and Microsoft SQL Server
Containerized Laravel MySQL (Laravel Sail) with default .env/docker-compose.yml config (including dev containers support)
2. Config-based Database Loading
If zero-config support isn't available for your environment, create a .devdbrc file in your project root with your database connection details.
[!WARNING]
Exclude the .devdbrc config file from version control by adding it to .gitignore. This protects sensitive information and allows team members to use different database configurations.
The configuration file should contain a single array of database connection objects. DevDb provides rich editing features for .devdbrc:
As shown in screenshot, click the hammer icon to copy the MCP settings.
In your IDE's MCP settings file (e.g. .vscode/mcp.json, windsurf/mcp_config.json, etc.), paste the copied JSON as one of the available MCP servers.
Your IDE/AI-tool should now be able to use your database details.
URI Handler
DevDb provides a custom URI handler that allows you to open specific database tables directly from external applications or links. This is useful for integrating DevDb with other tools or creating shortcuts to frequently accessed tables.