Installation

Pre-built binaries (recommended)

macOS / Linux
Windows

curl -fsSL https://clement-tourriere.github.io/dbcrust/install.sh | sh

Customise:

# Specific version
DBCRUST_VERSION=v0.25.0 curl -fsSL https://clement-tourriere.github.io/dbcrust/install.sh | sh

# Custom directory
DBCRUST_INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/bin curl -fsSL https://clement-tourriere.github.io/dbcrust/install.sh | sh

irm https://clement-tourriere.github.io/dbcrust/install.ps1 | iex

Customise:

$env:DBCRUST_VERSION = "v0.25.0"; irm https://clement-tourriere.github.io/dbcrust/install.ps1 | iex

This installs two binaries: dbcrust (full name) and dbc (short alias).

Python package managers

uv (recommended)

uv tool install dbcrust          # global tool
uvx dbcrust <url>                # run without installing
uv add dbcrust                   # add to a project

pip / pipx

pip install dbcrust
# or
pipx install dbcrust

From source

Prerequisites

Rust stable — install from rustup.rs
mise 2026.8.16+ (optional but recommended) — manages Bun, dev tools, and the Rust build cache

git clone https://github.com/clement-tourriere/dbcrust.git
cd dbcrust

# Option A: with mise (recommended for development)
mise install            # installs Bun, Commitizen, Mr Boxington, etc.
mise run build          # release build
mise run build:dev      # debug build (faster)
mise run install        # build + install dbcrust and dbc into ~/.cargo/bin

# Option B: cargo only (CLI only, no GUI)
cargo install --path . --locked --force

Building the GUI

The desktop GUI requires Bun (for the frontend) and Tauri prerequisites. Mise handles Bun automatically.

mise install              # installs Bun
mise run gui:install      # install frontend deps
mise run gui:dev          # development mode
mise run gui:build        # production build

See Desktop GUI for details.

Python bindings

mise run py:dev           # maturin develop (editable install)
mise run py:build         # build wheel
# or
pip install -e ./python

Shell completion

Enable tab-completion for URL schemes, container names, session names, compatible data files, and flags.

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions
dbcrust --completions bash > ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/dbcrust
dbc --completions bash > ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/dbc
source ~/.bashrc

mkdir -p ~/.zfunc
dbcrust --completions zsh > ~/.zfunc/_dbcrust
dbc --completions zsh > ~/.zfunc/_dbc

Add to ~/.zshrc (before source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh if you use oh-my-zsh):

fpath+=~/.zfunc
autoload -U compinit && compinit

dbcrust --completions fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/dbcrust.fish
dbc --completions fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/dbc.fish

dbcrust --completions powershell > "$HOME\Documents\PowerShell\Completions\dbcrust.ps1"

dbcrust --completions nushell | save -f ($env.NU_VENDOR_AUTOLOAD_DIR | path join "dbcrust.nu")

Completions are answered live by the dbcrust binary itself (the script calls it back at Tab time), so saved sessions, running Docker containers, and compatible files are always current — just keep dbcrust on your PATH.

After setup:

dbc pos[TAB]            → postgres://
dbc docker://[TAB]      → lists running containers
dbc session://[TAB]     → lists saved sessions
dbc --[TAB]             → shows flags

Verify

dbcrust --version

# Quick test (no external database needed)
dbcrust sqlite://:memory: --query "SELECT 'Hello DBCrust!' as message"

Supported databases

Database	Versions	URL scheme
PostgreSQL	9.6+	`postgres://`
MySQL	5.7+	`mysql://`
SQLite	3.6+	`sqlite://`
ClickHouse	20.3+	`clickhouse://`
MongoDB	4.0+	`mongodb://`, `mongodb+srv://`
Elasticsearch	7.x+	`elasticsearch://`, `es://`

File formats (via Apache DataFusion):

Format	URL scheme
Parquet	`parquet://`
CSV	`csv://`
JSON	`json://`

Bare paths such as users.csv, warehouse.parquet, and app.sqlite are also accepted and inferred from the extension.

Special schemes:

Scheme	Purpose
`docker://`	Connect to database containers
`session://`	Saved sessions
`recent://`	Recent connections
`file://`	Interactive compatible-file picker
`vault://`	HashiCorp Vault credentials

Updating

DBCrust can update itself. It detects how it was installed (uv tool, pipx, pip, cargo, standalone binary), checks GitHub for the latest release, and runs — or prints — the matching upgrade command:

dbcrust --update

Or update manually through your install channel:

# Pre-built binary — just re-run the installer
curl -fsSL https://clement-tourriere.github.io/dbcrust/install.sh | sh

# uv
uv tool upgrade dbcrust

# pipx
pipx upgrade dbcrust

# pip
pip install --upgrade dbcrust

# From source
git pull && mise run install      # or: cargo install --path . --locked --force

Uninstalling

# uv
uv tool uninstall dbcrust

# pip
pip uninstall dbcrust

# cargo
cargo uninstall dbcrust

# Remove config (optional)
rm -rf ~/.config/dbcrust