Quickstart

This guide takes you from a fresh install to a working query. You need DBO Studio running (see Installation) and a database you can reach.

No database at hand? Create an empty SQLite file and use that:

sqlite3 ~/demo.db "CREATE TABLE users (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT); INSERT INTO users (name) VALUES ('Ada'), ('Linus');"

1. Add a connection

1. Click New connection.
2. Pick your database. For the file above, pick SQLite and enter the full path to demo.db.
3. For a server database, fill in host, port, user, password, and database.
4. Click Test to check the details, then Create.

The connection opens and the explorer on the left lists its databases, schemas, and tables.

2. Browse a table

Click a table in the explorer. Its rows open in the data grid.

• Click a column header to sort.
• Add a filter, or type a condition such as id = 1 in the bar above the grid.
• Double-click a cell to edit it. Changes stay pending until you save them.

3. Run a query

1. Open a new query tab with the + button, or press Alt T (web) / ⌘ T (desktop).
2. Type a query. Autocomplete suggests tables and columns as you go.

SELECT id, name FROM users ORDER BY name;

3. Press Alt Enter (web) or ⌘ Enter (desktop) to run it.

Results appear below the editor. Every query you run is kept in History, and you can save useful ones under Queries. See SQL editor.

4. Ask the assistant

Open the assistant panel with Alt A (web) or ⌘ ⇧ A (desktop). The first time, pick an AI provider and paste an API key, or point it at a local Ollama server.

Then ask something about the open table:

Which columns in users could be NULL?

See AI assistant for Ask and Agent modes.

Next steps

• Turn on Safe Mode for production connections.
• Learn the keyboard shortcuts.
• Host DBO Studio for your team with Docker.