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Install

CLI

Open an object

dbcode open shows an object in the editor: the data for a table or view, the definition for a procedure or function, and whatever the explorer opens for anything else.

Terminal window
dbcode open -c prod orders
dbcode open -c prod sales.orders
dbcode open -c prod --type procedure calc_totals
  • -c names a saved connection, by name or id. Any saved connection works, including ones the CLI cannot query itself.
  • A dotted name gives the schema. --schema and --database override the defaults.
  • Without --type, tables, views, procedures and functions are searched in that order. --type accepts the object kinds your database has.
  • Names match the way your database matches them: case-insensitive on most databases, exact on case-sensitive ones such as MongoDB.
  • Each open gets its own tab. Add --preview to open in a preview tab instead, which the next open replaces.

The editor opens if it is not running. If the name is not found or matches more than one object, the editor shows a message saying so.

Filter and sort a table

Section titled “Filter and sort a table”
Terminal window
dbcode open -c warehouse --database sales orders \
  --where "created_at >= '2026-10-14 00:00:00'" \
  --order "created_at DESC, customer"
  • --where is a SQL condition, written as it would follow WHERE. The table opens filtered, with the condition in its filter bar, where you can change or clear it.
  • --order lists columns separated by commas, each optionally followed by ASC or DESC. ASC is the default. It replaces the usual primary-key sort.
  • A column name with spaces works as is: --order "Order Date DESC". Put a name in double quotes only when it contains a comma or a double quote, or ends in the word ASC or DESC. Inside the quotes, write a double quote as "".
  • Column names match the way your database matches them, as object names do.
  • Both apply to tables and views, and work together or on their own.
  • Opening the same table with the same --where and --order brings its tab forward. Different values open another tab.
  • On your own machine, dbcode open hands VS Code a link. A link with --where asks in VS Code first, showing the table, the connection and the condition, and opens once you choose Open. In a Dev Container, Remote-SSH or WSL window it opens straight away.

Dev Containers, Remote-SSH and WSL

Section titled “Dev Containers, Remote-SSH and WSL”

In a VS Code window connected to a Dev Container, an SSH host or WSL, dbcode open and dbcode introspect run in that window’s terminals, and in scripts, notebooks and debug sessions started there. They use the connections that window shows in DBCode. A failure prints on stderr with a non-zero exit code, so a script can tell. An unknown --order column, a --where that holds another statement, or --order with a --where that has its own ORDER BY or LIMIT shows its error in the opened tab instead. dbcode query and dbcode connections work there too.

Run DBCode: Install CLI in that window to put dbcode on its path.

Objects created since the last refresh

Section titled “Objects created since the last refresh”

The editor looks the name up in what it last read from the database. On a connection using progressive introspection, a name that is not there makes open reread the tables and views of that one schema and look once more. On other connections it does not, and you refresh first with dbcode introspect.