Gridex

AI-native database IDE for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
One app for PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, Redis, MongoDB, SQL Server, and ClickHouse — with a built-in MCP server and AI chat.

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#Download

   

_{macOS — universal DMG (Apple Silicon + Intel), signed & notarized, auto-update via Sparkle · Windows — Velopack installer, Windows 10/11 · Linux — x86_64 AppImage, Qt 6, self-update from JSON feed}

_{Looking for a specific version, delta updates, or checksums? See all releases or the download page.}

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#Supported Databases

Seven drivers in one native binary. All share the same DatabaseAdapter protocol (~50 methods) so every feature — grid, query editor, ER diagram, backup, MCP — works identically across engines.

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#Why Gridex

• Native. AppKit on macOS, WinUI 3 on Windows, Qt 6 on Linux. No Electron, no web views for the grid.
• Multi-database. Seven drivers on macOS, six on Linux/Windows (ClickHouse macOS-only for now), each with the right primitives (SCAN for Redis, aggregations for MongoDB, stored procedures for SQL Server, sequences for Postgres, MergeTree mutations for ClickHouse).
• AI that sees your schema. Claude, GPT, Gemini, and Ollama can read your tables, run read-only queries, and write SQL scoped to the connection you pick.
• MCP server built in. Plug Gridex into Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP client over stdio — 13 tools with a 3-tier permission model and audit trail.
• Credentials stay local. macOS Keychain / Windows Credential Manager. No cloud sync, no telemetry, no proxy.

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#Driver Highlights

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#MCP Server

Expose any saved connection to MCP clients (Claude Desktop, Cursor, custom agents). Available on macOS (stdio), Windows (stdio + HTTP), and Linux (stdio). Every tool call runs through a permission gate and is recorded in the audit log.

15 tools across 5 permission tiers:

Security layers in macos/Services/MCP/Security/:

• MCPPermissionEngine — per-connection mode (locked, read_only, read_write)
• MCPSQLSanitizer — rejects DDL/DML that escape the declared tier
• MCPIdentifierValidator — guards against SQL injection in identifiers
• MCPRowCountEstimator — previews how many rows a mutation will touch
• MCPRateLimiter — caps calls per tool per minute
• MCPApprovalGate — prompts the user for destructive actions

MCP window — 5 tabs: Overview, Setup, Connections, Activity, Advanced.

Every tool invocation lands in the activity log with tier, SQL, duration, row count, and approval state — so you can answer "what did the agent do last night?" without guessing.

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#ER Diagram

• macOS: custom NSView + CoreGraphics renderer. Windows: in-process Dagre layout + WebView. No external d2/Graphviz binary on either platform.
• Auto-layout, pan, zoom, fit-to-view, FK relationship routing.
• Reads live schema from the active adapter — no separate import step.
• Click a column to jump to its table; double-click to open data.

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#AI Chat

Built-in chat that understands your schema and writes SQL scoped to the selected connection.

• Anthropic Claude — streaming, tool use, extended thinking
• OpenAI — GPT-4.x / 5.x, function calling
• Google Gemini — Flash and Pro
• Ollama — local LLMs, no API key needed

Requests go direct from your machine to the provider. Gridex never proxies prompts. API keys live in the macOS Keychain / Windows Credential Manager.

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#Editor & Grid

Data grid

• Inline cell editing with type-aware parsing
• Sort, filter, paginate, column resize, multi-column sort
• Add/delete rows with pending-change tracking — commit as one transaction
• Copy rows, export to CSV / JSON / SQL

Query editor

• Multi-tab with Chrome-style tab bar grouped by database
• Syntax highlighting (keywords, strings, numbers, comments, functions)
• Execute selection or all
• Redis CLI mode for Redis connections
• Query history persisted via SwiftData — searchable, favoritable

Schema tools

• Structure viewer: columns, indexes, foreign keys, constraints
• Function and stored-procedure inspector (source + parameters)
• Create Table / Create Database sheets with type-aware defaults

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#SSH Tunnel

Password, private-key, or key-with-passphrase auth. Local port forwarding via swift-nio-ssh. Managed by the SSHTunnelService actor — one tunnel per active connection, torn down on disconnect.

#mTLS (Teleport-style)

Connections support sslKeyPath + sslCertPath + sslCACertPath for mutual TLS. Works end-to-end for PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, and ClickHouse — drop in the certs a tool like Teleport issues and connect as usual. ClickHouse accepts PKCS#12 client bundles with pinned CA (PEM or DER).

#Backup & Restore

Selective table backup, compression, and progress reporting for the CLI-backed formats.

#Import

Connections import from TablePlus, Navicat (NCX with Blowfish decrypt), DataGrip, and DBeaver — including SSH configs and keychain-stored passwords.

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#Requirements

#macOS

• macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
• Swift 5.10+ / Xcode 15+

#Windows

• Windows 10 or later (64-bit)
• Visual Studio 2022+, .NET 8 SDK, vcpkg

#Linux

• Ubuntu 22.04+/24.04, Debian 12, Fedora 40 (or any distro with Qt 6 ≥ 6.4)
• GCC ≥ 11 or Clang ≥ 14, CMake ≥ 3.24, Ninja, Qt 6 dev packages

#Build & Run

#macOS

git clone https://github.com/gridex/gridex.git
cd gridex

# Debug (ad-hoc signed, fast local testing)
swift build
.build/debug/Gridex

# Or build .app bundle
./scripts/build-app.sh
open dist/Gridex.app

#Linux

git clone https://github.com/gridex/gridex.git
cd gridex
cmake -S linux -B linux/build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build linux/build --parallel
./linux/build/gridex

Full Linux build, packaging, and AppImage instructions in linux/README.md.

#Windows

See windows/README.md for the full WinUI 3 / vcpkg / Velopack toolchain.

#Release

# Apple Silicon
./scripts/release.sh                  # → dist/Gridex-<version>-arm64.dmg

# Intel
ARCH=x86_64 ./scripts/release.sh      # → dist/Gridex-<version>-x86_64.dmg

# Both architectures
./scripts/release-all.sh

Pipeline: swift build → .app bundle → code sign → notarize → staple → DMG → sign DMG → notarize DMG.

Auto-update channels:

• macOS — Sparkle, signed/stapled DMGs advertised via appcast.
• Windows — Velopack (vpk) packaged installer + delta updates.
• Linux — AppImage with self-update against a JSON feed hosted on Cloudflare R2.

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#Architecture

Clean Architecture, 5 layers. Dependencies point inward.

gridex/
├── macos/                    macOS app (Swift, AppKit + SwiftUI)
│   ├── App/                  Lifecycle, DI container, AppState
│   ├── Core/                 Protocols, models, enums — zero deps
│   │   ├── Protocols/        DatabaseAdapter, LLMService, SchemaInspectable, MCPTool
│   │   └── Models/           RowValue, ConnectionConfig, QueryResult, MCPAuditEntry
│   ├── Domain/               Use cases, repository protocols
│   ├── Data/                 Adapters + SwiftData persistence + Keychain
│   │   └── Adapters/         SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, MSSQL, ClickHouse
│   ├── Services/             Cross-cutting
│   │   ├── QueryEngine/      ConnectionManager, QueryEngine, QueryBuilder
│   │   ├── AI/               Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Ollama providers
│   │   ├── MCP/              MCPServer, StdioTransport, Tools (Tier1/2/3), Security
│   │   ├── SSH/              SSHTunnelService (NIOSSH)
│   │   └── Export/           ExportService, BackupService
│   └── Presentation/         AppKit views, SwiftUI settings, ViewModels
├── windows/                  Windows app (C++, WinUI 3)
├── linux/                    Linux app (C++20, Qt 6) — adapters, MCP, AppImage
├── scripts/                  Build and release automation
└── Package.swift             SPM manifest

Key protocols

• DatabaseAdapter — connection lifecycle, queries, schema, CRUD, transactions, pagination. All 7 adapters conform.
• LLMService — streaming AI responses via AsyncThrowingStream. All 4 providers conform.
• SchemaInspectable — full schema snapshot for the AI context engine and ER diagram.
• MCPTool — MCP tool contract with tier, input schema, and permission-checked execute.

Concurrency

• actor for thread-safe services: QueryEngine, ConnectionManager, SSHTunnelService, BackupService, MCPServer.
• async/await throughout — no completion handlers.
• Sendable on all data models.

Dependency injection

DependencyContainer (singleton) composes services at launch. SwiftData ModelContainer is shared across windows. Services are injected via the SwiftUI environment.

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#Dependencies

System library: libsqlite3 (linked at build time). ClickHouse uses URLSession + Security.framework — no SPM dependency.

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#Star History

#Community

Join the Discord to ask questions, share feedback, or follow release notes: https://discord.gg/UuV2Ktc6.

#Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue first to discuss what you'd like to change.

See CONTRIBUTING.md and CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md.

#License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

Copyright © 2026 Thinh Nguyen.

You may use, modify, and distribute this software — including in commercial or closed-source products — provided you preserve the copyright notice and NOTICE file. See the LICENSE for full terms.