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Control writes and transactions

A connection profile sets the default commit mode, confirmation rules and colour for a connection. A transaction groups statements until you commit or roll back. Check both the active connection and its transaction state before applying changes.

Choose a connection profile

Choose Profile in the connection form. Open Connection profiles to edit profiles, create your own or reset built-in values.

Built-in profile	Commit mode	Confirm writes	Confirm destructive statements	Idle transaction prompt
Development	Auto	Off	On	Off
Test	Smart	Off	On	Off
Production	Manual	On	On	After 10 minutes

Test uses amber and Production red to help you recognise the environment. None of the built-in profiles is read-only by default. Enable read-only when you need browsing without writes.

Destructive statements include DROP, TRUNCATE, column drops and DELETE or UPDATE without WHERE. Review confirmations carefully; a confirmation does not make a statement reversible.

Connection profiles with commit mode and write confirmation settings

Choose how statements commit

Mode	Behaviour
Auto	Each statement commits independently, unless you explicitly open a transaction
Manual	The first ordinary statement starts a transaction; later statements join it until your decision
Smart	Reads behave like Auto; a write or schema change starts a transaction that remains open

Change the current session's mode from the toolbar without editing the saved profile. Switching to Auto while a transaction is open first asks you to commit or roll back.

By default each editor has its own session. A transaction in one editor does not include statements from another editor or the explorer. With shared sessions enabled, tabs on that session share the transaction.

MongoDB, Elasticsearch, Redis and the Snowflake SQL API driver run in Auto because their sqlr drivers do not expose transaction controls. Profiles still supply colour, confirmations and read-only protections.

Finish a transaction

Check the status bar for the transaction's statement count and start time.
Review your results and changes.
Choose Commit to keep the database changes, or Rollback to undo uncommitted work.

flowchart LR
    Idle[No transaction] -->|Manual statement or Smart write| Open[Transaction open]
    Open -->|More statements| Open
    Open -->|Commit| Saved[Changes committed]
    Open -->|Rollback| Undone[Changes rolled back]
    Saved --> Idle
    Undone --> Idle

Closing an editor with its own open transaction, disconnecting, reconnecting or quitting asks you to choose Commit, Roll back or Cancel. If the network connection is lost, the transaction is lost too; reconnecting does not restore it.

MySQL and MariaDB DDL can implicitly commit an open transaction, even if the DDL fails. Read the transaction warning before assuming that Rollback can still undo earlier work.

Recover from an error or use savepoints

A statement error can leave the transaction open. PostgreSQL marks it failed: roll back the transaction, or roll back to an earlier savepoint where available, before continuing. A commit of that failed PostgreSQL transaction is reported as a rollback.

In an open, healthy Manual or Smart transaction, choose Savepoint to mark your progress. Rollback to ▾ lets you discard later work while keeping earlier work. SQL transaction commands are also recognised and tracked.

When the idle transaction prompt appears, choose Commit, Roll back or Keep open. Keeping it open silences that prompt until the next activity; the transaction still holds any database resources or locks it acquired.

Enforce read-only and confirmations

Read-only can come from the profile, a setting or the current session's switch. The client rejects modifying or unrecognised statements, and requests server enforcement where supported. Read-only results cannot be edited.

Settings resolve from global values through profile overrides to connection overrides. Safety flags combine to retain protection: if any level enables read-only or a confirmation rule, a lower level cannot turn it off. Agents with Read access always use read-only sessions.

Results and editing: understand Apply inside a transaction.
Settings and shortcuts: configure setting levels.