Manual › Reference

Set up your workspace and shortcuts

Use Preferences to make queries easier to read, control result sizes and choose defaults for each connection. The settings search finds both labels and related words, such as zoom for UI scale.

Change a setting

1. Open Settings…, or press ⌘, on macOS (Ctrl+, elsewhere). The window is titled Preferences.
2. Select a section or type in Search settings.
3. For settings that support it, choose the global, profile or connection level.
4. Change the value. Changes take effect in the running interface while you edit.
5. Choose Apply to save and stay in Preferences, or Save to save and close.

Cancel restores the settings from when you opened the window or last chose Apply. Connection exposure changes in Agents apply and save immediately, separately from these preference edits.

Choose the right section

Set global and connection defaults

An ordinary setting uses the most specific value available: connection, then its profile, then global, then the built-in default. A value marked as inherited shows where it comes from. Reset clears an override so the inherited value applies again.

flowchart LR
    Default[Built-in default] --> Global[Global setting]
    Global --> Profile[Connection profile]
    Profile --> Connection[Connection override]

Appearance, editor preferences, memory budgets, diagnostics privacy and terminal settings apply globally. Page sizes, data formats, connection behavior and driver session properties can also vary by profile or connection.

Read-only, Confirm writes and Confirm destructive statements are safety flags. An enabled flag at any applicable level stays enabled: a connection cannot turn off protection required globally or by its profile. See profiles and transactions.

Control result sizes

The memory limits move older SQL result chunks to private temporary storage while loading continues. All loaded rows remain available. Closing results releases their storage after the last reader finishes. Removing the row cap leaves the memory budgets active; the operating system manages the cache of mapped file pages.

Format displayed values

In Data formats, set date and timestamp patterns, number grouping, decimal places, boolean style, binary encoding and JSON layout. Each setting includes a sample preview. Empty date patterns and decimal places of -1 retain the value's original representation.

These options change presentation. Turn on Use these formats for export when exported text should use the same representation; it is off by default.

Learn and change shortcuts

The tables show the default sqlr preset on macOS. On Windows and Linux use Ctrl for ⌘ and Alt for ⌥. Menus and Keyboard Shortcuts show the actual bindings for your platform and chosen preset.

Apply pending changes does what the screen's own Apply or Save button does, with the same confirmations:

These shortcuts wait while a dialog is open. Refresh repeats only queries that read: a result of a statement that writes, such as DELETE … RETURNING, is left as it is.

Reopen closed tab brings back the tabs you closed during this session, the most recent first, up to 20. A reopened tab gets back its connection, database and text, or its object, but nothing runs until you run it.

The editor shortcuts follow VS Code. In a result grid, ⌘D duplicates rows instead of selecting text.

To customize a shortcut:

1. Open Keymap in Preferences.
2. Choose the sqlr or VS Code preset.
3. Search for the command and use its recording control.
4. Press the replacement chord, or Escape to cancel recording.
5. Resolve any conflict marked in red before saving.

Commands can also be unbound or reset individually; Reset all restores the preset. A binding may be reused when its command scopes do not overlap: the same chord can mean one thing in the editor and another in the result grid, as ⌘D does.

Update sqlr

Check for updates at startup is on by default. It checks GitHub at most once a day and fails silently when offline. To check on demand, choose Check for updates now in General, or Check for Updates… in Help.

When a release is offered, Install downloads and verifies its checksum. Skip this version suppresses that release in automatic checks; an explicit check can offer it again. On macOS sqlr replaces its application bundle and may request administrator access. On Linux it replaces a writable binary or AppImage. Windows and unwritable Linux installations open the release page. After an installation, use Restart now when offered.

Locate your files

Use Open settings folder in Preferences for the configuration directory. Diagnostics shows the data directory.

On macOS both directories default to ~/Library/Application Support/dev.sqlr.sqlr/. Linux uses ~/.config/sqlr/ for configuration and ~/.local/share/sqlr/ for data. The startup options --config-dir and --data-dir select different locations. Moving a vault file alone does not transfer its key or credentials.

Start with alternate directories

The command line selects storage locations before the window opens. It does not run queries. Running sqlr --help prints:

Usage: sqlr [OPTIONS]

Options:
      --data-dir <path>    Keep history, snippets, logs and known hosts in <path>
      --config-dir <path>  Read connections, profiles and settings from <path>
  -V, --version            Print the version
  -h, --help               Print this help

Both --config-dir path and --config-dir=path forms work. Unknown options, missing paths and stray arguments print usage to standard error and exit with code 2.

Related

• Profiles and transactions: set protections for database work.
• Agents and terminal: choose which connections an assistant can use.
• Troubleshooting: control SQL privacy and inspect local reports.

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