DBeaver as a GUI for MySQL
The MySQL database system has been around for quite some time and I feel like I’ve been using it for twice that long. After the first few years I found that driving it via the command line interface was a real drag and I moved onto something more flexible.
GUI tools came and went from my workflow as a PHP developer. The web based phpMyAdmin stood the test of time for many years until I started working with a Macintosh based team. Then I discovered Sequel Pro and got very comfortable. It seemed to cover nearly everything that I needed but our love wasn’t meant to be. The project maintainer was off doing other things and with each iteration of MacOS stability got worse.
One day a new team member joined my team and they insisted on running a Windows laptop. I found myself in a real pickle. Lucky for me they’d asked for a tool called DBeaver. I’d never heard of it before but they’d used it in their previous role. Honestly, I haven’t looked back! Especially since I jump between MacOS, Windows, and Linux on a regular basis. This GUI client has me covered!
DBeaver is a Java based desktop app with installation packages for all the major platforms. It has a very common UI design with tables + objects on the left hand side and object details + data on the right. It also has a decent SQL script editor and entity relationship diagram editor. There’s a community “free” edition as well as a commercial version.
You’d think that being a Java based app would be a significant weakness but it turns out to be a real strength this time. There are JDBC drivers for just about every database imaginable and DBeaver eats them for breakfast. Even SSH tunnelling support is rock solid and that’s a big win for any dev team running their own servers.
So if you’re looking for a new tool to support your development workflow then give this one a try. There’s even some good features for database administrators as well.
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