dbportal

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dbportal is a local developer tool for inspecting databases and managing Docker containers — all from one browser UI.

In database mode it starts a local Express server, detects connections from DATABASE_URL and optional DATABASE_URL_1 to DATABASE_URL_10, then opens a React dashboard for browsing, querying, and analysing your data.

In Docker mode it connects to the local Docker daemon and gives you a live container manager, image browser, and volume browser without any additional setup.

🗺️ View the Project Roadmap (Kanban Board)

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Modes

Database mode (default)

Run without any flags to start in database mode:

npx dbportal

Reads DATABASE_URL (and up to 10 numbered variants) from a .env file in the current directory.

Docker mode

Run with the --docker flag to connect to your local Docker daemon:

npx dbportal --docker

No .env or database credentials needed. Requires Docker Desktop (or Docker Engine) to be running on the same machine.

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What it does

Database mode

• Connects to PostgreSQL / CockroachDB, MongoDB, MySQL / MariaDB, SQLite, SQL Server, and Redis.
• Supports multiple live connections in one session.
• Multi-database fleet dashboard — when multiple connections are configured, a summary page shows combined totals, per-database health cards, cross-database size comparison bars, database-type distribution donut chart, and quick-action shortcuts.
• Shows an overview dashboard per database with counts, distribution charts, and top-object insights.
• Browses tables and collections in table, document, JSON, and inspector views.
• Visualizes relational schema graphs using foreign keys and column metadata.
• Provides a query workspace for SQL drivers and MongoDB structured queries.
• Runs in a local-only server bound to 127.0.0.1.
• Enforces a read-only editing model in this build.

Docker mode

• Lists all running and stopped containers with health indicators.
• Shows live CPU and memory metrics per container.
• Start, stop, restart, and delete individual containers from the UI.
• Bulk selection — select multiple containers and stop or delete them all at once.
• Container launcher — pull and run new containers directly from the UI:
  • Docker Hub image search with tag selection.
  • Port bindings, volume mounts, and environment variable configuration.
  • Command override and interactive TTY (-it) support.
  • Auto-populates sensible defaults for common images (Redis, Postgres, MySQL, Mongo…).
  • Generates and exports a docker-compose.yml for your configuration.
• Images tab — browse local Docker images, delete individual or multiple images at once.
• Volumes tab — browse local Docker volumes, delete individual or multiple volumes at once.
• Displays the docker exec -it <name> sh command for TTY-enabled containers so you can attach a shell from your own terminal.
• Container stdout/stderr logs with refresh and copy-to-clipboard.

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Current architecture

• Backend: Node.js, Express, TypeScript.
• Database access: native drivers, not an ORM.
• Frontend: React + Vite + TypeScript.
• Icons: custom stroke-based SVG icon set (Icons.tsx) — no emoji, no third-party icon library.
• Packaging: CLI entry point plus compiled browser assets bundled into the npm package.

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Supported databases

Protocol	Database	Example
postgres://, postgresql://	PostgreSQL	postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/app
cockroachdb://, cockroach://	CockroachDB	cockroachdb://root@localhost:26257/defaultdb
mongodb://, mongodb+srv://	MongoDB	mongodb://localhost:27017/app
mysql://, mariadb://	MySQL / MariaDB	mysql://root:pass@localhost:3306/app
sqlite:	SQLite	sqlite:./data/app.sqlite
mssql://, sqlserver://	SQL Server	mssql://sa:pass@localhost:1433/master
redis://, rediss://	Redis	redis://localhost:6379

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Main features

Multi-database fleet dashboard

• Shown automatically when two or more connections are configured.
• Summary bar showing total databases, objects, and records across all connections.
• Per-database health cards with cross-database size comparison and type distribution chart.
• Quick-actions to jump to any database's query console, schema visualizer, or a specific table.

Overview dashboard

• Table / collection counts and record totals.
• Data distribution chart and top-object insights.
• Click-through navigation into any table or collection.

Data explorer

• Table, document, JSON, and inspector views.
• Pagination with configurable page size.
• Per-column filtering, sortable columns, and CSV export.
• Sensitive column masking — hides password, token, and secret fields behind *****.

Schema visualizer

• Auto-generated relational graph from foreign-key and column metadata.
• Table inspector with column types and relationships.

Query workspace

• SQL mode for relational drivers with read-only enforcement.
• MongoDB structured query and aggregation pipeline mode.
• Query bookmarks, history, and copy-to-clipboard.

Docker container manager

• Live container list with CPU %, memory, ports, and health status.
• Start, stop, restart, and delete containers individually or in bulk.
• Container logs with clipboard copy.

Container launcher

• Search Docker Hub, pick a tag, configure ports / volumes / env vars, and launch containers.
• Auto-populates sensible defaults for common images (Redis, Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, Nginx, and more).
• Multi-container batch launch with a real-time execution log.
• Generate and export a docker-compose.yml for the current setup.

Images & Volumes browser

• Browse, search, and delete local Docker images and volumes individually or in bulk.

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Read-only behavior (database mode)

This build is intentionally read-only for database connections.

• Write endpoints were removed from the backend.
• Mutating SQL statements are blocked at the server.
• MongoDB $out and $merge pipeline stages are blocked.
• Inline edit and update behavior was removed from the table UI.

Use read-only database credentials if you want an additional database-level safety layer.

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Security

• Rate limiting — all /api/ routes are protected with a 100-requests-per-minute rate limiter (express-rate-limit). This prevents brute-force or accidental runaway polling.
• ReDoS protection — block-comment stripping in the SQL read-only checker uses a safe pattern to prevent regex denial-of-service.
• Dependency auditing — known vulnerabilities in brace-expansion, qs, uuid, and transitive frontend dependencies are patched. Run npm audit for the current status.
• Read-only SQL enforcement — only SELECT, WITH, SHOW, DESCRIBE, EXPLAIN, and PRAGMA statements are permitted. All mutating keywords (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, DROP, etc.) are blocked even when nested inside CTEs.

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Environment variables

Create a .env file in the project root (database mode only).

DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/my_db
DATABASE_URL_1=mongodb://localhost:27017/logs
DATABASE_URL_2=sqlite:./local.db
PORT=3000

Only DATABASE_URL is required. Additional numbered URLs are optional.

Docker mode does not require any environment variables.

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📸 Application Screenshots

Overview Dashboard — Summary Analytics

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Overview Dashboard — Database Insights

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Schema Visualiser

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Table View

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Card View

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Inspector View

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Installation

Use with npx (no install needed)

The fastest way — no installation required:

# Database mode
npx dbportal

# Docker mode
npx dbportal --docker

With specific host or port:

npx dbportal --host 127.0.0.1 --port 4000
npx dbportal --docker --port 5656

Install as a dev dependency (recommended)

Add dbportal to your project so your whole team gets the same version:

npm install --save-dev dbportal

Then add a script to your package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "db": "dbportal",
    "db:docker": "dbportal --docker"
  }
}

Run it with:

npm run db
npm run db:docker

Develop from this repository

First, install the dependencies:

npm install

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CLI flags

Flag	Description	Default
--docker	Start in Docker mode (connects to local daemon)	off
--port <n>	Port to listen on	3000
--host <addr>	Host/address to bind	127.0.0.1

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Docker mode API endpoints

In addition to the standard database API routes, Docker mode exposes:

Method	Path	Description
GET	/api/docker/containers	List all containers
GET	/api/docker/containers/:id/stats	Live CPU / memory stats
GET	/api/docker/containers/:id/inspect	Full container inspect
GET	/api/docker/containers/:id/logs	Container stdout/stderr
POST	/api/docker/containers/:id/action	{ action: "start"|"stop"|"restart"|"delete" }
POST	/api/docker/containers/bulk-action	{ ids: string[], action: "stop"|"delete" }
GET	/api/docker/images	List local images
DELETE	/api/docker/images/:id	Delete a single image
POST	/api/docker/images/bulk-delete	{ ids: string[] }
GET	/api/docker/volumes	List local volumes
DELETE	/api/docker/volumes/:name	Delete a single volume
POST	/api/docker/volumes/bulk-delete	{ names: string[] }
GET	/api/docker/hub/search?query=	Search Docker Hub
GET	/api/docker/hub/tags?repo=	Fetch image tags
POST	/api/docker/hub/run	Pull + run a batch of containers (SSE stream)
POST	/api/docker/hub/save-compose	Save generated compose YAML to disk

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Standard API endpoints (database mode)

• GET /api/connections
• GET /api/tables?dbId=...
• GET /api/capabilities?dbId=...
• GET /api/overview?dbId=...
• GET /api/schema?dbId=...
• GET /api/data/:name?dbId=...&limit=...
• POST /api/query?dbId=...

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Query format examples

SQL

{ "query": "SELECT * FROM users LIMIT 50" }

MongoDB structured query

{
  "query": {
    "collection": "users",
    "filter": { "status": "active" },
    "projection": { "name": 1, "email": 1 },
    "sort": { "createdAt": -1 },
    "limit": 25
  }
}

MongoDB aggregation pipeline

{
  "query": {
    "collection": "orders",
    "pipeline": [
      { "$match": { "status": { "$exists": true } } },
      { "$group": { "_id": "$status", "total": { "$sum": 1 } } },
      { "$sort": { "total": -1 } }
    ]
  }
}

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Troubleshooting

Port already in use

Error

Error: Unable to find an available port between 3000 and 3024

Fix

Set a custom port in your .env file:

PORT=4000

Or pass a port directly with the CLI:

npx dbportal --port 4000

Docker daemon not running

Error

connect ENOENT /var/run/docker.sock

Fix

Make sure Docker Desktop (or Docker Engine) is running before starting dbportal in Docker mode. On Windows, start Docker Desktop from the system tray.

Ubuntu / Busybox containers exit immediately

These images run an interactive shell (/bin/bash or sh) as their entrypoint. Without a TTY, the shell receives EOF immediately and exits with code 0.

Fix

When launching them through the Container Launcher, enable the TTY / Interactive toggle. This sets Tty: true and OpenStdin: true. Alternatively, set a persistent command such as sleep infinity or tail -f /dev/null in the Command field.

PostgreSQL SSL certificate errors

Error

self-signed certificate in certificate chain

Fix

Append one of the following to your DATABASE_URL:

?sslmode=disable

or

?sslmode=require

Example:

DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/my_db?sslmode=require

MongoDB SRV resolution failing

Error

querySrv ENOTFOUND _mongodb._tcp.cluster.mongodb.net

Fix

This is usually caused by DNS resolution issues.

• Check your internet connection and DNS settings
• VPNs or corporate proxies may block SRV resolution
• Try using a direct mongodb:// connection string instead of mongodb+srv://

Example:

mongodb://localhost:27017/my_db

SQLite file path issues on Windows

Error

SQLITE_CANTOPEN: unable to open database file

Fix

Use forward slashes or double backslashes in SQLite paths.

Examples:

sqlite:./data/app.sqlite

sqlite:C:/Users/you/app.sqlite

No DATABASE_URL found

Error

No DATABASE_URL found in .env. Please provide at least one connection string.

Fix

Make sure your .env file exists in the same directory where you run:

npx dbportal

The CLI reads .env from the current working directory. This error does not appear in Docker mode.

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Publishing notes

• The package ships the compiled backend in dist/ and the built frontend in frontend/dist/.
• npm publish currently requires an account token or 2FA OTP on your account.
• The package name is dbportal and the current version is 1.1.0.

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Repository layout

• src/ backend source
  • cli.ts Express routes for both modes
  • docker-service.ts Docker daemon adapter
  • drivers/ database-specific driver implementations
• frontend/src/ React UI source
  • components/Icons.tsx shared SVG icon set
  • components/DockerSidebar.tsx Docker mode navigation + bulk select
  • components/views/DockerDashboardView.tsx container metrics + logs
  • components/views/DockerRunnerView.tsx container launcher
  • components/views/DockerImagesView.tsx local images browser
  • components/views/DockerVolumesView.tsx local volumes browser
• bin/cli.js executable launcher
• dist/ compiled package artifacts

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💬 Community

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👉 Join the dbportal Discord Server

Contributors

License

MIT © Manan Gupta