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DBHub

by OrionPotter
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MIT License
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Brought to you by Bytebase, open-source database DevSecOps platform.

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DBHub is a universal database gateway implementing the Model Context Protocol (MCP) server interface. This gateway allows MCP-compatible clients to connect to and explore different databases.

+------------------+ +--------------+ +------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | Claude Desktop +--->+ +--->+ PostgreSQL | | | | | | | | Claude Code +--->+ +--->+ SQL Server | | | | | | | | Cursor +--->+ DBHub +--->+ SQLite | | | | | | | | VS Code +--->+ +--->+ MySQL | | | | | | | | Other Clients +--->+ +--->+ MariaDB | | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------------+ +--------------+ +------------------+ MCP Clients MCP Server Databases

Supported Matrix

Database Resources

Resource Name

URI Format

PostgreSQL

MySQL

MariaDB

SQL Server

SQLite

schemas

db://schemas

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

tables_in_schema

db://schemas/{schemaName}/tables

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

table_structure_in_schema

db://schemas/{schemaName}/tables/{tableName}

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

indexes_in_table

db://schemas/{schemaName}/tables/{tableName}/indexes

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

procedures_in_schema

db://schemas/{schemaName}/procedures

✅

✅

✅

✅

❌

procedure_details_in_schema

db://schemas/{schemaName}/procedures/{procedureName}

✅

✅

✅

✅

❌

Database Tools

Tool

Command Name

Description

PostgreSQL

MySQL

MariaDB

SQL Server

SQLite

Execute SQL

execute_sql

Execute single or multiple SQL statements (separated by semicolons)

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

Prompt Capabilities

Prompt

Command Name

PostgreSQL

MySQL

MariaDB

SQL Server

SQLite

Generate SQL

generate_sql

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

Explain DB Elements

explain_db

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

Installation

Docker

# PostgreSQL example docker run --rm --init \ --name dbhub \ --publish 8080:8080 \ bytebase/dbhub \ --transport http \ --port 8080 \ --dsn "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable"
# Demo mode with sqlite sample employee database docker run --rm --init \ --name dbhub \ --publish 8080:8080 \ bytebase/dbhub \ --transport http \ --port 8080 \ --demo

Docker Compose Setup:

If you're using Docker Compose for development, add DBHub to your docker-compose.yml:

dbhub: image: bytebase/dbhub:latest container_name: dbhub ports: - "8080:8080" environment: - DBHUB_LOG_LEVEL=info command: - --transport - http - --port - "8080" - --dsn - "postgres://user:password@database:5432/dbname" depends_on: - database

NPM

# PostgreSQL example npx @bytebase/dbhub --transport http --port 8080 --dsn "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable" # Demo mode with sqlite sample employee database npx @bytebase/dbhub --transport http --port 8080 --demo
# Demo mode with sample employee database npx @bytebase/dbhub --transport http --port 8080 --demo

Note: The demo mode includes a bundled SQLite sample "employee" database with tables for employees, departments, salaries, and more.

Claude Desktop

claude-desktop

// claude_desktop_config.json { "mcpServers": { "dbhub-postgres-docker": { "command": "docker", "args": [ "run", "-i", "--rm", "bytebase/dbhub", "--transport", "stdio", "--dsn", // Use host.docker.internal as the host if connecting to the local db "postgres://user:password@host.docker.internal:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable" ] }, "dbhub-postgres-npx": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@bytebase/dbhub", "--transport", "stdio", "--dsn", "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable" ] }, "dbhub-demo": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@bytebase/dbhub", "--transport", "stdio", "--demo"] } } }

Claude Code

Check https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/mcp

Cursor

cursor://anysphere.cursor-deeplink/mcp/install?name=dbhub&config=eyJjb21tYW5kIjoibnB4IEBieXRlYmFzZS9kYmh1YiIsImVudiI6eyJUUkFOU1BPUlQiOiJzdGRpbyIsIkRTTiI6InBvc3RncmVzOi8vdXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZEBsb2NhbGhvc3Q6NTQzMi9kYm5hbWU%2Fc3NsbW9kZT1kaXNhYmxlIiwiUkVBRE9OTFkiOiJ0cnVlIn19

cursor

VSCode + Copilot

Check https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/mcp-servers

VSCode with GitHub Copilot can connect to DBHub via both stdio and http transports. This enables AI agents to interact with your development database through a secure interface.

  • VSCode supports both stdio and http transports

  • Configure MCP server in .vscode/mcp.json:

Stdio Transport:

{ "servers": { "dbhub": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@bytebase/dbhub", "--transport", "stdio", "--dsn", "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname" ] } }, "inputs": [] }

HTTP Transport:

{ "servers": { "dbhub": { "url": "http://localhost:8080/mcp", "type": "http" } }, "inputs": [] }

Copilot Instructions:

You can provide Copilot with context by creating .github/copilot-instructions.md:

## Database Access This project provides an MCP server (DBHub) for secure SQL access to the development database. AI agents can execute SQL queries. In read-only mode (recommended for production): - `SELECT * FROM users LIMIT 5;` - `SHOW TABLES;` - `DESCRIBE table_name;` In read-write mode (development/testing): - `INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES ('John', 'john@example.com');` - `UPDATE users SET status = 'active' WHERE id = 1;` - `CREATE TABLE test_table (id INT PRIMARY KEY);` Use `--readonly` flag to restrict to read-only operations for safety.

Usage

Read-only Mode

You can run DBHub in read-only mode, which restricts SQL query execution to read-only operations:

# Enable read-only mode npx @bytebase/dbhub --readonly --dsn "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname"

In read-only mode, only readonly SQL operations are allowed.

This provides an additional layer of security when connecting to production databases.

Suffix Tool Names with ID

You can suffix tool names with a custom ID using the --id flag or ID environment variable. This is useful when running multiple DBHub instances (e.g., in Cursor) to allow the client to route queries to the correct database.

Example configuration for multiple databases in Cursor:

{ "mcpServers": { "dbhub-prod": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@bytebase/dbhub"], "env": { "ID": "prod", "DSN": "postgres://user:password@prod-host:5432/dbname" } }, "dbhub-staging": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@bytebase/dbhub"], "env": { "ID": "staging", "DSN": "mysql://user:password@staging-host:3306/dbname" } } } }

With this configuration:

  • Production database tools: execute_sql_prod

  • Staging database tools: execute_sql_staging

Multi-Database Configuration (TOML)

New in v0.11.6+: DBHub now supports TOML-based configuration files for managing multiple database connections within a single instance. This is the recommended approach for projects that need to query across multiple databases.

Quick Start

  1. Create a dbhub.toml file in your project directory:

[[sources]] id = "prod_pg" dsn = "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/production" readonly = false max_rows = 1000 [[sources]] id = "staging_mysql" type = "mysql" host = "localhost" port = 3306 database = "staging" user = "root" password = "secret" max_rows = 500

  1. Run DBHub:

# Automatically loads ./dbhub.toml npx @bytebase/dbhub --transport http --port 8080 # Or specify custom config location npx @bytebase/dbhub --config=/path/to/config.toml --transport http --port 8080

Configuration Structure

Each database source is defined with [[sources]] and requires a unique id field:

Using DSN (recommended):

[[sources]] id = "my_database" dsn = "postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/dbname" readonly = false max_rows = 1000

Using individual parameters:

[[sources]] id = "my_database" type = "mysql" # postgres, mysql, mariadb, sqlserver, sqlite host = "localhost" port = 3306 database = "mydb" user = "root" password = "secret" readonly = false max_rows = 1000

With SSH tunnel:

[[sources]] id = "remote_db" dsn = "postgres://user:pass@10.0.0.5:5432/dbname" ssh_host = "bastion.example.com" ssh_port = 22 ssh_user = "ubuntu" ssh_key = "~/.ssh/id_rsa" # ssh_password = "password" # Alternative to ssh_key # ssh_passphrase = "key_pass" # If key is encrypted

Using Multiple Databases in MCP Tools

When using multi-database configuration, you can specify which database to query using the source_id parameter:

// Execute SQL on specific database execute_sql({ sql: "SELECT * FROM users LIMIT 10", source_id: "prod_pg" // Uses the source with id="prod_pg" }); // Execute on default database (first in config) execute_sql({ sql: "SELECT * FROM orders LIMIT 10" // No source_id specified - uses first [[sources]] entry });

Configuration Priority

DBHub follows this priority order for configuration:

  1. TOML config file (e.g., --config or ./dbhub.toml) OR CLI arguments (e.g., --dsn)
    (These are mutually exclusive: if --config is provided, TOML is used; otherwise, --dsn is used.)

  2. Environment variables (e.g., DSN)

  3. .env files (e.g., .env or .env.local)

Note: --config (TOML) and --dsn (CLI) are alternative primary configuration methods, both taking precedence over environment variables and .env files. Users cannot combine --dsn with TOML configuration.

Example: Complete Multi-Database Setup

See dbhub.toml.example in the repository for a comprehensive example with all supported options and detailed comments.

Key Features:

  • Default database: The first [[sources]] entry is the default

  • Per-source settings: Each source can have its own readonly and max_rows settings

  • Path expansion: Paths starting with ~/ are expanded to your home directory

  • Security: Passwords in DSN strings are automatically redacted in logs

Backward Compatibility

Single-database configurations using CLI arguments, environment variables, or .env files continue to work exactly as before. TOML configuration is optional and only needed for multi-database scenarios.

Row Limiting

You can limit the number of rows returned from SELECT queries using the --max-rows parameter. This helps prevent accidentally retrieving too much data from large tables:

# Limit SELECT queries to return at most 1000 rows npx @bytebase/dbhub --dsn "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname" --max-rows 1000

  • Row limiting is only applied to SELECT statements, not INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE

  • If your query already has a LIMIT or TOP clause, DBHub uses the smaller value

SSL Connections

You can specify the SSL mode using the sslmode parameter in your DSN string:

Database

sslmode=disable

sslmode=require

Default SSL Behavior

PostgreSQL

✅

✅

Certificate verification

MySQL

✅

✅

Certificate verification

MariaDB

✅

✅

Certificate verification

SQL Server

✅

✅

Certificate verification

SQLite

❌

❌

N/A (file-based)

SSL Mode Options:

  • sslmode=disable: All SSL/TLS encryption is turned off. Data is transmitted in plaintext.

  • sslmode=require: Connection is encrypted, but the server's certificate is not verified. This provides protection against packet sniffing but not against man-in-the-middle attacks. You may use this for trusted self-signed CA.

Without specifying sslmode, most databases default to certificate verification, which provides the highest level of security.

Example usage:

# Disable SSL postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable # Require SSL without certificate verification postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=require # Standard SSL with certificate verification (default) postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname

SSH Tunnel Support

DBHub supports connecting to databases through SSH tunnels, enabling secure access to databases in private networks or behind firewalls.

Using SSH Config File (Recommended)

DBHub can read SSH connection settings from your ~/.ssh/config file. Simply use the host alias from your SSH config:

# If you have this in ~/.ssh/config: # Host mybastion # HostName bastion.example.com # User ubuntu # IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa npx @bytebase/dbhub \ --dsn "postgres://dbuser:dbpass@database.internal:5432/mydb" \ --ssh-host mybastion

DBHub will automatically use the settings from your SSH config, including hostname, user, port, and identity file. If no identity file is specified in the config, DBHub will try common default locations (~/.ssh/id_rsa, ~/.ssh/id_ed25519, etc.).

SSH with Password Authentication

npx @bytebase/dbhub \ --dsn "postgres://dbuser:dbpass@database.internal:5432/mydb" \ --ssh-host bastion.example.com \ --ssh-user ubuntu \ --ssh-password mypassword

SSH with Private Key Authentication

npx @bytebase/dbhub \ --dsn "postgres://dbuser:dbpass@database.internal:5432/mydb" \ --ssh-host bastion.example.com \ --ssh-user ubuntu \ --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_rsa

SSH with Private Key and Passphrase

npx @bytebase/dbhub \ --dsn "postgres://dbuser:dbpass@database.internal:5432/mydb" \ --ssh-host bastion.example.com \ --ssh-port 2222 \ --ssh-user ubuntu \ --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_rsa \ --ssh-passphrase mykeypassphrase

Using Environment Variables

export SSH_HOST=bastion.example.com export SSH_USER=ubuntu export SSH_KEY=~/.ssh/id_rsa npx @bytebase/dbhub --dsn "postgres://dbuser:dbpass@database.internal:5432/mydb"

Note: When using SSH tunnels, the database host in your DSN should be the hostname/IP as seen from the SSH server (bastion host), not from your local machine.

Configure your database connection

You can use DBHub in demo mode with a sample employee database for testing:

npx @bytebase/dbhub --demo
WARNING

If your user/password contains special characters, you have two options:

  1. Escape them in the DSN (e.g. pass#word should be escaped as pass%23word)

  2. Use the individual database parameters method below (recommended)

For real databases, you can configure the database connection in two ways:

Method 1: Database Source Name (DSN)

  • Command line argument (highest priority):

    npx @bytebase/dbhub --dsn "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable"

  • Environment variable (second priority):

    export DSN="postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable" npx @bytebase/dbhub

  • Environment file (third priority):

    • For development: Create .env.local with your DSN

    • For production: Create .env with your DSN

    DSN=postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable

Method 2: Individual Database Parameters

If your password contains special characters that would break URL parsing, use individual environment variables instead:

  • Environment variables:

    export DB_TYPE=postgres export DB_HOST=localhost export DB_PORT=5432 export DB_USER=myuser export DB_PASSWORD='my@complex:password/with#special&chars' export DB_NAME=mydatabase npx @bytebase/dbhub

  • Environment file:

    DB_TYPE=postgres DB_HOST=localhost DB_PORT=5432 DB_USER=myuser DB_PASSWORD=my@complex:password/with#special&chars DB_NAME=mydatabase

Supported DB_TYPE values: postgres, mysql, mariadb, sqlserver, sqlite

Default ports (when DB_PORT is omitted):

  • PostgreSQL: 5432

  • MySQL/MariaDB: 3306

  • SQL Server: 1433

For SQLite: Only DB_TYPE=sqlite and DB_NAME=/path/to/database.db are required.

TIP

Use the individual parameter method when your password contains special characters like@, :, /, #, &, = that would break DSN parsing.

WARNING

When running in Docker, usehost.docker.internal instead of localhost to connect to databases running on your host machine. For example: mysql://user:password@host.docker.internal:3306/dbname

DBHub supports the following database connection string formats:

Database

DSN Format

Example

MySQL

mysql://[user]:[password]@[host]:[port]/[database]

mysql://user:password@localhost:3306/dbname?sslmode=disable

MariaDB

mariadb://[user]:[password]@[host]:[port]/[database]

mariadb://user:password@localhost:3306/dbname?sslmode=disable

PostgreSQL

postgres://[user]:[password]@[host]:[port]/[database]

postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable

SQL Server

sqlserver://[user]:[password]@[host]:[port]/[database]

sqlserver://user:password@localhost:1433/dbname?sslmode=disable

SQLite

sqlite:///[path/to/file]

or

sqlite:///:memory:

sqlite:///path/to/database.db

,

sqlite:C:/Users/YourName/data/database.db (windows)

or

sqlite:///:memory:

SQL Server

Extra query parameters:

authentication

  • authentication=azure-active-directory-access-token. Only applicable when running from Azure. See DefaultAzureCredential.

Transport

  • stdio (default) - for direct integration with tools like Claude Desktop:

    npx @bytebase/dbhub --transport stdio --dsn "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable"

  • http - for browser and network clients:

    npx @bytebase/dbhub --transport http --port 5678 --dsn "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable"

Command line options

Option

Environment Variable

Description

Default

dsn

DSN

Database connection string

Required if not in demo mode

N/A

DB_TYPE

Database type:

postgres

,

mysql

,

mariadb

,

sqlserver

,

sqlite

N/A

N/A

DB_HOST

Database server hostname (not needed for SQLite)

N/A

N/A

DB_PORT

Database server port (uses default if omitted, not needed for SQLite)

N/A

N/A

DB_USER

Database username (not needed for SQLite)

N/A

N/A

DB_PASSWORD

Database password (not needed for SQLite)

N/A

N/A

DB_NAME

Database name or SQLite file path

N/A

transport

TRANSPORT

Transport mode:

stdio

or

http

stdio

port

PORT

HTTP server port (only applicable when using

--transport=http

)

8080

readonly

READONLY

Restrict SQL execution to read-only operations

false

max-rows

N/A

Limit the number of rows returned from SELECT queries

No limit

demo

N/A

Run in demo mode with sample employee database

false

id

ID

Instance identifier to suffix tool names (for multi-instance)

N/A

ssh-host

SSH_HOST

SSH server hostname for tunnel connection

N/A

ssh-port

SSH_PORT

SSH server port

22

ssh-user

SSH_USER

SSH username

N/A

ssh-password

SSH_PASSWORD

SSH password (for password authentication)

N/A

ssh-key

SSH_KEY

Path to SSH private key file

N/A

ssh-passphrase

SSH_PASSPHRASE

Passphrase for SSH private key

N/A

The demo mode uses an in-memory SQLite database loaded with the sample employee database that includes tables for employees, departments, titles, salaries, department employees, and department managers. The sample database includes SQL scripts for table creation, data loading, and testing.

Development

  1. Install dependencies:

    pnpm install

  2. Run in development mode:

    pnpm dev

  3. Build for production:

    pnpm build pnpm start --transport stdio --dsn "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable"

Testing

The project uses Vitest for comprehensive unit and integration testing:

  • Run all tests: pnpm test

  • Run tests in watch mode: pnpm test:watch

  • Run integration tests: pnpm test:integration

Integration Tests

DBHub includes comprehensive integration tests for all supported database connectors using Testcontainers. These tests run against real database instances in Docker containers, ensuring full compatibility and feature coverage.

Prerequisites

  • Docker: Ensure Docker is installed and running on your machine

  • Docker Resources: Allocate sufficient memory (recommended: 4GB+) for multiple database containers

  • Network Access: Ability to pull Docker images from registries

Running Integration Tests

Note: This command runs all integration tests in parallel, which may take 5-15 minutes depending on your system resources and network speed.

# Run all database integration tests pnpm test:integration
# Run only PostgreSQL integration tests pnpm test src/connectors/__tests__/postgres.integration.test.ts # Run only MySQL integration tests pnpm test src/connectors/__tests__/mysql.integration.test.ts # Run only MariaDB integration tests pnpm test src/connectors/__tests__/mariadb.integration.test.ts # Run only SQL Server integration tests pnpm test src/connectors/__tests__/sqlserver.integration.test.ts # Run only SQLite integration tests pnpm test src/connectors/__tests__/sqlite.integration.test.ts # Run JSON RPC integration tests pnpm test src/__tests__/json-rpc-integration.test.ts

All integration tests follow these patterns:

  1. Container Lifecycle: Start database container → Connect → Setup test data → Run tests → Cleanup

  2. Shared Test Utilities: Common test patterns implemented in IntegrationTestBase class

  3. Database-Specific Features: Each database includes tests for unique features and capabilities

  4. Error Handling: Comprehensive testing of connection errors, invalid SQL, and edge cases

Troubleshooting Integration Tests

Container Startup Issues:

# Check Docker is running docker ps # Check available memory docker system df # Pull images manually if needed docker pull postgres:15-alpine docker pull mysql:8.0 docker pull mariadb:10.11 docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest

SQL Server Timeout Issues:

  • SQL Server containers require significant startup time (3-5 minutes)

  • Ensure Docker has sufficient memory allocated (4GB+ recommended)

  • Consider running SQL Server tests separately if experiencing timeouts

Network/Resource Issues:

# Run tests with verbose output pnpm test:integration --reporter=verbose # Run single database test to isolate issues pnpm test:integration -- --testNamePattern="PostgreSQL" # Check Docker container logs if tests fail docker logs <container_id>

Debug with MCP Inspector

mcp-inspector

stdio

# PostgreSQL example TRANSPORT=stdio DSN="postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable" npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node /path/to/dbhub/dist/index.js

HTTP

# Start DBHub with HTTP transport pnpm dev --transport=http --port=8080 # Start the MCP Inspector in another terminal npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

Connect to the DBHub server /mcp endpoint

Contributors

This server cannot be installed

-
security - not tested
A
license - permissive license
-
quality - not tested

How are these scores calculated?

hybrid server

The server is able to function both locally and remotely, depending on the configuration or use case.

A universal database gateway MCP server that enables AI assistants to connect to and query multiple databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, SQLite) with support for schema exploration, SQL execution, and secure connections via SSH tunnels.

  1. Database Resources
    1. Database Tools
      1. Prompt Capabilities
        1. Installation
          1. Docker
          2. NPM
          3. Claude Desktop
          4. Claude Code
          5. Cursor
          6. VSCode + Copilot
        2. Usage
          1. Read-only Mode
          2. Suffix Tool Names with ID
          3. Multi-Database Configuration (TOML)
          4. Row Limiting
          5. SSL Connections
          6. SSH Tunnel Support
          7. Configure your database connection
          8. Transport
          9. Command line options
        3. Development
          1. Testing
          2. Debug with MCP Inspector
        4. Contributors

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