DBHub

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    |
 |                  |    |              |    |                  |
 |      Cursor      +--->+    DBHub     +--->+    SQL Server    |
 |                  |    |              |    |                  |
 |     Other MCP    +--->+              +--->+     SQLite       |
 |      Clients     |    |              |    |                  |
 |                  |    |              +--->+     MySQL        |
 |                  |    |              |    |                  |
 |                  |    |              +--->+  Other Databases |
 |                  |    |              |    |                  |
 +------------------+    +--------------+    +------------------+
      MCP Clients           MCP Server             Databases

Supported Matrix

Database Resources

Resource	URI Format	PostgreSQL	MySQL	SQL Server	SQLite
Tables	`db://tables`	✅	✅	✅	✅
Schema	`db://schema/{tableName}`	✅	✅	✅	✅

Database Tools

Tool	Command Name	PostgreSQL	MySQL	SQL Server	SQLite
Execute Query	`run_query`	✅	✅	✅	✅
List Connectors	`list_connectors`	✅	✅	✅	✅

Prompt Capabilities

Prompt	Command Name	PostgreSQL	MySQL	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 sse \
   --port 8080 \
   --dsn "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable"

# Demo mode with sample employee database
docker run --rm --init \
   --name dbhub \
   --publish 8080:8080 \
   bytebase/dbhub \
   --transport sse \
   --port 8080 \
   --demo

NPM

# PostgreSQL example
npx @bytebase/dbhub --transport sse --port 8080 --dsn "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname"

# Demo mode with sample employee database
npx @bytebase/dbhub --transport sse --port 8080 --demo

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop only supports stdio transport https://github.com/orgs/modelcontextprotocol/discussions/16

// 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"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Cursor supports both stdio and sse.
Follow Cursor MCP guide and make sure to use Agent mode.

Usage

Configure your database connection

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

pnpm dev --demo

For real databases, a Database Source Name (DSN) is required. You can provide this in several ways:

Command line argument (highest priority):
pnpm dev --dsn "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable"
Environment variable (second priority):
export DSN="postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable" pnpm dev
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

DBHub supports the following database connection string formats:

Database	DSN Format	Example
PostgreSQL	`postgres://[user]:[password]@[host]:[port]/[database]`	`postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable`
SQLite	`sqlite:///[path/to/file]` or `sqlite::memory:`	`sqlite:///path/to/database.db` or `sqlite::memory:`
SQL Server	`sqlserver://[user]:[password]@[host]:[port]/[database]`	`sqlserver://user:password@localhost:1433/dbname`
MySQL	`mysql://[user]:[password]@[host]:[port]/[database]`	`mysql://user:password@localhost:3306/dbname`

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"
sse - for browser and network clients:
npx @bytebase/dbhub --transport sse --port 5678 --dsn "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable"

Command line options

Option	Description	Default
demo	Run in demo mode with sample employee database	`false`
dsn	Database connection string	Required if not in demo mode
transport	Transport mode: `stdio` or `sse`	`stdio`
port	HTTP server port (only applicable when using `--transport=sse`)	`8080`

Development

Install dependencies:
pnpm install
Run in development mode:
pnpm dev
Build for production:
pnpm build pnpm start --transport stdio --dsn "postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable"

Debug with 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

SSE

# Start DBHub with SSE transport
pnpm dev --transport=sse --port=8080

# Start the MCP Inspector in another terminal
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

Connect to the DBHub server /sse endpoint