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db-mcp

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db-mcp (SQLite MCP Server)

SQLite MCP Server with 170+ specialized tools, 11 data resources + 11 help resources, and 10 prompts, audit logging with DDL backup snapshots, HTTP/SSE Transport, OAuth 2.1 authentication, tool filtering, granular access control, and structured error handling with categorized, actionable responses. Available in WASM and better-sqlite3 variants.

GitHub GitHub Release npm Docker Pulls License: MIT Status MCP Security TypeScript E2E Tests Coverage

Wiki • Changelog

🎯 What Sets Us Apart

Feature

Description

181+ Specialized Tools

The most comprehensive SQLite MCP server available — core CRUD, JSON/JSONB, FTS5 full-text search, statistical analysis, vector search, geospatial/SpatiaLite, introspection, migration, and admin

Deep Observability

Built-in Prometheus /metrics export, real-time sqlite://metrics MCP resource, historical persistence to a SystemDb sidecar, and a granular sqlite_audit_search tool for compliance and investigation

Dynamic Configuration

Full YAML/JSON config file support (--config) with precedence rules, plus a sqlite_server_config tool for live runtime config updates (e.g., log levels) without server restarts

Advanced Query & Search

O(1) cursor-based keyset pagination, faceted search aggregation, and sqlite_hybrid_search orchestrating FTS5 + Vector similarity with Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF) in a single tool call

AI Index Recommendations

sqlite_index_audit automatically analyzes EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN responses to suggest optimized composite and partial indexes based on workload patterns

Real-time Subscriptions

Native resources/subscribe support pushing event-driven notifications for sqlite://schema DDL changes and periodic sqlite://health updates directly to clients

22 Resources

11 data resources (schema, tables, table_schema, indexes, views, health, meta, audit, metrics, compile_options, pragma) + 11 help resources (sqlite://help + per-group reference) — filtered by --tool-filter

10 AI-Powered Prompts

Guided workflows for schema exploration, query building, data analysis, optimization, migration, debugging, and hybrid FTS5 + vector search

Code Mode

Massive Token Savings: Execute complex, multi-step operations inside a V8 isolate sandbox with process-level isolation and hard timeouts. Instead of spending thousands of tokens on back-and-forth tool calls, Code Mode exposes all 180+ capabilities locally, reducing token overhead by 70–90% and supercharging AI agent reasoning

Token-Optimized Payloads

Every tool response is designed for minimal token footprint with _meta.tokenEstimate on every response so agents know their token cost. Tools include compact, nodesOnly, maxOutliers, minSeverity, and maxInvalid parameters where applicable — letting agents control response size without losing data access

Dual SQLite Backends

WASM (sql.js) for zero-compilation portability, Native (better-sqlite3) for high-performance concurrent execution with full features including transactions, window functions, and SpatiaLite GIS

OAuth 2.1 + Access Control

Enterprise-ready security with RFC 9728/8414 compliance, granular scopes (full, read, write, admin, db:*, table:*:*), and Keycloak integration

Smart Tool Filtering

10 tool groups + 7 shortcuts let you stay within IDE limits while exposing exactly what you need

HTTP Streaming Transport

Streamable HTTP (/mcp) for modern clients + legacy SSE (/sse) for backward compatibility — both protocols supported simultaneously with security headers, rate limiting, health check, and stateless mode for serverless

Production-Ready Security

SQL injection protection (parameterized queries + Unicode-normalized WHERE clause validation), sandboxed code execution (V8 codeGeneration restrictions, frozen prototypes, 29 blocked patterns, Proxy nullified, RPC allowlist), CORS deny-all default, fail-closed scope enforcement, JWT claims sanitization, 7 security headers, body size limits, rate limiting with Retry-After, slowloris timeouts, trustedProxyIps, opt-in HSTS, non-root Docker, and build provenance

Encryption at Rest

Native SQLCipher support via --encryption-key or DB_ENCRYPTION_KEY. Dynamically loads better-sqlite3-multiple-ciphers and automatically encrypts the sidecar SystemDb audit logs to prevent sensitive queries from leaking

Strict TypeScript

100% type-safe codebase with strict mode, no any types, 1911 unit tests + 1136 E2E tests and 90% coverage

Deterministic Error Handling

Every tool returns structured {success, error, code, category, suggestion, recoverable} responses — no raw exceptions, no silent failures. Agents get enriched error context with actionable suggestions instead of cryptic SQLite codes

MCP 2025-03-26 Compliant

Full protocol support with tool safety hints (sensitiveHint, readOnlyHint), resource priorities, and progress notifications

Related MCP server: mcp-database-server

🚀 Quick Start

Option 1: Docker (Recommended)

Pull and run instantly:

docker pull writenotenow/db-mcp:latest

Run with volume mount:

docker run -i --rm \
  -v $(pwd):/workspace \
  writenotenow/db-mcp:latest \
  --sqlite-native /workspace/database.db

Option 2: Node.js Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/neverinfamous/db-mcp.git

Navigate to directory:

cd db-mcp

Install dependencies:

pnpm install

Build the project:

pnpm run build

Run the server with Native backend (better-sqlite3 — full features, requires Node.js native build):

node dist/cli.js --transport stdio --sqlite-native ./database.db

Or with WASM backend (sql.js — cross-platform, no compilation required):

node dist/cli.js --transport stdio --sqlite ./database.db

Backend Choice: Use --sqlite-native for full features (181 MCP tools / 170 group tools, transactions, window functions, SpatiaLite). Use --sqlite for WASM mode (154 MCP tools / 143 group tools, no native dependencies).

Verify It Works

node dist/cli.js --transport stdio --sqlite-native :memory:

Expected output:

[db-mcp] Starting MCP server...
[db-mcp] Registered adapter: Native SQLite Adapter (better-sqlite3) (sqlite:default)
[db-mcp] Server started successfully

Run the test suite:

pnpm run test

Prerequisites

  • ✅ Docker installed and running (for Docker method)

  • ✅ Node.js 24+ (LTS) (for local installation)

Code Mode: Maximum Efficiency

Code Mode (sqlite_execute_code) dramatically reduces token usage (70–90%) and is included by default in all presets.

Code executes in a worker-thread sandbox — a separate V8 isolate with its own memory space. All sqlite.* API calls are forwarded to the main thread via a MessagePort-based RPC bridge, where the actual database operations execute. This provides:

  • Process-level isolation — user code runs in a separate V8 instance with enforced heap limits

  • Readonly enforcement — when readonly: true, stripped methods throw clear error messages listing available methods via Proxy traps

  • Hard timeouts — worker termination if execution exceeds the configured limit

  • V8 code generation restrictions — eval() and Function() construction from strings disabled at the V8 engine level via codeGeneration: { strings: false, wasm: false }

  • RPC allowlist — host-side validation prevents workers from invoking unauthorized API methods

  • Full API access — all 10 tool groups are available via sqlite.* (e.g., sqlite.core.readQuery(), sqlite.json.extract())

Set CODEMODE_ISOLATION=vm with CODEMODE_ISOLATION_INSECURE=1 to fall back to the in-process vm module sandbox if needed.

⚡ Code Mode Only (Maximum Token Savings)

If you control your own setup, you can run with only Code Mode enabled — a single tool that provides access to all 180+ tools' worth of capability through the sqlite.* API:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "db-mcp-sqlite": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/path/to/db-mcp/dist/cli.js",
        "--transport",
        "stdio",
        "--sqlite-native",
        "/path/to/database.db",
        "--tool-filter",
        "codemode"
      ]
    }
  }
}

This exposes just sqlite_execute_code plus built-in tools. The agent writes JavaScript against the typed sqlite.* SDK — composing queries, chaining operations across all 10 tool groups, and returning exactly the data it needs — in one execution. This mirrors the Code Mode pattern pioneered by Cloudflare for their entire API: fixed token cost regardless of how many capabilities exist.

TIP

Maximize Token Savings: Instruct your AI agent to prefer Code Mode over individual tool calls:

"When using db-mcp, prefer sqlite_execute_code (Code Mode) for multi-step database operations to minimize token usage."

🎛️ Tool Filtering

IMPORTANT

AI-enabled IDEs like Cursor have tool limits. With 180+ tools in the native backend, you must use tool filtering to stay within limits. Use shortcuts or specify groups to enable only what you need.

Quick Start: Recommended Configurations

Starter (core + json + text)

If you prefer individual tool calls, starter provides Core + JSON + Text:

{
  "args": ["--tool-filter", "starter"]
}

Custom Groups

Specify exactly the groups you need:

{
  "args": ["--tool-filter", "core,json,stats"]
}

Shortcuts (Predefined Bundles)

Note: Native includes FTS5 (5), window functions (6), transactions (8), and SpatiaLite (7) not available in WASM.

Shortcut

WASM

Native

+ Built-in

What's Included

starter

65

70

+4

Core, JSON, Text

analytics

67

73

+4

Core, JSON, Stats

search

51

56

+4

Core, Text, Vector

spatial

40

47

+4

Core, Geo, Vector

dev-schema

41

41

+4

Core, Introspection, Migration

minimal

25

25

+4

Core only

full

143

170

+4

Everything enabled

Tool Groups (10 Available)

Note: +4 built-in tools (server_info, server_health, list_adapters, sqlite_execute_code) are injected into every group.

Group

WASM

Native

+ Built-in

Description

core

25

25

+4

Basic CRUD, schema, tables

json

25

25

+4

JSON/JSONB operations, analysis

text

15

20

+4

Text processing + FTS5 + advanced search

stats

17

23

+4

Descriptive, inference, window functions

vector

11

11

+4

Vector storage, similarity search

admin

30

31

+4

DB maintenance, backup, virtual tables

transactions

0

8

+4

Commit, rollback, savepoints (Native only)

geo

4

11

+4

Geospatial + SpatiaLite (Native only)

introspection

10

10

+4

Schema mapping, FK graph, analysis

migration

6

6

+4

Schema migration tracking (opt-in)

Syntax Reference

Prefix

Target

Example

Effect

(none)

Shortcut

starter

Whitelist Mode: Enable ONLY this shortcut

(none)

Group

core

Whitelist Mode: Enable ONLY this group

(none)

Tool

read_query

Whitelist Mode: Enable ONLY this tool

+

Group

+vector

Add tools from this group to current set

-

Group

-admin

Remove tools in this group from current set

+

Tool

+fuzzy_search

Add one specific tool

-

Tool

-drop_table

Remove one specific tool

Custom Tool Selection

You can list individual tool names (without + prefix) to create a fully custom whitelist — only the tools you specify will be enabled:

Enable exactly 3 tools (whitelist mode):

--tool-filter "read_query,write_query,list_tables"

Mix tools from different groups:

--tool-filter "read_query,fuzzy_search,vector_search"

Combine with a shortcut or group:

--tool-filter "starter,+vector_search,+fuzzy_search"

This is useful for scripted or automated clients that need a minimal, precise set of capabilities.

Examples:

--tool-filter "starter"
--tool-filter "core,json,text,stats"
--tool-filter "starter,+stats"
--tool-filter "starter,-vector"

Legacy Syntax (still supported): If you start with a negative filter (e.g., -vector,-geo), it assumes you want to start with all tools enabled and then subtract.

--tool-filter "-stats,-vector,-geo,-backup,-monitoring,-transactions,-window"

🔌 SQLite Extensions

SQLite supports both built-in extensions (compiled into better-sqlite3) and loadable extensions (require separate binaries).

Built-in Extensions (work out of box)

Extension

Purpose

Status

FTS5

Full-text search with BM25 ranking

✅ Always loaded

JSON1

JSON functions (json_extract, etc.)

✅ Always loaded

R-Tree

Spatial indexing for bounding boxes

✅ Always loaded

Loadable Extensions (require installation)

Extension

Purpose

Tools

CLI Flag

CSV

CSV virtual tables

2

--csv

SpatiaLite

Advanced GIS capabilities

7

--spatialite

Installing Extensions

CSV Extension:

Download a precompiled binary or compile from source: https://www.sqlite.org/csv.html

Set the environment variable (Linux/macOS):

export CSV_EXTENSION_PATH=/path/to/csv.so

On Windows, use .dll:

export CSV_EXTENSION_PATH=/path/to/csv.dll

Or use the CLI flag:

db-mcp --sqlite-native ./data.db --csv

SpatiaLite Extension:

Install the library for your platform:

Set the environment variable:

export SPATIALITE_PATH=/path/to/mod_spatialite.so

Or use the CLI flag:

db-mcp --sqlite-native ./data.db --spatialite

Note: Extension binaries must match your platform and architecture. The server searches common paths automatically, or use the CSV_EXTENSION_PATH / SPATIALITE_PATH environment variables for custom locations.

📁 Resources

Data Resources (11)

MCP resources provide read-only access to database metadata:

Resource

URI

Description

Min Config

sqlite_schema

sqlite://schema

Full database schema

minimal

sqlite_tables

sqlite://tables

List all tables

minimal

sqlite_table_schema

sqlite://table/{tableName}/schema

Schema for a specific table

minimal

sqlite_indexes

sqlite://indexes

All indexes in the database

minimal

sqlite_views

sqlite://views

All views in the database

core,admin

sqlite_health

sqlite://health

Database health and status

(read-only)

sqlite_meta

sqlite://meta

Database metadata and PRAGMAs

core,admin

sqlite_compile_options

sqlite://compile_options

SQLite compile-time build options

(read-only)

sqlite_pragma

sqlite://pragma

Runtime PRAGMA config snapshot

(read-only)

sqlite_audit

sqlite://audit

Recent audit log + backup stats

--audit-log

sqlite_metrics

sqlite://metrics

Internal server metrics

(read-only)

Help Resources (1 + up to 10)

On-demand tool reference documentation, filtered by --tool-filter:

Resource

URI

Description

When Registered

sqlite_help

sqlite://help

Gotchas, WASM vs Native, Code Mode API

Always

sqlite_help_core

sqlite://help/core

Core CRUD and table operations reference

When core group on

sqlite_help_json

sqlite://help/json

JSON/JSONB operations reference

When json group on

sqlite_help_text

sqlite://help/text

Text processing + FTS5 reference

When text group on

sqlite_help_stats

sqlite://help/stats

Statistical analysis + window functions reference

When stats group on

sqlite_help_vector

sqlite://help/vector

Vector/semantic search reference

When vector group on

sqlite_help_geo

sqlite://help/geo

Geospatial + SpatiaLite reference

When geo group on

sqlite_help_admin

sqlite://help/admin

Admin, backup, virtual tables reference

When admin group on

sqlite_help_transactions

sqlite://help/transactions

Transaction control reference

When transactions group on

sqlite_help_introspection

sqlite://help/introspection

Schema introspection, FK graph, diagnostics reference

When introspection group on

sqlite_help_migration

sqlite://help/migration

Migration tracking, apply, rollback reference

When migration group on

Efficiency Tip: Data resources are always readable regardless of tool configuration. The "Min Config" column shows the smallest configuration that provides tools to act on what the resource exposes. Help resources are served on-demand — agents read them only when working with a specific tool group.

💬 Prompts (10)

MCP prompts provide AI-assisted database workflows:

Prompt

Description

sqlite_explain_schema

Explain database structure and relationships

sqlite_query_builder

Help construct SQL queries for common operations

sqlite_data_analysis

Analyze data patterns and provide insights

sqlite_optimization

Analyze and suggest database optimizations

sqlite_migration

Help create database migration scripts

sqlite_debug_query

Debug SQL queries that aren't working

sqlite_documentation

Generate documentation for the database schema

sqlite_summarize_table

Intelligent table analysis and summary

sqlite_hybrid_search_workflow

Hybrid FTS5 + vector search workflow

sqlite_demo

Interactive demo of MCP capabilities

🔧 Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable

Default

Description

MCP_HOST

127.0.0.1

Host/IP to bind to (0.0.0.0 in Docker) (CLI: --server-host)

SQLITE_DATABASE

—

SQLite database path (CLI: --sqlite / --sqlite-native)

DB_ENCRYPTION_KEY

—

SQLCipher encryption key (Native only) (CLI: --encryption-key)

DB_MCP_TOOL_FILTER

—

Tool filter string (CLI: --tool-filter)

METRICS_EXPORT

—

Export metrics at HTTP /metrics (e.g., prometheus) (CLI: --metrics-export)

OAUTH_ENABLED

false

Enable OAuth 2.1 (CLI: --oauth-enabled)

OAUTH_ISSUER

—

Authorization server URL (CLI: --oauth-issuer)

OAUTH_AUDIENCE

—

Expected token audience (CLI: --oauth-audience)

OAUTH_JWKS_URI

—

JWKS URI, auto-discovered if omitted (CLI: --oauth-jwks-uri)

OAUTH_CLOCK_TOLERANCE

60

Clock tolerance in seconds (CLI: --oauth-clock-tolerance)

MCP_ENABLE_HSTS

false

Enable HSTS header (CLI: --enable-hsts)

NO_AUTH_ENFORCEMENT

false

Explicitly bypass auth enforcement for HTTP (CLI: --no-auth-enforcement)

LOG_LEVEL

info

Log verbosity: debug, info, warning, error

METADATA_CACHE_TTL_MS

5000

Schema cache TTL in ms (auto-invalidated on DDL operations)

CODEMODE_ISOLATION

isolate

Code Mode sandbox: isolate (isolated-vm native) or worker

CODE_MODE_MAX_RESULT_SIZE

102400

Maximum Code Mode result payload in bytes (default 100KB, cap 50MB)

MCP_RATE_LIMIT_MAX

100

Max requests/minute per IP (HTTP transport)

CSV_EXTENSION_PATH

—

Custom path to CSV extension binary (native only)

SPATIALITE_PATH

—

Custom path to SpatiaLite extension binary (native only)

ALLOWED_IO_ROOTS

—

JSON array or comma-separated list of absolute paths allowed for IO operations

MCP_AUTH_TOKEN

—

Simple bearer token for HTTP auth (CLI: --auth-token)

AUDIT_LOG

—

Audit log file path, or stderr (CLI: --audit-log)

AUDIT_REDACT

true

Redact tool arguments from audit entries (CLI: --audit-no-redact to disable)

AUDIT_READS

false

Also log read-scoped tool invocations (CLI: --audit-reads)

AUDIT_BACKUP

false

Enable pre-mutation DDL snapshots (CLI: --audit-backup)

AUDIT_BACKUP_DATA

false

Include sample data rows in snapshots (CLI: --audit-backup-data)

Tip: Lower METADATA_CACHE_TTL_MS for development (e.g., 1000), or increase it for production with stable schemas (e.g., 60000 = 1 min). Schema cache is automatically invalidated on DDL operations (CREATE/ALTER/DROP).

CLI Reference

db-mcp [options]

Transport:    --transport <stdio|http|sse>  --port <N>  --server-host <host>  --stateless
Auth:         --oauth-enabled --oauth-issuer <url> --oauth-audience <aud>
Database:     --sqlite <path>  |  --sqlite-native <path>  [--encryption-key <key>]
Extensions:   --csv  --spatialite                         (native only)
Security:     --allowed-io-roots <paths>
Audit:        --audit-log <path>  --audit-no-redact  --audit-reads  --audit-backup  --audit-backup-data
Server:       --name <name>  --version <ver>  --metrics-export <type>  --tool-filter <filter>

CLI flags override environment variables. Run node dist/cli.js --help for full details.

📚 MCP Client Configuration

Add to your ~/.cursor/mcp.json, Claude Desktop config, or equivalent:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "db-mcp-sqlite": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "C:/path/to/db-mcp/dist/cli.js",
        "--transport",
        "stdio",
        "--sqlite-native",
        "C:/path/to/your/database.db",
        "--tool-filter",
        "codemode"
      ]
    }
  }
}
TIP

Switching backends: The config above uses the Native backend (better-sqlite3, 181 MCP tools). To use the WASM backend (sql.js, 154 MCP tools, zero native dependencies), change --sqlite-native to --sqlite in the args array. See the Backend Options table in DOCKER_README for feature differences.

Variants (modify the args array above):

Variant

Change

WASM backend

Replace --sqlite-native with --sqlite

In-memory database

Replace the database path with :memory:

Starter preset

Replace "codemode" with "starter" for individual tool calls

CSV extension

Add "--csv" before "--tool-filter" (native only)

SpatiaLite

Add "--spatialite" and set env: { "SPATIALITE_PATH": "/path/to/mod_spatialite" } (native only)

Linux/macOS

Use forward-slash Unix paths (e.g., /path/to/db-mcp/dist/cli.js)

Docker

Replace "command": "node" with "command": "docker" and wrap args in run -i --rm -v ./data:/app/data writenotenow/db-mcp:latest

See Tool Filtering to customize which tools are exposed.

🌐 HTTP/SSE Transport (Remote Access)

For remote access, web-based clients, or HTTP-compatible MCP hosts, use the HTTP transport:

node dist/cli.js \
  --transport http \
  --port 3000 \
  --sqlite-native ./database.db \
  --allowed-io-roots $(pwd)

Docker:

docker run --rm -p 3000:3000 \
  -v ./data:/app/data \
  writenotenow/db-mcp:latest \
  --transport http --port 3000 \
  --sqlite-native /app/data/database.db \
  --allowed-io-roots /app/data

The server supports two MCP transport protocols simultaneously, enabling both modern and legacy clients to connect:

Streamable HTTP (Recommended)

Modern protocol (MCP 2025-03-26) — single endpoint, session-based:

Method

Endpoint

Purpose

POST

/mcp

JSON-RPC requests (initialize, tools/list, etc.)

GET

/mcp

SSE stream for server notifications

DELETE

/mcp

Session termination

Sessions are managed via the Mcp-Session-Id header.

Stateless Mode

For serverless/stateless deployments where sessions are not needed:

node dist/cli.js --transport http --port 3000 --stateless --sqlite-native ./database.db --allowed-io-roots $(pwd)

In stateless mode: GET /mcp returns 405, DELETE /mcp returns 204, /sse and /messages return 404. Each POST /mcp creates a fresh transport.

Legacy SSE (Backward Compatibility)

Legacy protocol (MCP 2024-11-05) — for clients like Python mcp.client.sse:

Method

Endpoint

Purpose

GET

/sse

Opens SSE stream, returns /messages?sessionId=<id> endpoint

POST

/messages?sessionId=<id>

Send JSON-RPC messages to the session

Utility Endpoints

Method

Endpoint

Purpose

GET

/health

Health check (bypasses rate limiting, always available for monitoring)

🔐 Authentication

db-mcp secures the HTTP transport using strict OAuth 2.1 authentication:

OAuth 2.1 (Enterprise)

Full OAuth 2.1 with RFC 9728/8414 compliance for production multi-tenant deployments:

node dist/cli.js \
  --transport http \
  --port 3000 \
  --sqlite-native ./database.db \
  --allowed-io-roots $(pwd) \
  --oauth-enabled \
  --oauth-issuer http://localhost:8080/realms/db-mcp \
  --oauth-audience db-mcp-server

Additional flags: --oauth-jwks-uri <url> (auto-discovered if omitted), --oauth-clock-tolerance <seconds> (default: 60).

OAuth Scopes

Access control is managed through OAuth scopes:

Scope

Description

full

Unrestricted access to all operations

read

Read-only access to all databases

write

Read and write access to all databases

admin

Full administrative access

RFC Compliance

This implementation follows:

  • RFC 9728 — OAuth 2.1 Protected Resource Metadata

  • RFC 8414 — OAuth 2.1 Authorization Server Metadata

  • RFC 7591 — OAuth 2.1 Dynamic Client Registration

The server exposes metadata at /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource.

Note for Keycloak users: Add an Audience mapper to your client (Client → Client scopes → dedicated scope → Add mapper → Audience) to include the correct aud claim in tokens.

NOTE

Per-tool scope enforcement: Scopes are enforced at the tool level — each tool group maps to a required scope (read, write, or admin). Unknown or unmapped tools default to admin (fail-closed). When OAuth is enabled, every tool invocation checks the calling token's scopes before execution. When OAuth is not configured, scope checks are skipped entirely.

TIP

Audit identity integration: When OAuth is enabled alongside audit logging (--audit-log), audit entries for write/admin tools automatically capture the authenticated user (claims.sub) and granted scopes. This provides a complete forensic trail linking every mutation to a specific identity. Without OAuth, these fields are null/[].

WARNING

HTTP without authentication: When using --transport http without enabling OAuth, all clients have full unrestricted access. Always enable authentication for production HTTP deployments. See SECURITY.md for details.

🔐 Encryption at Rest (Native Only)

db-mcp supports transparent database encryption using SQLCipher via the better-sqlite3-multiple-ciphers driver. When encryption is enabled, the server automatically encrypts both your target database (if newly created) and the sidecar SystemDb audit log, ensuring your schema, queries, and results are protected at rest.

Important WASM Limitation: The WASM backend (sql.js) does not support encryption. If you supply an encryption key to the WASM backend, it will gracefully ignore it for the target database. However, this can cause conflicts if both a Native and WASM backend share the same --audit-log file (since the Native backend will encrypt the shared audit log, causing the WASM backend to crash when reading it). To avoid this in dual-backend setups, assign a separate audit log (e.g., --audit-log mcp-audit-wasm.db) for your WASM instance.

Configuring the Key: You can provide the key via the --encryption-key CLI flag or the DB_ENCRYPTION_KEY environment variable.

  1. Strong Passphrase: A standard string. SQLCipher will automatically use PBKDF2 key derivation.

    DB_ENCRYPTION_KEY="your-strong-passphrase-here"

  2. Raw Hex Key (Best Performance): To skip PBKDF2 derivation overhead, provide an exact 256-bit raw hex key prefixed with x and wrapped in single quotes:

    DB_ENCRYPTION_KEY="x'2DD29CA851E7B56E4697B0E1F08507293D761A05CE4D1B628663F411A8086D99'"
WARNING

Audit Log Compatibility: The DB_ENCRYPTION_KEY environment variable applies globally and will cause the internal SystemDb to attempt to decrypt your audit log (--audit-log). If you have an existing unencrypted audit log, the server will fail to start with file is not a database. To encrypt ONLY your target database (leaving the audit log unencrypted), use the --encryption-key CLI flag instead of the global environment variable.

📊 Benchmarks

Performance benchmarks measure framework overhead on critical hot paths using Vitest bench (tinybench). The suite validates that framework plumbing stays negligible relative to actual database I/O:

  • Tool dispatch: 6–14M ops/sec — Map-based lookup is effectively zero-cost

  • Auth scope checks: 4–8M ops/sec — OAuth middleware adds no measurable latency

  • Identifier validation: 4–7M ops/sec — SQL sanitization is near-instant

  • Schema cache hits: 3–6M ops/sec — metadata lookups avoid redundant queries

  • Debug log (filtered): 5–11M ops/sec — disabled log levels are true no-ops

  • Code Mode security: ~0.2–1.3M validations/sec for typical code, blocked patterns rejected in 1-2 µs

  • Sandbox execution: ~0.5–4.9K executions/sec — trivial code round-trips through V8 isolate in 0.2-1.5 ms

pnpm run bench            # Run all benchmarks
pnpm run bench:verbose    # Verbose mode with detailed timings

Benchmark

What It Measures

Handler Dispatch

Tool lookup, error construction, progress notification overhead

Utilities

Identifier sanitization, WHERE clause validation, SQL validation

Tool Filtering

Filter parsing, group lookups, meta-group catalog generation

Schema Parsing

Zod schema validation for simple/complex/large payloads + failure paths

Logger & Sanitization

Log call overhead, message sanitization, sensitive data redaction

Transport & Auth

Token extraction, scope checking, error formatting, rate limiting

Code Mode

Sandbox creation, pool lifecycle, security validation, execution

Database Operations

PRAGMA ops, table metadata, query result processing, schema caching

Resource & Prompts

URI matching, content assembly, prompt generation, tool indexing

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read our Contributing Guidelines before submitting a pull request.

Security

For security concerns, please see our Security Policy.

⚠️ Never commit credentials - Store secrets in .env (gitignored)

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Code of Conduct

Please read our Code of Conduct before participating in this project.

Install Server
A
license - permissive license
A
quality
C
maintenance

How are these scores calculated?

Maintenance

–Maintainers
1hResponse time
2wRelease cycle
12Releases (12mo)
Commit activity
Issues opened vs closed

Resources

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Tools

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