databow

name	databow
description	Query SQL databases with the databow CLI. Use when the user wants to run SQL queries against any database with an ADBC driver (BigQuery, ClickHouse, Databricks, DataFusion, DuckDB, Exasol, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redshift, SingleStore, Snowflake, Spark, SQLite, Trino, etc.), export query results to JSON/CSV/Arrow IPC files, or work with ADBC connection profiles.
license	Apache-2.0
metadata	{"author":"Columnar","version":"0.1.0"}

databow

databow is a command-line tool for querying databases via ADBC (Arrow Database Connectivity). It exposes an interactive SQL shell as well as a non-interactive mode that is well-suited for use by agents and scripts.

Prerequisites

Install databow

databow must be installed. Check with databow --help.

Common install methods:

uv tool install databow
# or
pipx install databow
# or
cargo install databow

Install ADBC driver

An ADBC driver for the target database must be installed. The recommended way is via dbc, which installs drivers in a location databow discovers automatically:

dbc install duckdb
dbc install postgresql
dbc install snowflake
# ...etc.

If a query fails with a driver-not-found error, install the appropriate driver with dbc install <driver> before retrying.

Connecting to a database

There are two ways to specify connection details. Use whichever is more appropriate for the task.

Method 1: CLI flags

Specify the driver and connection options on the command line:

databow --driver duckdb --uri warehouse.db
databow --driver postgresql --uri postgresql://user:pwd@localhost:5432/db
databow --driver mysql --uri 'root:pwd@tcp(localhost:3306)/sys'

Available flags:

• --driver <name> — ADBC driver name (e.g. duckdb, postgresql, mysql, sqlite, clickhouse, snowflake, bigquery, flightsql, mssql, redshift, databricks, trino).
• --uri <uri> — Database URI (driver-specific format).
• --username <user> — Database username.
• --password <pwd> — Database password.
• --option key=value — Driver-specific option. May be repeated.

Method 2: Connection profiles

ADBC connection profiles are TOML files that store driver and connection options, e.g. ~/.config/adbc/profiles/warehouse.toml:

profile_version = 1
driver = "clickhouse"

[Options]
uri = "http://localhost:8123"
username = "user"
password = "pass"

Use the profile by name (if it lives in a profile search location) or by path:

databow --profile warehouse
databow --profile /path/to/warehouse.toml

Prefer profiles when the same connection will be used repeatedly, or when credentials should not appear on the command line.

Common workflows

Quick ad-hoc query against in-memory DuckDB

databow --driver duckdb --query "SELECT 1 + 1 AS two"

Query a PostgreSQL database and export to CSV

databow \
  --driver postgresql \
  --uri postgresql://user:pwd@localhost:5432/app \
  --query "SELECT id, email, created_at FROM users WHERE created_at > now() - interval '7 days'" \
  --output recent_users.csv

Run a SQL file using a stored profile and write CSV

databow --profile warehouse --file reports/weekly.sql --output weekly.csv

Produce a Markdown table for inclusion in a report

databow --driver duckdb --mode ascii-markdown \
  --query "SELECT * FROM 'https://blobs.duckdb.org/data/penguins.csv'" \
  > penguins.md

Troubleshooting

• Driver not found / failed to load. Install the driver with dbc install <driver> (e.g. dbc install duckdb). Verify the driver name passed to --driver matches.
• Authentication errors. Double-check --uri, --username, --password, and any driver-specific --option values. For databases that require certificates, tokens, or extra parameters, see the upstream databases reference.
• Profile not found. Either pass an explicit path with --profile /path/to/profile.toml, or place the profile in an ADBC profile search location.
• Garbled or wrapped output. Use --output result.csv (or another file format) instead of stdout, or switch --mode to nothing / ascii-no-borders for plain rows.
• Hanging command. If databow was invoked without --query, --file, or stdin input, it has dropped into the interactive REPL. Re-invoke with one of those flags for non-interactive use.