DBeaver — Universal Database Tool for Developers

What is DBeaver?

DBeaver is a universal database management tool that works with virtually any database through JDBC/ODBC drivers. Whether you’re working with PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, MongoDB, Redis, Cassandra, or an exotic proprietary database, DBeaver provides a consistent interface.

The Community edition is free, feature-rich, and covers most development needs.

Installation

# macOS
brew install --cask dbeaver-community

# Or download from dbeaver.io/download
# Available for Windows, macOS, Linux

Connecting to Databases

PostgreSQL

1. New Database Connection → PostgreSQL
2. Enter: Host, Port (5432), Database, Username, Password
3. Test Connection → OK → Finish

Via SSH Tunnel (Private RDS/Cloud)

1. Connection → SSH tab
2. Enable SSH tunneling
3. SSH Host: bastion.example.com, Port: 22
4. Authentication: Private Key → browse to ~/.ssh/id_rsa
5. Local Port (auto-assigned)

Connection Profiles (Team Sharing)

Export connection settings (without passwords) and share via:

• DBeaver project files
• Version control (passwords excluded)

SQL Editor

-- Smart autocomplete: Ctrl+Space (Cmd+Space on macOS)
-- Auto-complete table names, column names, keywords, functions

-- Run query: Ctrl+Enter (runs cursor's query)
-- Run all: Ctrl+Shift+Enter

-- Format SQL: Ctrl+Shift+F
SELECT
  u.id,
  u.name,
  u.email,
  COUNT(p.id) AS post_count,
  MAX(p.created_at) AS last_post_date
FROM users u
LEFT JOIN posts p ON p.author_id = u.id
WHERE u.active = true
GROUP BY u.id, u.name, u.email
ORDER BY post_count DESC
LIMIT 10;

-- Explain plan: Ctrl+Shift+E (shows graphical execution plan)
-- Export results: right-click results → Export Data

Data Browser

Navigate your data without SQL:

• Expand database in tree → Tables → double-click table
• See data in grid view
• Filter with the filter icon at top
• Edit cells directly (with save confirmation)
• Ctrl+S to save changes

ER Diagram Generation

Right-click Schema → View Diagram

DBeaver auto-generates ER diagrams showing:

• Table structures with column types
• Foreign key relationships as visual arrows
• Export as PNG for documentation

Community edition: View only Pro edition: Edit and generate CREATE scripts from visual ERD

Data Import/Export

Right-click table → Export Data

Supported formats:

• CSV (with custom delimiters, encoding)
• JSON (nested or flat)
• Excel (XLSX)
• SQL INSERT statements
• XML

Right-click table → Import Data

Import from CSV, Excel, or other tables.

SQL Macros and Scripts

Window → SQL Editor → Create SQL Script

Save frequently-used queries as named scripts. Organize in the Scripts panel for team use.

Mock Data Generation

Right-click table → Generate Mock Data

DBeaver can generate realistic test data:

• Names, emails, addresses (using built-in generators)
• Custom patterns with regex
• N rows of mock data inserted directly

Connecting to Cloud Databases

# Example: AWS RDS (through tunnel or direct)
Host: mydb.cluster-xxxx.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com
Port: 5432
Database: myapp
Username: dbuser
Password: [from AWS Secrets Manager]

# Enable SSL
Driver Properties → ssl=true → sslmode=require

DBeaver is the best choice for developers who work with multiple database types and want one consistent tool for all of them.