3,310 stars · BSD-3-Clause (read from /blob/main/LICENSE, unmodified, 'Copyright (c) 2018, dbcli'; LICENSE.txt returned 404) · 1.17.1 (31 Jan 2026, agreed by GitHub and PyPI) · Track this in Scout
A SQLite command prompt that completes table and column names and colours your query.
▶Repo detailsthe review · specs · pros & cons · install
What it is
A command-line client for SQLite with auto-completion, syntax colouring and a saved history, from the same group that makes the equivalent tools for PostgreSQL and MySQL. It is a Python program and installs like any other.
What it is good for. Anyone who has a .db or .sqlite file and wants to look inside without installing a graphical program. It suits exactly the moment when you do not remember what the columns are called, which is most of the time on somebody else's database. It is also the fastest possible way to answer a question about an application's own data file.
- Plain unmodified BSD-3-Clause, read from the file, "Copyright (c) 2018, dbcli".
- Auto-completion is the whole point and it works on table names, column names and keywords, so you can explore a database you have never seen.
- Python 3.9 and newer, which means it installs on almost any machine still receiving updates.
- Release 1.17.1 is dated 31 January 2026 on both GitHub and the Python package index, and the newest code is 18 June 2026. Eight months since a release is a long gap, and the project is explicitly not called dead.
- It is a text prompt. If what you actually want is to click through rows, this is the wrong tool.
- You still need to know some SQL. It completes the names, not the question.
tconbeer/harlequinCovered in Edition 22, 6,288 stars. A full editor inside the terminal with panes and a results grid, which is more to learn and much better for long queries.
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simonw/sqlite-utilsCovered in Edition 8, 2,131 stars. The other half of the job: it builds and reshapes SQLite files from the command line rather than querying them interactively.
Track this in Scout- dbcli/pgcli
13,412 stars, the same tool for PostgreSQL from the same group, so what you learn in one carries straight over.
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python3 -m venv venv source venv/bin/activate pip install litecli litecli mydata.db
