Documentation on SQLite Browser

Overview

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

SQLite Browser is a Python web application for loading, querying, and visualizing SQLite databases — no SQL expertise required. It runs entirely on your own machine and is accessed through any web browser at http://127.0.0.1:8050.

It is built on Plotly Dash and managed with uv.

Features

Feature	Description
Database Loading	Load any SQLite `.sqlite` file by path
Table Browser	View all tables with column names and row counts
Advanced Search	Visual filter builder with 11 operators — no SQL required
Custom SQL	Write and execute arbitrary SQL queries
Table View	Interactive paginated results with generated SQL shown for reference
Summary tab	Per-column data profile: missingness, unique values, top values, min/max, type
Counts tab	Categorical combination counts with configurable grouping, sort controls, treemap, and sunburst charts
Statistics tab	Descriptive statistics for numeric columns
Visualizations tab	Interactive histograms, bar charts, and scatter plots
Export	Download filtered results as a TSV file, SQL query included

What it is not

SQLite Browser is a read-only tool. It cannot insert, update, or delete rows. It is designed for exploration and analysis, not database administration.

Getting Started

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Prerequisites

Python 3.13 or higher
uv — a fast, Rust-based Python package manager

Install uv

If you do not already have uv, follow the uv installation guide for your platform.

Install dependencies

From the root of the repository, run:

uv sync

This reads pyproject.toml and installs all required packages into an isolated virtual environment.

Windows + OneDrive: If the repository is inside a OneDrive-synced folder you may see a hardlink error (os error 396). The project is pre-configured with link-mode = "copy" in pyproject.toml to prevent this — uv sync should succeed without any extra steps.

Usage

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1. Load a database

Enter the full path to your .sqlite file in the Database path field and click Load.

C:\path\to\database.sqlite
./data/my_db.sqlite

The app displays the available tables once the file is loaded successfully.

2. Select a table

Choose a table from the dropdown and click Load Table. The app shows:

The list of column names and their types
The total row count
Populated filter field selectors ready for use

3. Filter with Advanced Search

The Advanced Search section lets you build multi-condition queries without writing SQL.

Advanced Usage

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Advanced Search operators

The filter builder supports 11 operators covering the most common query patterns.

Operator	SQL equivalent	Best for
equals	`col = "value"`	Exact match on a known value
does not equal	`col != "value"`	Excluding a specific value
like (contains)	`col LIKE "%value%"`	Substring / partial-string search
not like	`col NOT LIKE "%value%"`	Excluding a pattern
less than	`col < value`	Strict upper bound
less than or equal	`col <= value`	Inclusive upper bound
greater than	`col > value`	Strict lower bound
greater than or equal	`col >= value`	Inclusive lower bound
in	`col IN (v1, v2, v3)`	Matching any of several values
is null	`col IS NULL`	Finding missing / empty values
is not null	`col IS NOT NULL`	Excluding missing values

All conditions added with + Add Filter are combined with AND.

Limitations

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Read-only access

SQLite Browser does not support INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statements. Any custom SQL that attempts to modify data will be rejected. This is intentional — the tool is designed exclusively for exploration and analysis.

SQLite only

Only SQLite database files (.sqlite, .db) are supported. PostgreSQL, MySQL, DuckDB, and other database engines are not compatible.

Single connection, no pooling

Each browser session opens a single connection to the database file. There is no connection pooling. Concurrent sessions from multiple browser tabs or users accessing the same running instance may experience contention.