DB CLI MCP Server

DB CLI MCP Server

Provides a unified, read-only interface for executing SQL queries across multiple database engines including SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL via CLI tools. It features automatic project configuration detection and strict query validation to ensure safe AI-driven data interactions.

Category
Visit Server

README

DB CLI MCP Server

License: MIT Node.js MCP

繁體中文版 README

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server that provides a unified, safe, AI-friendly interface for executing read-only database queries across multiple databases via CLI tools.


Table of Contents


Features

  • Multi-database support — SQL Server, MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Oracle
  • Read-only enforcement — Strict SELECT-only query execution with fail-closed validation
  • Zero-config startup — Server starts even without config files or CLI tools installed
  • Auto-detection — Scans project files (.env, appsettings.json, docker-compose.yml, etc.) for DB configs
  • Temporary connections — Ephemeral, in-memory-only connections that never touch disk
  • CLI tool guidance — Detects missing CLI tools and provides installation instructions
  • AI-native — Built for seamless integration with AI IDEs and CLI tools via MCP protocol

Supported Databases

Database CLI Tool Default Port
SQL Server sqlcmd 1433
MySQL mysql 3306
MariaDB mariadb 3306
PostgreSQL psql 5432
Oracle sqlplus 1521

Installation

Prerequisites

  • Node.js 18 or later
  • At least one database CLI tool installed (optional — server works without them)

Install via npm

npm install -g @mcp/dbcli-server

Install from source

git clone https://github.com/your-org/dbcli-mcp-server.git
cd dbcli-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build

Quick Start

1. Run the server

# Via npx (no install needed)
npx @mcp/dbcli-server --stdio

# Or if installed globally
dbcli-mcp-server --stdio

2. Check system status

Use the doctor tool to verify CLI tools and configuration:

{
  "serverVersion": "2.0",
  "cliStatus": [
    { "dbType": "mssql", "cli": "sqlcmd", "installed": true, "version": "17.10" },
    { "dbType": "mysql", "cli": "mysql", "installed": false }
  ],
  "issues": ["mysql not installed"]
}

3. Run a query

// Input
{ "sql": "SELECT * FROM users LIMIT 10" }

// Output
{
  "success": true,
  "columns": ["id", "name", "email"],
  "rows": [
    { "id": "1", "name": "Alice", "email": "alice@example.com" }
  ],
  "rowCount": 1,
  "truncated": false
}

AI IDE & CLI Integration

Claude Code

Claude Code supports MCP servers natively.

Setup

Add the server to your Claude Code MCP configuration:

claude mcp add dbcli -- npx @mcp/dbcli-server --stdio

Or manually edit ~/.claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dbcli": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@mcp/dbcli-server", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Usage

Once configured, you can ask Claude Code directly:

> Query the users table to show the first 10 records
> Check which database CLI tools are installed on my system
> Create a temporary connection to my local MySQL database
> Scan this project for database configurations

Codex CLI

Codex CLI supports MCP protocol integration.

Setup

Add to your Codex CLI configuration file ~/.codex/config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dbcli": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@mcp/dbcli-server", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Usage

codex "Query the users table in my local SQL Server database"
codex "What database configurations exist in this project?"

Cursor

Cursor supports MCP servers for AI-assisted development.

Setup

  1. Open Cursor Settings: Ctrl+Shift+J (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+J (macOS)
  2. Navigate to MCP section
  3. Click "Add new MCP server"
  4. Fill in the configuration:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dbcli": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@mcp/dbcli-server", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Or manually edit .cursor/mcp.json in your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dbcli": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@mcp/dbcli-server", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Usage

In Cursor's AI chat or Composer, you can:

@dbcli Run SELECT * FROM products WHERE price > 100
@dbcli Show me the database schema for the orders table
@dbcli Create a temporary connection to postgres://localhost:5432/mydb

VS Code (Copilot)

VS Code with GitHub Copilot supports MCP servers (requires Copilot Chat).

Setup

  1. Install the GitHub Copilot and GitHub Copilot Chat extensions
  2. Open VS Code Settings (Ctrl+,)
  3. Search for mcp in settings
  4. Edit settings.json and add:
{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "dbcli": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@mcp/dbcli-server", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Or create .vscode/mcp.json in your project:

{
  "servers": {
    "dbcli": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@mcp/dbcli-server", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Usage

In Copilot Chat panel:

@dbcli What database connections are configured in this project?
@dbcli Run a health check on my database setup
@dbcli SELECT COUNT(*) FROM orders WHERE status = 'pending'

GitHub Copilot CLI

GitHub Copilot CLI can leverage MCP servers.

Setup

Configure via ~/.config/github-copilot/config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dbcli": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@mcp/dbcli-server", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Usage

gh copilot explain "How to query my database using the dbcli MCP server"

Visual Studio 2026

Visual Studio 2026 supports MCP servers through its AI integration.

Setup

  1. Open ToolsOptionsGitHub CopilotMCP Servers
  2. Click "Add Server"
  3. Configure:
    • Name: dbcli
    • Command: npx
    • Arguments: @mcp/dbcli-server --stdio

Or edit .vs/mcp.json in your solution root:

{
  "servers": {
    "dbcli": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@mcp/dbcli-server", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Usage

In the Copilot Chat window:

@dbcli Query the Customers table for records from this month
@dbcli Check if sqlcmd is installed and show install instructions if not

MCP Tools Reference

doctor()

Returns system diagnostics including server version, CLI tool installation status, and detected issues.

Parameters: None

Response:

{
  "serverVersion": "2.0",
  "cliStatus": [
    { "dbType": "mssql", "cli": "sqlcmd", "installed": true, "version": "17.10", "path": "/usr/bin/sqlcmd" }
  ],
  "issues": []
}

scanProjectDbConfigs()

Scans current project directory for database configuration in common config files.

Scanned files: .env, .env.*, appsettings.json, application.yml, application.properties, docker-compose.yml

Parameters: None

Response:

[
  {
    "dbType": "mssql",
    "host": "localhost",
    "port": 1433,
    "database": "ExampleDB",
    "source": "appsettings.json"
  }
]

initConfig()

Creates or updates a persistent configuration profile in .mcp/dbcli.config.json.

Parameters:

Parameter Type Required Description
profileName string Yes Profile name (e.g., "dev")
dbType string Yes Database type
host string Yes Database host
database string Yes Database name
port number No Database port
username string No Database username
password string No Database password
timeoutSeconds number No Query timeout (default: 30)
maxRows number No Max rows returned (default: 500)

setActiveProfile()

Switches the active configuration profile.

Parameters:

Parameter Type Required Description
profileName string Yes Profile name to activate

getInstallInstructions()

Returns platform-specific installation instructions for a database CLI tool.

Parameters:

Parameter Type Required Description
dbType string Yes Database type

Response:

{
  "dbType": "mssql",
  "cli": "sqlcmd",
  "installed": false,
  "instructions": {
    "windows": "winget install Microsoft.SQLCMD",
    "linux": "sudo apt install mssql-tools",
    "macos": "brew install mssql-tools"
  }
}

createTemporaryConnection()

Creates an in-memory-only database connection that is never persisted to disk.

Parameters:

Parameter Type Required Description
dbType string Yes Database type
host string Yes Database host
database string Yes Database name
port number No Database port
username string No Database username
password string No Database password

Response:

{
  "id": "uuid-string",
  "type": "temporary",
  "dbType": "mssql",
  "cli": "sqlcmd",
  "connection": {
    "host": "localhost",
    "database": "TestDB",
    "password": "***"
  }
}

runSelectQuery()

Executes a read-only SQL query through the appropriate database CLI tool.

Parameters:

Parameter Type Required Description
sql string Yes The SELECT SQL query
connectionId string No Temporary connection ID (uses active profile if omitted)

Allowed SQL:

  • SELECT ...
  • WITH ... SELECT ... (CTE)
  • EXPLAIN SELECT ...

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "columns": ["id", "name"],
  "rows": [{ "id": "1", "name": "Alice" }],
  "rowCount": 1,
  "truncated": false
}

Connection Modes

Mode Description Persistence
Project Detection Auto-detects connection info from project files None
Config Profile Stored in .mcp/dbcli.config.json Disk
Temporary Connection Runtime-only, created via createTemporaryConnection() Memory only

Config File Structure

{
  "version": 1,
  "activeProfile": "dev",
  "profiles": {
    "dev": {
      "dbType": "mssql",
      "cli": "sqlcmd",
      "connection": {
        "host": "localhost",
        "port": 1433,
        "database": "ExampleDb",
        "username": "app",
        "password": "${DB_PASSWORD}"
      },
      "limits": {
        "timeoutSeconds": 30,
        "maxRows": 500
      }
    }
  }
}

Security

Core Security Rules

  1. SELECT-only queries — All DML/DDL operations are strictly forbidden
  2. Fail-closed validation — If the SQL parser cannot determine the query type, it is rejected
  3. No credential exposure — Passwords are masked in all API responses
  4. Result size limitsmaxRows prevents excessive data retrieval
  5. Query timeoutstimeoutSeconds kills long-running queries
  6. No shell injection — CLI execution uses execFile (not exec), preventing shell injection
  7. Multi-statement rejection — Semicolon-separated multi-statement queries are blocked
  8. Temporary connection isolation — Ephemeral connections are never written to disk

Forbidden SQL Operations

INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, MERGE, CREATE, ALTER, DROP, TRUNCATE, EXEC, EXECUTE, CALL, GRANT, REVOKE, SELECT INTO


Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Run tests
npm test

# Run tests in watch mode
npm run test:watch

Project Structure

src/
├── index.ts                  # MCP Server entry point + tool definitions
├── types.ts                  # Core TypeScript types
├── server/
│   └── ConnectionStore.ts    # Temporary connection memory store
├── validator/
│   └── SqlValidator.ts       # SQL security validation
├── cli/
│   ├── CliManager.ts         # CLI detection + install instructions
│   └── CliExecutor.ts        # Safe CLI execution
├── config/
│   └── ConfigManager.ts      # Configuration file management
├── scanner/
│   └── ProjectScanner.ts     # Project DB config scanning
└── formatter/
    └── ResultFormatter.ts    # Query result formatting

Architecture

AI Client (Claude Code / Cursor / VS Code / Codex CLI / ...)
    │
    │  MCP Protocol (JSON-RPC over stdio)
    ▼
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│       MCP Server Core        │
│   (Tool Routing & Lifecycle) │
└──────────┬───────────────────┘
           │
     ┌─────┼─────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
     ▼     ▼     ▼          ▼          ▼          ▼
  Project  CLI   Config     SQL       CLI       Result
  Scanner  Mgr   Manager  Validator  Executor  Formatter

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

Recommended Servers

playwright-mcp

playwright-mcp

A Model Context Protocol server that enables LLMs to interact with web pages through structured accessibility snapshots without requiring vision models or screenshots.

Official
Featured
TypeScript
Magic Component Platform (MCP)

Magic Component Platform (MCP)

An AI-powered tool that generates modern UI components from natural language descriptions, integrating with popular IDEs to streamline UI development workflow.

Official
Featured
Local
TypeScript
Audiense Insights MCP Server

Audiense Insights MCP Server

Enables interaction with Audiense Insights accounts via the Model Context Protocol, facilitating the extraction and analysis of marketing insights and audience data including demographics, behavior, and influencer engagement.

Official
Featured
Local
TypeScript
VeyraX MCP

VeyraX MCP

Single MCP tool to connect all your favorite tools: Gmail, Calendar and 40 more.

Official
Featured
Local
Kagi MCP Server

Kagi MCP Server

An MCP server that integrates Kagi search capabilities with Claude AI, enabling Claude to perform real-time web searches when answering questions that require up-to-date information.

Official
Featured
Python
graphlit-mcp-server

graphlit-mcp-server

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server enables integration between MCP clients and the Graphlit service. Ingest anything from Slack to Gmail to podcast feeds, in addition to web crawling, into a Graphlit project - and then retrieve relevant contents from the MCP client.

Official
Featured
TypeScript
E2B

E2B

Using MCP to run code via e2b.

Official
Featured
Neon Database

Neon Database

MCP server for interacting with Neon Management API and databases

Official
Featured
Exa Search

Exa Search

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server lets AI assistants like Claude use the Exa AI Search API for web searches. This setup allows AI models to get real-time web information in a safe and controlled way.

Official
Featured
Qdrant Server

Qdrant Server

This repository is an example of how to create a MCP server for Qdrant, a vector search engine.

Official
Featured