CLI (sqlitexp)
Open local databases from the terminal with sqlitexp.
sqlitexp — SQLite explorer from the terminal
sqlitexp opens any local SQLite database in the browser-based viewer straight from your terminal — no drop zone required. It starts a small local server (bound to 127.0.0.1), launches your browser, and serves the prebuilt viewer with the database already open.
Flags
| Flag | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
-p, --port <n> | 3000 | Port the local viewer server listens on. |
--[no-]open | open | Launch the browser automatically (or suppress it with --no-open). |
-h, --help | — | Show the command help. |
-v, --version | — | Print the installed version. |
How it works
The command serves the prebuilt viewer (local.html) with Fastify bound to 127.0.0.1 and streams the database file over HTTP Range requests. The UI's SQLite worker fetches only the 4 KiB pages a query touches — exactly like the drop-zone path, multi-gigabyte files open instantly and are never loaded into memory.
Nothing leaves your machine: the server never listens on a public interface and stops when you press Ctrl+C. If the port is taken, the command exits with a hint to pass --port.
Non-SQLite files fail fast: the CLI validates the 16-byte SQLite magic header before starting the server, so a 400 MB video file never wastes a server start.