[HN Gopher] Show HN: Selectable - mobile-friendly Postgres client
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Show HN: Selectable - mobile-friendly Postgres client
Author : yen223
Score : 85 points
Date : 2024-09-18 20:23 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (getselectable.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (getselectable.com)
| yen223 wrote:
| I've built Selectable - a freemium Postgres client for Android
| devices. It's currently available for open testing, links below.
|
| The key feature is the SQL query editor. The query editor was
| designed to be mobile-friendly. With autocomplete and a touch-
| friendly way to select parts of a SQL query, writing SQL
| statements with the query editor can - in some cases - be faster
| than typing the same query on a desktop.
|
| The app supports the usual SQL client things:
|
| - Browsing schemas, tables, and columns
|
| - Running custom SQL statements
|
| - Viewing results as a list, or as a table.
|
| - Exporting results to CSV
|
| - Saving queries (You can save one query in the free version)
|
| The project is in very early stages, and is still missing a lot
| of features - notably the ability to insert, update, delete, or
| perform DDL via the query editor.
|
| The app currently only supports Postgres, and is currently only
| available on Android.
|
| Please give it a spin, and let me know if you have any feedback
| or feature requests.
|
| Website: https://getselectable.com/
|
| Play store:
| https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.weiyen.sel...
| jayknight wrote:
| I'm not sure I'll ever need this, but it looks really neat.
| dandigangi wrote:
| Full honesty - I really have a hard time seeing the need for
| things like this on mobile.
| danirod wrote:
| I suppose having quick access to a database in case of
| emergency without having to rush to a computer, similar to
| how some people treat having SSH clients on their phones.
| yen223 wrote:
| This is a very fair point.
|
| I'm not trying to replace desktops with mobile here. I think
| database administration is still going to be easier with a
| big monitor and a keyboard, and that's not going to change.
|
| Rather I'm trying to open up database administration to
| people who don't have desktops, or who are more comfortable
| working on their phones.
| MrLeap wrote:
| You might be a little ahead of the times, but I think
| you're keyed into something with this.
| nkrisc wrote:
| Or sometimes a phone is what you have and you need access.
|
| Looks like very nice UI model, it's not an easy problem to
| solve. Also one of the few times a portrait YT video is
| wholly appropriate.
| rtcoms wrote:
| People can mirror mobile screen to TV/Monitor and still use
| it.
|
| With the tri-fold mobiles and Samsung Dex like feature
| coming, that day may not be far when mobile become the single
| work machine.
| ray_v wrote:
| I could see myself using it from time to time ... I'm _just_
| nerdy enough to even do it in public!
| ilrwbwrkhv wrote:
| Really slick! Will try it out today.
| iudqnolq wrote:
| I like it. A few suggestions;
|
| - When in the table explorer it's odd that the primary action -
| viewing a table - is behind a dropdown menu. maybe clicking the
| table name opens the browse rows screen and clicking a column
| opens with a select prefilled.
|
| - Please default to a limit 500 or something like Jetbrains to
| prevent me making stupid mistakes.
| yen223 wrote:
| Both very good suggestions, thanks.
| d_watt wrote:
| Interesting project, I could see a use case for emerging markets
| where people don't have laptops. Maybe also include a local PG
| like https://supabase.com/blog/postgres-wasm for being able to
| play around with PG educationally with no required remote server?
|
| For professional use cases, maybe if you're on call and need to
| access the DB over your phone (though I hope I'm never in that
| spot). Having documentation around network model - do you relay
| queries through your own backend - and the security model for
| data and credentials. Do you support any secure connection
| methods, like SSH tunnel, or does the PG need to be facing the
| public internet?
| zie wrote:
| Postgres has secure connection methods, including client and
| server TLS cert authentication.
|
| You could also hide it behind tailscale/nebula or some other
| VPN thing.
| aborsy wrote:
| I'm curious how secure is TLS client authentication if the
| database is exposed to the internet?
| zie wrote:
| What are you talking about?
|
| public key cryptography is well understood and used
| everywhere: HTTPS, SSH, Signal, etc.
|
| See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography
|
| In postgres specifically:
| https://www.postgresql.org/docs/16/ssl-tcp.html and
| https://www.postgresql.org/docs/16/runtime-config-
| connection...
|
| You can enforce TLSv1.3 on all network connections using
| `ssl_min_protocol_version`(postgres.conf) and `hostssl`(in
| pg_hba.conf)
|
| This puts you ahead of most web servers which often still
| allow TLSv1.1.
|
| You can make Postgres secure or not, your call. Just like
| with everything else.
| yen223 wrote:
| > Maybe also include a local PG like
| https://supabase.com/blog/postgres-wasm for being able to play
| around with PG educationally with no required remote server?
|
| I did not know about wasm-postgres, thanks!
|
| > Having documentation around network model - do you relay
| queries through your own backend - and the security model for
| data and credentials. Do you support any secure connection
| methods, like SSH tunnel, or does the PG need to be facing the
| public internet?
|
| There's no backend, the app opens a connection directly to the
| database. Credentials are stored on-device. No data will ever
| be shipped to a third-party without user consent, and I will
| never change this. (This is a large part of why I haven't put
| in any "AI" features yet.)
|
| The app currently does not support SSH tunneling. This is
| something I will be working on soon.
|
| Also fair point on the documentation. There's currently 0 docs
| around the app, and I'm not proud of that.
| neveroddoreven wrote:
| I was just thinking about how a mobile client for an RDB would be
| cool to try for tracking workouts. There are plenty of CRUD apps
| for this but there is always some feature missing, whereas here
| you could customize to your delight.
|
| I wonder what other apps are just RDB wrappers that could almost
| be substituted with something like this.
|
| Thanks for sharing!
| danirod wrote:
| What connection methods does it currently support? Can it do SSH
| tunneling?
| yen223 wrote:
| Not at the moment. SSH tunneling is on the roadmap
| l5870uoo9y wrote:
| The omnipresence of Postgres is impressive.
| elorm wrote:
| I've had to quickly access a dB from through the Termius mobile
| app one time, and it wasn't an experience I'd like to repeat,
| unless it's a really dire situation.
|
| Fancy seeing a full-blown mobile Postgres editor. I can
| definitely see a few use cases but I'm curious whether your
| average Db admin or data engineer will be interested in using a
| tool like this.
| samaysharma wrote:
| I've seen a few Postgres clients pop-up on HN recently. A recent
| example is: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41563100
|
| Also, several Postgres providers now also provide a SQL editor /
| runner and table visualizer in their UI.
|
| What do Postgres users here think is the biggest missing thing in
| current clients? Are they too heavyweight? Too generic and don't
| support advanced Postgres features? Don't look modern enough? Not
| mobile friendly? Or is it something else?
| yen223 wrote:
| I think people just really like Postgres, and like building
| tooling for it. Postgres is particularly easy to work with,
| thanks to its extensive documentation and its code being open-
| source.
| henryzhou wrote:
| why do you need to query this on mobile?
| fellowniusmonk wrote:
| It's always great to see new mobile apps that are text
| first/structured text interfaces/ide's on mobile, UI
| considerations in the space are still woefully underexplored.
| yen223 wrote:
| If there are any Lisp/Emacs people reading this, I think
| structural editing can work really well on touch devices.
| counterpartyrsk wrote:
| Not all things are meant to be done on a phone, right?
| oldprogrammer2 wrote:
| This looks great. There have certainly been times in my life
| where all I had was my phone, and I needed to check on a few
| things. I could see having an app like this handy "just in case"
| (assuming secure connectivity, of course). Good luck!
| krick wrote:
| That's very neat. I don't get it from the preview, though: can I
| JUST TYPE the query, w/o all these silly menues?
|
| One saved query is super restrictive though, basically means
| either pay, or don't even bother to install.
| yen223 wrote:
| Yes, there's an option in the hamburger menu to edit queries
| manually, and that will allow you to type in (or paste in) the
| query by hand.
|
| Re. the saved query restriction - I am planning to work on this
| app in the long term, which unfortunately means I have to
| monetise the app in order to sustain development work.
|
| I believe restricting saved queries and saved connections is a
| good compromise to allow casual users to try out all the
| features the app has to offer, without imposing a time limit.
| fouc wrote:
| I really dig this, I was even thinking it'd be possible to have
| some "smart suggestions" that could let people focus more on the
| logic/pattern of the overall problem they're trying to solve
| instead of having to assemble every single SQL command
| individually.
|
| i.e. maybe there could be a searchable list of common sql
| solutions and then somehow adjust that to suit the actual problem
| (hopefully without ending up a cluttered mess of sql)
| cusspvz wrote:
| Now you can delete production from anywhere
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