What is Pgcli used for?

Pgcli is a command-line client for PostgreSQL that adds autocompletion and syntax highlighting to the interactive terminal experience. It is a good fit for running ad hoc queries against Postgres and exploring database schemas from the terminal.

Is Pgcli open source?

Yes. Pgcli is open source under the BSD-3-Clause licence. Its source code is on GitHub at dbcli/pgcli and is written mainly in Python.

Yes. Pgcli is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

What are some alternatives to Pgcli?

Similar open-source tools in the Database Tools category include Mycli, Harlequin and Goose. SaaS products in the same category include AI2sql, Aqua Data Studio and DBCode.

Is Pgcli actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Pgcli was on 20 September 2026, and the latest release is v4.7.1, published on 20 September 2026. The project has 13k stars on GitHub.

Pgcli: open-source database tools

About Pgcli

Pgcli is a command-line interface for PostgreSQL databases written in Python. It is an interactive terminal client that suggests completions for SQL keywords, tables and columns as you type and colors queries with syntax highlighting, which makes ad hoc querying faster than with a plain prompt.

It is licensed under the BSD 3-Clause licence and installed on your own machine as a Python package, with no server component to host. It is aimed at developers and database administrators who spend time in the terminal running queries against local or remote Postgres instances.

Key features

Autocompletion for SQL keywords, tables and columns
Syntax highlighting in the terminal
Interactive command-line client for PostgreSQL
Installs as a Python package

Good fit for

→Running ad hoc queries against Postgres
→Exploring database schemas from the terminal

Built with: Python; PostgreSQL
Tags: postgresql; cli; autocompletion; syntax-highlighting; python; database; terminal

Pgcli: questions and answers

What is Pgcli used for?: Pgcli is a command-line client for PostgreSQL that adds autocompletion and syntax highlighting to the interactive terminal experience. It is a good fit for running ad hoc queries against Postgres and exploring database schemas from the terminal.
Is Pgcli open source?: Yes. Pgcli is open source under the BSD-3-Clause licence. Its source code is on GitHub at dbcli/pgcli and is written mainly in Python.
Is Pgcli free?: Yes. Pgcli is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
What are some alternatives to Pgcli?: Similar open-source tools in the Database Tools category include Mycli, Harlequin and Goose. SaaS products in the same category include AI2sql, Aqua Data Studio and DBCode.
Is Pgcli actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Pgcli was on 20 September 2026, and the latest release is v4.7.1, published on 20 September 2026. The project has 13k stars on GitHub.