A native macOS Postgres browser — the fast counterpart to pgAdmin.
Connect, click a table, and see your data instantly: filter, sort and page without writing SQL — with an interactive schema map, a full SQL editor and natural-language → SQL one tab away.
⬇︎ Download the latest .dmg — universal, runs on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.
-
Open the
.dmgand drag Strata into Applications. -
First launch only. Strata isn't signed with an Apple Developer ID yet, so macOS quarantines it. Clear the flag once — open Terminal and run:
xattr -cr /Applications/Strata.app
Then double-click Strata as normal. That's it — you only ever do this once.
Prefer not to use Terminal?
Double-click Strata — macOS will block it. Then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the bottom, and click Open Anyway next to the Strata message, then confirm with Open. (On older macOS you can instead right-click Strata → Open → Open.)
None of this means Strata is unsafe — it's the standard macOS gate for any app from a developer who hasn't paid for Apple's signing program yet. The source is right here if you'd like to read or build it yourself.
- Connections — saved profiles (host, user, database, SSL mode) live in a persistent sidebar rail, shared across Browse and Query. One-click connect with a built-in connection test; multiple live servers at once.
- Browse — schema/table tree with row estimates, an instant data grid with column sorting, stackable filters (contains / = / ≠ / ranges / null), exact counts on demand, pagination, a structure tab (types, PKs, defaults) and a row-detail drawer with copy-as-JSON.
- Edit — tables with a primary key are editable in place: double-click a cell to change it (with one-tap NULL). Edits stage locally — highlighted amber until you hit Save (⌘S) — then land together in a single transaction that rolls back entirely unless every row matches exactly once. Add rows from a column-aware drawer that knows defaults and nullability; delete rows from the detail drawer.
- Schema — an interactive ER diagram of the whole schema: force-laid-out table cards with primary/foreign-key markers and foreign-key edges. Pan, zoom, drag, search, and click a table to light up everything it links to. Toggle between table-only, key-columns or all-columns detail; orphan tables are parked in a tidy grid.
- Explain — a query-plan visualizer: EXPLAIN or EXPLAIN ANALYZE one click from the editor, rendered as a tree with flame-style self-time bars, row estimate-accuracy badges, disk-sort and loop markers, and expandable raw node details. Analyze captures real timings by running the query inside a transaction that always rolls back — safe even on writes. One more click gets an AI diagnosis of the bottleneck and the most impactful fix.
- ⌘K palette — fuzzy-jump anywhere: every table in every schema, saved connections, databases on the active server, recent queries, and app actions, all from one keyboard-driven search box.
- Query — SQL editor (⌘↩ to run) for multi-statement scripts, result grid, elapsed/row chips, copy-as-CSV, and local query history.
- Ask AI — type a question in plain English and Strata writes the SQL from your live schema, dropping it into the editor and auto-running read-only queries. Powered by your local Claude or Codex CLI sign-in — no API key.
- Native feel — transparent vibrancy window, hidden title bar, dark glass UI. No Electron.
There are plenty of Postgres GUIs. Strata is deliberately narrow: the fastest way to look something up — or fix one row — in Postgres on a Mac, without writing SQL. It's the quick counterpart to pgAdmin, not a universal IDE.
| Strata | pgAdmin | TablePlus | Postico | DBeaver | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free | $99+/device | Paid | Free CE |
| Open source | ✓ (MIT) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Truly Mac-native (no Electron/Java/web) | ✓ | ✗ (web) | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ (Java) |
| Postgres-focused | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ (multi-DB) | ✓ | ✗ (multi-DB) |
| AI SQL with no API key | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Interactive schema ER map | ✓ | partial | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Transaction-safe inline edits | ✓ | partial | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
The differentiators that matter:
- No-API-key AI — plain-English → SQL rides your existing Claude Code or Codex CLI sign-in. No key to paste, no per-token bill. (Don't have either? The AI bar just hides; everything else works.)
- Safe by construction — inline edits stage locally and commit in a single
transaction that rolls back unless every row matches its primary key exactly
once, so a slip can't quietly rewrite a table. EXPLAIN ANALYZE always runs
inside
BEGIN/ROLLBACK— safe even on writes. - Lookup-first — pick a connection, click a table, your data's on screen. Filter and sort with buttons, not boilerplate.
Honest limits: macOS-only, Postgres-only, and not yet code-signed (a one-time
xattr -cr on first launch — see Install). If you need Windows/Linux
or many database engines, DBeaver or
Beekeeper Studio are better fits.
Built with Tauri 2 + React 19 + Tailwind 4, talking to Postgres over tokio-postgres on the simple-query protocol. Uses Bun.
bun install
bun run app # dev, hot reload (opens the window)
bun run install-app # release build → /Applications/Strata.app (this Mac)
bun run dev # browser-only UI against fictional demo databun run dist
# → dist-dmg/Strata_<version>_universal.dmgThis builds a universal (Intel + Apple Silicon) app and wraps it in a disk
image with hdiutil. To drop the Gatekeeper step for recipients entirely, sign
and notarize the build with an Apple Developer ID certificate.
AI SQL needs either the Claude CLI or the Codex CLI installed and signed in. Choose the provider in Settings. Without a selected CLI the app works fully — the Ask AI bar is just hidden.
If Strata saves you time, you can buy me a coffee — it keeps the releases coming.
Connection profile metadata and prefs live in
~/Library/Application Support/app.strata.desktop/settings.json. Passwords are
stored separately in the macOS Keychain under the Strata service.
Strata sends one anonymous ping when it launches so I can gauge roughly how many people use it. The ping contains only:
- a random install ID (a UUID generated on first run — not tied to you or your machine),
- the app version, and
- your OS and CPU architecture (e.g.
macos/aarch64).
It never sends connection details, hostnames, credentials, queries, table or column names, or any personal data. Pings go to a self-hosted PostHog instance.
To turn it off, flip Settings → Anonymous usage stats off, or set
DO_NOT_TRACK=1 in your environment. Debug builds never send.
MIT © Ben O'Neill. Free to use, fork, and build on.