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pgNimbus documentation

pgNimbus is a fast, open-source PostgreSQL client that talks to your database and nothing else. It is on screen in about 0.2 s, streams results while the query runs, and sends no telemetry.

These pages cover how to use it. For why it exists and the benchmark numbers, see the README on GitHub; for what may come next, the roadmap.

  • Installation

    Microsoft Store, WinGet, MSI, .dmg, AppImage, .deb, .tar.gz, and how to verify a download you didn't get from the Store.

  • Connecting to a database

    Paste any connection string, save profiles, colour-code production, tunnel over SSH, and open several servers side by side.

  • SQL editor

    Schema-aware completion, FK-aware JOIN suggestions, formatting, scripts, tabs, and file handling.

  • Results grid

    Browsing, inline editing, safe mode, following foreign keys, the cell inspector, and import/export.

  • Query plans

    EXPLAIN and EXPLAIN ANALYZE as a heat-mapped tree with plain-language warnings, plus pasting a plan from somewhere else.

  • Monitoring

    Server activity, the who-blocks-whom lock tree, the database overview, and the LISTEN/NOTIFY monitor.

Two things worth learning first

The command palette. Ctrl+K (or Ctrl+P) fuzzy-searches every table, saved query, and action in the app. Most features have no toolbar button on purpose, so the palette is where they live. Each row shows its keyboard shortcut, which is how you stop needing the palette for the things you do often.

The cheat sheet. F1 lists every shortcut, grouped by area. The same list is published here as the keyboard shortcut reference. Both come from one catalog in the source, so neither can drift from what the app does.

Conventions in these pages

Shortcuts are written with Ctrl. On macOS, Cmd takes its place automatically, and you can force either scheme in Settings, under Hotkey scheme. The one exception is autocomplete, which stays on Ctrl+Space everywhere, because Cmd+Space is Spotlight on macOS.