I Built a 25MB Terminal Database Studio to Replace 1.5GB DBeaver Bloat

4yk5 — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 04:24:36 +0000

Every time I needed to run a quick SELECT, inspect an index, or check foreign key constraints, I found myself waiting 15+ seconds for heavy GUI clients like DBeaver or DataGrip to launch.

By the time the splash screen disappeared, my laptop fans were spinning and my RAM had swallowed 1.5 GB+ of memory just to show a 4-row SQLite table.

Even worse? The constant dread of accidentally executing a destructive UPDATE or DELETE statement without a WHERE clause on a production database.

I wanted something different:

Instant cold boot (under 120 ms).
Lightweight footprint (~25 MB of RAM).
Keyboard-driven workflow (no mouse hunting across menus).
Built-in safety guard against accidental data loss.

So I built GhostBase 👻.

⚡ What is GhostBase?

GhostBase is an open-source, keyboard-driven terminal database studio built with Python and Textual. It connects natively to SQLite, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.

No Java runtimes. No Electron wrapper. Zero telemetry.

🛡️ Key Features

1. Production Safety Guard & Safe Mode (`Ctrl + S`)

GhostBase inspects queries before execution. If it detects a dangerous statement (DELETE or UPDATE without a WHERE clause, DROP TABLE, TRUNCATE), it intercepts it immediately and demands double confirmation. In Safe Mode, all destructive operations are strictly blocked.

2. 1-Key SQL Beautifier (`Ctrl + B`)

Messy, one-line queries? Hit Ctrl + B to auto-capitalize keywords (SELECT, FROM, WHERE, JOIN, ORDER BY) and indent sub-clauses instantly.

3. 1-Key Query Plan Inspector (`Ctrl + P`)

Press Ctrl + P to execute an instant EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN on any query to detect missing indexes and table scan bottlenecks.

4. Zero-Config `.env` Auto-Connect

Run ghostbase in any project folder; it automatically discovers your DATABASE_URL from your local .env file without typing credentials.

5. Multi-Format Exports

Export any query results directly from the terminal:

SQL INSERTs (Ctrl + I): Generates executable INSERT INTO statements.
Markdown Tables (Ctrl + M): Ready to paste directly into GitHub Issues, PRs, or Notion.
CSV (Ctrl + E) & JSON (Ctrl + J)

🚀 Quick Start

Install directly from PyPI:

pip install ghostbase-cli

Launch it with your database:

# Auto-detect local .env
ghostbase

# Or connect directly
ghostbase path/to/database.db
ghostbase postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/my_db
ghostbase mysql://user:password@localhost:3306/my_db

🤝 Open Source & Feedback

GhostBase is completely open-source under the MIT License.

⭐ GitHub Repository: https://github.com/4yk5/GhostBase

If you find it useful, feel free to drop a star on GitHub! I'd love to hear your feedback, feature ideas, and suggestions in the comments below.

I got tired of Postman using 1GB RAM, so I built Ghostman (TUI API Client)

4yk5 — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:54:50 +0000

Hi everyone,

Like many developers, I got frustrated with what happened to Postman: it turned from a simple dev tool into a 1GB+ Electron app that forces cloud accounts, team workspaces, and telemetry just to test an endpoint.

So I built Ghostman — a lightweight, keyboard-first terminal API studio that respects your system and privacy.

Why use Ghostman over Postman?

RAM & Startup:
Postman: Uses 800MB - 1.5GB RAM, slow to start.
Ghostman: Takes ~40MB, starts in under 200ms right in your terminal.
Cloud & Privacy:
Postman: Pushes your collections to the cloud, requires login.
Ghostman: 100% Local-First. Collections live in plain YAML (.ghostman/collections.yaml) inside your repo. Commit it to Git with your team. Zero accounts, zero tracking.
Built-in Webhook Receiver (The Killer Feature):
Postman: Testing incoming webhooks (Stripe, GitHub, Discord) requires setting up external tunnels (ngrok) or web mock tools.
Ghostman: Hit Ctrl+W and it instantly spins up a local receiver on port 9090. Incoming HTTP callbacks show up live on your screen.
Keyboard-Driven Workflow:
Complete requests, inspect formatted JSON responses, and view latency telemetry (ms) without taking your hands off the keyboard.

It is 100% open source under the MIT License (screenshots in the repo):
https://github.com/4yk5/Ghostman

If you find it useful, feel free to give it a star or share your feedback!

DEV Community: 4yk5