Data Swift / Metal Open Source

MetalSQLite — GPU-Accelerated macOS SQLite Viewer

MetalSQLite is a native macOS app written in Swift that uses Apple's Metal GPU framework to render massive SQLite tables at 60fps. Bye bye beach balls. Hello instant data.

View on GitHub ← All Projects

git clone https://github.com/darianmavgo/metalsqlite
open MetalSQLite.xcodeproj
# then Product → Run

Features

A native macOS application that uses Apple Metal to render SQLite database tables at GPU speed.

🎮

Metal GPU Rendering

Leverages Apple Metal directly for GPU-accelerated cell drawing — handles millions of rows without a frame drop.

🍎

Native macOS

Pure Swift, AppKit, and Metal. No Electron, no web views. Instant launch, tiny memory footprint.

🔍

Full-Text Search

Instant fuzzy search across all columns in any table using SQLite FTS5.

📂

Drag & Drop

Drop any .db or .sqlite file directly onto the window to open it immediately.

Documentation & Architecture

A high-performance SQLite viewer for macOS using Metal rendering and Go backend.

Architecture

Go Backend: HTTP server using the Banquet URL parser for SQLite queries
Swift Frontend: Native macOS app with Metal-accelerated table rendering
Communication: REST API over localhost with dynamic port allocation

Quick Start

# Build and run everything
./rebuild-and-run.sh

This will:

Stop any existing processes
Build the Go server
Build the Swift app
Start the server on a random high port
Launch the macOS app
Run automated tests to verify everything works

Manual Scripts

# Build Go server only
./build-go.sh

# Build Swift app only
./build.sh

# Run without rebuilding
./run.sh

# Run tests
./test.sh

Components

Go Server (`cmd/server/main.go`)

Parses Banquet URLs for SQLite queries
Handles cross-origin requests
Uses modernc.org/sqlite (CGO-free)
Supports dynamic port allocation

Swift App

MetalSQLite/main.swift - Application entry point
MetalSQLite/AppDelegate.swift - App lifecycle and window management
MetalSQLite/TableViewController.swift - Table view and data management

Port Discovery

The Go server writes its port to /tmp/metalsqlite.port which the Swift app reads to discover the server.

Default Database

The app loads /Users/darianhickman/Documents/Index.sqlite by default, querying the tb0 table with a limit of 100 rows.

Troubleshooting

Check server logs: tail -f /tmp/metalsqlite-server.log
Check app logs: tail -f /tmp/metalsqlite-app.log
Verify processes: ps aux | grep -E 'metalsqlite|MetalSQLite'
Test server: curl -X POST http://[::1]:<PORT>/query -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"banquet_url":"..."}'

Stopping

pkill -f metalsqlite-server
pkill -f MetalSQLite

Known Issues

The Banquet parser strips leading slashes from paths - this is handled automatically
The Banquet parser may include table names in column selections - filtered automatically