README

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Install

Homebrew (recommended)

brew tap NeodymiumPhish/pharos && brew install --cask pharos

Manual Download

Download a .dmg from Releases. The app is unsigned -- after extracting, run:

xattr -c Pharos.app

Requires macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later. Supports PostgreSQL 10+ servers and DuckDB database files (DuckDB 2.0.0 is built in).

Features

• Schema browser -- Tree view with tables, views, foreign tables, functions, indexes, and constraints. Search bar, row count estimates, table sizes, and context menus (view rows, clone, import, export, copy DDL).
• SQL editor -- Syntax highlighting, schema-aware autocomplete, bracket matching, and multi-tab support.
• Query execution -- Run and cancel queries with paginated results.
• Results grid -- Native table with click-to-sort columns, find-in-results, and display options for grid lines, row numbers, zebra striping, and NULL format.
• Inspector -- Single-row detail view and multi-row aggregation with type-aware statistics.
• Column filters -- Per-column filter popovers with type-specific operators (text, numeric, boolean, null).
• Data export -- Export results or full tables to CSV, TSV, JSON, JSON Lines, SQL INSERT, Markdown, or XLSX.
• Data import -- Import CSV files with automatic type inference.
• Saved queries -- Organize queries into folders with drag-and-drop.
• Query history -- Search and browse past queries with date grouping.
• Connections -- SSL support (disable/prefer/require), color-coded server icons, and Keychain password storage.
• DuckDB -- Open or create a .duckdb file (File ▸ New/Open DuckDB Database…, Open Recent, or from Finder), or use an in-memory database. Built-in extensions: time zones and collations (icu), INET, full-text search, Excel and SQLite files, JSON, Parquet, files over HTTPS and S3 (httpfs), and PostgreSQL databases (postgres_scanner). Query cards, history, Sessions, the schema browser, DDL, Explain, charts, export (including Parquet) and CSV import all work. A file another app holds for writing opens read-only on request.
• SSH tunnels -- Reach a database behind a bastion. Runs the system ssh, so ~/.ssh/config aliases, ProxyJump and a 1Password agent key all apply. Strict host keys by default.
• Settings -- A sidebar of sixteen panes covering appearance, the editor, query behaviour, the results grid, the navigators, connections, privacy, notifications and more. Every control applies at once; there is no Save button.

Build from Source

Requires macOS 26+, Xcode 26+, a Rust toolchain (1.88 or later), and CMake and Ninja (brew install cmake ninja). The first build compiles DuckDB and its extensions from source (scripts/build-duckdb.sh, which also fetches vcpkg for the Excel extension's libraries) and takes several minutes; later builds reuse it.

git clone https://github.com/NeodymiumPhish/Pharos.git
cd Pharos
scripts/build-duckdb.sh
cd pharos-core && cargo build --release && cd ..
open Pharos.xcodeproj

Build and run with Cmd+R in Xcode.

Stack

AppKit / Swift / Rust / sqlx / DuckDB (duckdb-rs) / cbindgen / SQLite

Docs

Full documentation at neodymiumphish.github.io/Pharos.

License

MIT with Non-Commercial Clause -- free to use, modify, and distribute, but the software and derivatives may not be sold or commercially monetized without permission.

SECURITY.md says what Pharos stores and how the C libraries compiled into it (OpenSSL, curl, libpq) are kept up to date.

Pharos contains third-party open-source software (DuckDB, its extensions and their libraries, and the Rust crates of pharos-core). THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md lists each one with its licence; the app shows the same notices in Settings ▸ About ▸ Third-party notices.