Command line

The schemaic command runs SQL against your saved connections without opening the window. It never takes a credential: the connection comes from your saved list and its password from the OS keyring, so a script, a cron job or an AI agent can be handed a connection name instead of a password.

schemaic list
schemaic tables -c prod -d shop
schemaic query "SELECT * FROM orders LIMIT 5" -c prod -d shop --format json
schemaic exec "UPDATE orders SET state = 'sent' WHERE id = 7" -c prod -d shop

Setting it up

Put it on your PATH. Open Settings › General and press Install on the Command line row. On Windows this adds Schemaic's folder to your user PATH; on macOS and Linux it links the command into ~/.local/bin. Open a new terminal afterwards. The Linux .deb and .rpm packages already install the command, so there the button is greyed out. Remove undoes it.
Let it use a connection. Edit the connection and turn on CLI access, under Safeguards. It is off for every connection until you do, and a connection without it is refused before its password is even read.

schemaic list shows the connections the command may use; schemaic list --all shows the rest too, with a cli access column, so you can see why one you expected is missing.

Picking a connection and database

Every command that reaches a server takes -c (--connection) and, where it runs in a database, -d (--database):

-c takes the connection's name, ignoring case, or its id from schemaic list. #5 always means id 5, even if another connection is named 5. A name that matches two connections is refused, not guessed — use the id. Scripts should prefer the id: it never changes when you rename the connection.
-d defaults to the connection's own database. schemaic databases -c prod lists the names it takes.
SCHEMAIC_CONNECTION and SCHEMAIC_DATABASE stand in for -c and -d when set.

Where there is no keyring to read — over SSH, in a container — --password-stdin reads the password from a pipe instead: cat pw.txt | schemaic ping -c prod --password-stdin.

The commands

Command	What it does
`list`	The saved connections the command may use
`databases`	The databases on a connection
`ping`	Logs in and runs `SELECT 1`, to check a connection answers
`tables`	The tables and views in a database
`describe`	One table's or view's columns: type, nullability, default and key
`query`	Runs one read-only statement and prints its rows
`explain`	Shows how the server would run a read, and what in the plan looks slow
`export`	Streams a read's whole result into a file
`dump`	Writes a database's tables to a `.sql` file that recreates them
`compare`	Prints the SQL that would make one database's structure match another's
`exec`	Runs one statement that writes
`mcp`	Serves a connection to an AI agent over MCP
`version`	Prints the version

schemaic <command> --help gives every flag. Each command that waits on a server takes --timeout, in seconds: 30 by default, two minutes for compare, an hour for export and dump.

Output

Rows go to stdout and everything else — warnings, progress, the "rows were cut short" note — goes to stderr, so stdout is always safe to pipe or parse. --format picks the shape:

Format	What you get
`table`	A Markdown table with a row-count footer (the default)
`json`	A JSON array of row objects
`jsonl`	One JSON object per line
`csv`	RFC 4180 CSV with a header row
`vertical`	One `name: value` record per row, like `mysql`'s `\G`

--no-header leaves out the column names (and the table's footer), for table and csv.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	It ran
2	A usage error, or a connection, file or table that isn't there. Nothing was sent
3	Refused: not a read, a read-only connection, no `--yes`, no CLI access, or a connection setting that makes it unsafe. Your statement never ran, and running it again unchanged refuses again
4	The server or the connection failed. Retrying may work
5	A write timed out after it was sent and may have been applied. Check before retrying
6	`query --fail-on-cap` only: `--limit` cut the rows short (they were still printed)

In this section

Reading and exporting — query, explain, export, dump and compare.
Running writes — exec, and the questions it asks first.
MCP server — hand a connection to an AI agent in your editor or desktop app.

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