Connections

A connection is one saved server — or, for SQLite, one database file. You add and change them in Manage connections, and switch between them from the header.

Managing connections

Open the connection switcher in the header and choose Manage connections at the bottom of its menu. Your saved connections are listed on the left, and the selected one's settings on the right.

• New connection adds one and selects it.
• Test tries the settings as they stand, without saving them. If it fails, hover over the message to read the whole reason.
• Save stores the changes and connects.
• Right-click a connection in the list for Duplicate and Delete. Deleting removes the connection's stored password, its AI conversation, its query history and its tabs along with it.

Import connections and Export connections sit next to New connection; see Importing connections.

The form

The form has four sections.

The Database section changes with Type:

• MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server — Host, Port, Database, then User and Password. Changing the type changes the port to the new engine's default (3306, 5432, 1433) unless you've typed your own. Database is optional; it's the one the connection opens in, and some hosted providers refuse a connection that doesn't name it. For MariaDB, choose MySQL.
• SQL Server named instances — write the host as server\instance. SQL Server Browser then supplies the port, so Port is ignored.
• SQLite — just a Database file. There's no server, so no host, password, tunnel or TLS, and the Network section goes away. SQLite statements commit as they're sent: there's no manual transaction mode.

Where an engine offers more than a password, an Authentication picker appears above User. See Signing in and TLS.

Switching connections

Click the connection's name in the header to open the switcher, and pick another. Each connection keeps its own tabs, query history and AI conversation, so switching back puts you where you were. From the keyboard, open the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and use Switch connection.

Connections with a Folder are listed under it, in the switcher and in Manage connections alike. Hover over a connection whose name or address is cut short to see it in full.

If a connection drops, the header says Disconnected, with a Retry button.

Telling connections apart

Three settings help you see at a glance which server you're on — useful when staging and production look the same.

• Colour marks the connection in the switcher and on the switcher's border.
• Prominent colour in editor also frames the query editor in that colour.
• Environment — Local, Development, Testing, Staging or Production — adds a badge with that name to the header.

You can also colour individual databases in the schema tree, which tints their query tabs; see Schema.

Where passwords are kept

Passwords, SSH passwords and SSH key passphrases go to your operating system's keyring — Credential Manager on Windows, the Keychain on macOS, the Secret Service (GNOME Keyring, KWallet) on Linux. Everything else is saved in connections.json, in %APPDATA%\schemaic on Windows and ~/.config/schemaic elsewhere.

If no keyring is available, such as on a Linux machine with no Secret Service running, Schemaic keeps working by leaving the password in connections.json in plain text. Schemaic needs no password for Windows, Microsoft Entra or cloud IAM sign-in, and stores none.

In this section

• Signing in and TLS — Windows, Microsoft Entra and cloud IAM sign-in, and encrypting the connection.
• SSH tunnels — reach a server through an SSH host, with jump hosts and ~/.ssh/config.
• Safeguards — read-only mode, command-line and AI access, timeouts and init SQL.
• Importing connections — bring connections over from other tools, and share your own.