AstroDB is a local SQL database distribution with a native command-line shell and desktop application.
The analytical engine is built from our DuckDB fork. The desktop application is built from our DB Browser for SQLite fork, with an AstroDB SQL window linked directly to the native engine.
astrodb example.astrodb
astrodb example.astrodb -c "CREATE TABLE numbers AS SELECT * FROM range(10);"
astrodb example.astrodb -c "SELECT SUM(range) FROM numbers;"
astrodb -c "SELECT * FROM read_csv('sales.csv');"
astrodb -c "SELECT * FROM 'data.parquet';"The shell uses .astrodbrc and .astrodb_history in your home directory. ASTRODB_HISTORY overrides the history path. Use astrodb -help for options.
Launch AstroDB Desktop.exe. The main window opens and edits SQLite databases, including tables, indexes, CSV imports, and SQL queries.
Choose Tools > AstroDB SQL for analytical queries. This window opens or creates .astrodb databases and queries CSV and Parquet files. SQL runs on a worker thread and can be cancelled. Results show up to 1,000 rows. Transactions and temporary tables persist between queries in the same window.
AstroDB files use the DuckDB database format. SQLite files remain SQLite files. The two query windows use their respective SQL dialects; opening a file does not convert its format.
Prerequisites:
- Visual Studio with the C++ desktop workload and Windows SDK.
- CMake on PATH.
- Qt 6 with Core5Compat and Qt tools. This build uses Qt 6.8.3 for MSVC 2022.
- Python 3 for downloading and verifying the SQLite source archive during the build.
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/ThreadCrash/AstroDB.git
cd AstroDB
./scripts/build_windows.ps1 -QtRoot "C:/Qt/6.8.3/msvc2022_64"The default generator is Visual Studio 2026. Pass -Generator "Visual Studio 17 2022" for Visual Studio 2022. -Jobs controls parallel compilation.
The script builds the engine, SQLite, and the desktop application, runs native tests, and places the portable application in releases/AstroDB/.
The engine source is a development snapshot, pinned by the engine submodule. Its reported engine version is v2.0.0; the AstroDB distribution version is 0.1.0. This is a development build.
The static website is in website/. Run python scripts/update_website.py to write a self-contained HTML copy to ../Website/AstroDB.html.
python -m pip install -e .
astrodb-python query "SELECT 42;"
astrodb-python studio
python -m unittest discover -s tests -vThe Python interface uses the installed DuckDB Python package and Python's SQLite module. It is separate from the native engine build.
Licenses apply per component. AstroDB's original Python and website code use MIT. The native engine retains DuckDB's MIT license. The desktop code retains its existing MPL 2.0 and GPL 3.0 licensing and third-party notices. See THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.