Route: /p/:id/sql. Source: apps/studio/src/features/sql, backed by apps/server/services/admin/sql.service.ts.

The workspace

Two calls:

GET  /admin/schema/tables[?schema=…]   schema browser
POST /admin/sql   { sql }              run

Enabling it

Two switches, read together as a SqlMode:

Projects created by the Console ship with CONSOLE_SQL_ENABLED=true, and writes are allowed until someone turns them off. When they are off, a Read-only badge next to Run links to the setting. Turning it off or on needs the settings.write capability, so a developer who can run SQL cannot grant themselves writes.

The setting replaces the former CONSOLE_SQL_READONLY environment variable, which is no longer read.

What counts as a read

classifyStatement strips block and line comments, then looks at the first keyword. SELECT, WITH, EXPLAIN, SHOW, VALUES and TABLE are reads; everything else is a write.

That alone is not enough, so isDisguisedWrite rejects the classic bypasses on top:

-- rejected in read-only mode
WITH gone AS (DELETE FROM todos RETURNING *) SELECT * FROM gone;
EXPLAIN ANALYZE INSERT INTO todos …;

The rule: a leading SELECT/SHOW/VALUES/TABLE is safe, but a WITH or EXPLAIN statement is scanned for INSERT|UPDATE|DELETE|MERGE|TRUNCATE|DROP|ALTER|CREATE|GRANT|REVOKE|COPY|CALL|DO|REINDEX|VACUUM|REFRESH|SET|RESET|LOCK|SELECT … INTO, and EXPLAIN ANALYZE is refused outright because it executes the plan. String literals and quoted identifiers are stripped before that scan, so a row containing the word delete does not trip it.

Batches are split on ; and every statement is checked — one write in a batch of reads fails the whole batch with 403 Only read statements are allowed: the SQL editor is read-only.

Warning

In read-only mode the batch also runs inside a Postgres READ ONLY transaction, so a write that slips past the static check is refused by the database itself. The AI assistant's queries always take that path (/api/admin/sql/readonly), whatever the setting says — see AI assistant. Either way the editor connects as the owner role: for a genuinely unprivileged path, give people a role without write grants.

After a write

Successful DDL runs through schema-ddl.ts and invalidates the REST catalog (services/rest-api/catalog/), so a table created here is immediately visible to the auto-generated REST API without a restart.

The response carries wrote: true when any statement of the batch wrote, even if the last one was a read. Studio then marks every cached screen stale, so a function, type, index, policy, role, grant, publication or row created here shows up on its page without a reload. The AI assistant does the same after a turn that ran tools.

Audit

Every statement is written to the shared log buffer with source: 'sql' (SqlService.audit), which is why SQL activity appears in Logs even though the request logger deliberately skips /api/admin/*. See Observability.