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u/Silver_College_2071

r/SQL r/coolgithubprojects r/sqlite r/software
▲ 0 r/SQL

Would you actually use a Visual Query Builder, or is hand-writing SQL always superior? Building an offline SQLite tool.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been working on a lightweight, offline SQLite desktop editor and recently started experimenting with a visual graph interface for building SELECT queries (connecting foreign keys, selecting columns with nodes, auto-generating JOINs, etc.).

Before I sink too much time into polishing the drag-and-drop mechanics, I wanted to get some honest feedback from developers and data folks here.

A few questions I'm wrestling with:

  1. Target audience: Do senior/experienced devs ever touch visual query builders, or are they purely for beginners, analysts, or non-technical users?
  2. Pain points with existing tools: If you’ve used tools like DBeaver, TablePlus, or Access back in the day, what usually makes visual query builders annoying or restrictive?
  3. The "Complex Query" ceiling: At what point does a node graph become harder to manage than just writing raw SQL (e.g., complex subqueries, window functions, CTEs)?

The goal with my tool is to keep it super lightweight, local-first, and clean, but I'm curious if visual SQL is actually something people want in their daily workflow, or if raw SQL text editors are just inherently faster for most tasks.

Would love to hear your thoughts, hot takes, or feature wishlists!

u/Silver_College_2071 — 20 days ago