Chat2DB

Chat2DB Community 5.3.8 reads, copies and exports complete large values instead of truncated previews - including for views, aggregations and tables without a primary key - adds the SQLX command line integration to Settings, and fixes table browsing and the KingbaseES procedure list.

Added (1)

1. SQLX command line integration: install, update and locate the OtterMind SQLX CLI from Settings, import the connections Chat2DB already stores, and see the Skill command an agent needs; credentials go to the child process on stdin and are never written to disk, the renderer or the logs. by @openai0229 in #2959

Optimization (1)

1. Complete large values for view, copy and export: JSON / LONGTEXT / BLOB values are completed from a snapshot captured while the query runs, so the grid, every copy format (cell, selection, INSERT / UPDATE / WHERE, IN Values, TSV, Markdown) and exports return the full content even when there is no primary key to re-query; the captured content is freed when the result is discarded or when it expires. by @openai0229 in #2972

Fixed (2)

1. KingbaseES procedure list: procedures come from sys_catalog.sys_proc instead of the JDBC driver query that failed with operator does not exist: boolean || oid, covering V8R3 and V8R6+. by @openai0229 in #2956
2. Table data tabs no longer re-browse on every switch: switching tabs no longer re-issues the request and resets to page 1, a failed first page offers a retry, and a layout change keeps the pane's active tab. by @openai0229 in #2961

Full Changelog: https://github.com/OtterMind/Chat2DB/compare/v5.3.7...v5.3.8

Chat2DB Community 5.4.0-beta.1 — early preview

This is an early preview of the 5.4 line: it is not a regular Beta release, and not a stable release.

• The Latest release on this page is still the stable v5.3.7. Only clients that enabled Beta updates receive this build in the app; everyone else can install it from the files below.
• The regular Beta channel is unaffected: the next regular Beta is 5.3.8-beta.1, published from the mainline. If you only follow the regular Beta channel, do not install this preview.
• This preview is versioned above the regular Beta line, so once it is installed the app will not offer 5.3.8-beta.x anymore. To go back to the regular line, download that version's installer and install it over this build — a downgrade install is supported.
• The feature line is not final: APIs and interactions may still change, and it is not recommended for daily production use.

What's new

Optional Pi Agent runtime

• Choose Pi Agent (gold Beta tag) in the runtime selector in the AI input's bottom bar; the first selection asks for confirmation and then downloads a separate Pi process on demand. With the selector on Default, the AI panel behaves exactly as before.
• A conversation can use this runtime to carry out tasks.

File and terminal tools for the Agent

• Files: read, search, write and edit files in the tool working directory, which you can set in Settings.
• Terminal: Bash and PowerShell stay off by default; once enabled, every command still needs your approval.

Skills

• Three bundled skills — charts, skill management and MCP management — ship with the app and are updated with each release.
• Personal skills live in ~/.chat2db-skills/ and take effect as soon as you edit them.

External MCP servers

• Ask the Agent in the conversation to add, change or remove an MCP server (stdio or Streamable HTTP); there is no settings page for it.
• The tools a server provides appear in the conversation, and a server added mid-conversation is callable right away.
• Changing a server's command or arguments asks for approval again.

Approvals and session output files

• Anything that changes data asks first: run once, always allow this tool, allow the whole MCP server, or deny — and the answer is remembered.
• Results that exceed the context are saved as files inside the conversation, where you can view, search and download them.

How to test

• In the app: open Settings → About Us, enable Receive Beta versions, then use Check for updates.
• Or download an installer from this page: macOS (dmg), Windows (msi), Linux (deb, rpm, AppImage).
• Please report problems as an Issue with the version 5.4.0-beta.1, your operating system and the steps to reproduce. Logs can be opened from the desktop menu Help → Open Log.

Known limitations

• Windows and Linux desktops have not been through a full regression pass; reports from those platforms are welcome.
• Terminal and MCP are preview capabilities: MCP servers that need an interactive OAuth login are not supported, and neither are the MCP resources, prompts or sampling surfaces.

What's Changed

• feat(agent): integrate Pi V2 with recovery, charts and object tools by @openai0229 in https://github.com/OtterMind/Chat2DB/pull/2906
• ci(release): publish Beta builds as releases that keep Latest stable by @openai0229 in https://github.com/OtterMind/Chat2DB/pull/2953

Full Changelog: https://github.com/OtterMind/Chat2DB/compare/v5.3.7...v5.4.0-beta.1

Chat2DB Community 5.3.7 adds in-app desktop updates for the packaged macOS, Windows and Linux builds; import preview with field mapping and per-format configuration for CSV, Excel, JSON and SQL imports plus an ultra-fast CSV import mode; an Update Time column in the table list; Oracle EXPLAIN PLAN results; and 31 further improvements and fixes across the query console, task center, dashboards, AI features and connection handling.

Added (5)

1. In-app desktop updates: the packaged macOS, Windows and Linux builds discover and install new versions, and a package is installed only after its signed manifest is verified. Settings → About gained a "Receive beta versions" switch. A downloaded update is kept when the application restarts or checks for updates again, so it installs without downloading again and also works offline (a beta update is no longer discarded after a restart); on macOS the update helper runs independently of the application so the update survives the application closing; an install that replaces the whole package restores and reopens the previous version when an update fails; on Windows the installer falls back to a compatible launch mode and keeps the original installation directory when the automatic install cannot start; the verification run no longer opens a temporary application window. Repeated clicks on "Check for updates" send a single request, the button shows a loading state, and a check reports its result at most once; an unreachable update source reports a failed check instead of "no new version available". by @haizhi03 @openai0229 in #2698 #2917 #2923 #2931 #2943 #2947 #2949
2. Import preview, field mapping and basic configuration: CSV, XLS, XLSX, JSON and SQL imports can be previewed before they run, the mapping between source and target fields can be adjusted, individual fields can be skipped, and unmapped fields can take a default value or NULL. CSV supports the file encoding, delimiter, quote and escape characters, header and data row ranges, null handling and date/number formats; Excel/XLS select the worksheet, header row, first and last data row and the column range, treat empty fields as NULL, and set the date, time and decimal formats for text cells; JSON selects the encoding, the data structure (array of objects, single object, JSON Lines) and the data node path, and can skip individual nested fields; SQL supports a file encoding (detected automatically or given explicitly, such as GBK). The preview and the import run use the same options, so the mapping shows what is imported. by @openai0229 in #2921
3. Ultra-fast CSV import mode: after the file preview an "Ultra-fast mode" can be enabled, which imports in parallel batches over a dedicated connection and adapts concurrency and batch size to the measured throughput; a failure or cancellation cancels the registered statements and waits for every worker to stop, and the standard mode stays the default. by @liushikuan63 in #2908
4. Update Time column in the table list: shown after Create Time, left empty when unknown, translated in all five languages. by @openai0229 in #2915
5. Oracle EXPLAIN PLAN shows the execution plan: the statement runs under a generated statement id, the plan is read back from PLAN_TABLE through DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY and returned as a result set; a missing PLAN_TABLE reports an actionable message, and EXPLAIN PLAN ... INTO <custom table> still goes to the database. by @openai0229 in #2945

Optimization (4)

1. SQL execution log filtering: records can be filtered by data source, database, schema and SQL content, and the available filters follow the capabilities of the data source, which makes a specific execution record much easier to find.
2. More reliable task center polling and paging: records are merged by id and update time, terminal states and already loaded history are kept, responses that arrive after a task was deleted or the panel was closed are dropped, a failed loa

Chat2DB Community 5.3.7-beta.4 is a Beta prerelease. Oracle EXPLAIN PLAN now returns the execution plan instead of reporting success with nothing to show; on some macOS machines a desktop update stopped after the application closed, and the update helper now runs independently of the application so the update completes and restarts into the new version; desktop installs that update by replacing the whole package no longer keep an unverified installation when an update fails, and instead restore and relaunch the previous version.

Added (1)

• Running EXPLAIN PLAN in the Oracle SQL console now shows the execution plan instead of "executed successfully" with no result: the statement runs under a generated statement id, and the plan is read back from PLAN_TABLE through DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY and returned as a result set. A missing PLAN_TABLE reports an actionable message, EXPLAIN PLAN ... INTO <custom table> still goes to the database, and requesting the plan of a statement that already is an explain command no longer nests two EXPLAIN PLAN clauses by @openai0229 in PR #2945.

Fixed (2)

• (macOS) On some machines an update stopped after the application closed: the update helper ended together with the application, so the version never changed. The helper now runs independently of the application, the application waits until the helper has accepted the plan before closing, and the update restarts into the new version by @openai0229 in PR #2943.
• Desktop installs that update by replacing the whole package (macOS, Linux AppImage) no longer keep an unverified installation when an update fails: the updater keeps the previous version aside and restores and relaunches it when the trial or the restart does not report a healthy startup. It also refuses to switch while another instance of the same application is running, which used to make the trial exit immediately and was reported as a trial failure, and the update log now records the failing process id, exit status and elapsed time by @openai0229 in PR #2943.

Full Changelog: https://github.com/OtterMind/Chat2DB/compare/v5.3.7-beta.3...v5.3.7-beta.4