MySQL & MariaDB

Connect to MySQL 5.7+/8.0+ and MariaDB 10.x+ using the same MariaDB C connector driver

MySQL & MariaDB Connections

TablePro supports MySQL 5.7+, MySQL 8.0+, and MariaDB 10.x+. Both databases share compatible protocols and use the same connection interface.

Quick Setup

1. Create Connection

   Click New Connection, select MySQL or MariaDB, enter host/port/username/password, and click Create

2. Test and Connect

   Click Test Connection to verify

Connection Settings

Field	Default
Host	localhost
Port	3306
Username	root
Database	Leave empty to see all databases (optional)

Open URLs like mysql://user:pass@host/db from your browser to connect directly. See Connection URL Reference for details.

Example Configurations

Local: host localhost:3306, user root Docker: host localhost:3306 (or mapped port), password from MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD env MAMP Pro: host localhost:8889, user/pass root:root AWS RDS: Use the endpoint hostname with a password or AWS IAM (see below) Remote: Use SSH tunneling for production servers

AWS IAM Authentication

Connect to RDS or Aurora with IAM database authentication instead of a static password. Set Authentication in the connection form to one of the AWS IAM options:

• AWS IAM (Access Key): enter an access key ID, secret access key, and optional session token.
• AWS IAM (Profile): use a named profile from ~/.aws/credentials or ~/.aws/config. Profiles that use credential_process work too, so you can back the profile with SSO or assume-role via aws configure export-credentials.
• AWS IAM (SSO): use a profile backed by IAM Identity Center. Run aws sso login --profile <name> first.

Set Username to a database user created with the AWS authentication plugin. The AWS Region is detected from the RDS hostname and can be overridden.

TablePro generates a fresh 15-minute login token on every connect and reconnect, so you never paste an expiring token. SSL is required for IAM and is turned on automatically.

The database user must be created for IAM auth (IDENTIFIED WITH AWSAuthenticationPlugin AS 'RDS'). Connecting fails if the user only has a password.

MySQL vs MariaDB

Same driver for both. MySQL 8.0 defaults to caching_sha2_password auth (vs MariaDB’s mysql_native_password). Both support JSON, window functions, and CTEs.

Features

Sidebar shows all accessible databases, tables, structure (columns, indexes, foreign keys), and DDL. Switch databases with Cmd+K. Full MySQL syntax support for queries:

-- Select with JSON
SELECT id, JSON_EXTRACT(data, '$.name') as name
FROM users
WHERE JSON_CONTAINS(roles, '"admin"');

-- Window functions
SELECT
    department,
    employee,
    salary,
    RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY department ORDER BY salary DESC) as rank
FROM employees;

-- CTEs
WITH RECURSIVE category_tree AS (
    SELECT id, name, parent_id, 0 as level
    FROM categories WHERE parent_id IS NULL
    UNION ALL
    SELECT c.id, c.name, c.parent_id, ct.level + 1
    FROM categories c
    JOIN category_tree ct ON c.parent_id = ct.id
)
SELECT * FROM category_tree;

Troubleshooting

Connection refused: Check MySQL is running (brew services start mysql), verify correct port/host, ensure skip-networking is not set.

Access denied: Verify credentials and user privileges with SHOW GRANTS FOR 'user'@'host';

MySQL 8.0 auth issues: Use native password with ALTER USER 'username'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'password'; or set default_authentication_plugin=mysql_native_password in my.cnf.

SSL/TLS

New connections default to Preferred, which does a 2-pass connect: tries TLS first, falls back to plain only on SSL handshake errors (auth and network errors are not retried). Works for Cloud SQL, Azure MySQL, and local Docker. Use Verify CA with the provider’s certificate for stricter validation. See SSL/TLS for details.

Performance Tips

Use LIMIT for large tables, enable pagination, create indexes, and use EXPLAIN for slow queries. Set session variables (timezone, encoding) via Startup Commands.