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Terminal and DDEV

TablePro opens any database URL or file passed to it by the operating system. That makes it scriptable from the shell, and it is how the DDEV integration below works.

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Open a database from the shell

Pass a connection URL to open:
TablePro uses a saved connection if one matches, otherwise it opens a temporary session that is never written to disk.

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Force TablePro over another client

open "mysql://..." goes to whichever app owns the mysql:// scheme. If TablePlus or another client is installed, it may win. Target TablePro by its bundle identifier:

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Install the tablepro command

Open Settings > General > Command Line and click Install. This writes a small tablepro script to /usr/local/bin that always opens TablePro:
Command Line install section in TablePro settings

The Command Line section in Settings > General

/usr/local/bin is owned by root on a stock macOS install, and may not exist at all. When TablePro cannot write there itself, macOS asks for your administrator password, and TablePro then creates the folder and the command. Cancel the password prompt and nothing is written. If that fails too, Settings falls back to showing the exact sudo command to run in Terminal. Run it and switch back to TablePro, and Settings picks up the change on its own.

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Open a file

Files route the same way, whether double-clicked in Finder or passed on the command line:
  • .sql, .psql, and .pgsql files open in a query tab on the current connection. If a window already has the file open, that window comes to front. With no connection open, the file waits and opens once you connect.
  • Database files open a connection to the file itself, nothing is saved: .db, .db3, .s3db, .sl3, .sqlite, .sqlite3, and .sqlitedb open with SQLite; .duckdb and .ddb open with the DuckDB plugin. A window already connected to the same file comes to front instead of opening twice.

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DDEV

DDEV ships a tablepro command. From any project:
If ddev tablepro is not found, update DDEV. This is the right way to open a DDEV database, because DDEV gives the project a new host port on every ddev start. A saved connection goes stale; the command reads the current port each time. It works with both MySQL/MariaDB and PostgreSQL projects. DDEV’s database, user, and password are all db. The first time a link connects, TablePro asks you to confirm it. This stops a web page from silently opening a connection. For a database on your own machine (localhost, 127.0.0.1, or ::1), the alert also offers Always Allow. Choose it and TablePro stops asking for that database, so ddev tablepro connects straight away. Trust is keyed on the database type, host, database name, user, and the name parameter, but not the port, because DDEV changes the port on every start.
Alert asking to confirm an external database link, with Always Allow for local databases

The confirmation alert for an external database link

Only databases on your own machine can be trusted. A link to a remote host always asks, every time.
Review and remove trusted links in Settings > General > Trusted Links. A link that carries a filter condition (?query= or ?condition=) or a pre-connect script still asks for confirmation, even when the connection is trusted.