Show HN: TextQuery – Query CSV, JSON, XLSX Files with SQL
24 comments
·May 5, 2025bdcravens
mritchie712
this is a tarpit idea I've fallen into multiple times. It's really hard to make money from a desktop SQL client, let alone now that DuckDB has a good, free UI.
ayhanfuat
Congratulations. I do see value in quickly seeing, querying files in a nice desktop interface. I am curious why there is no parquet support though. If duckdb is running in the background it is probably easy to support it?
dowager_dan99
parquet support would be pretty easy I think, but also way outside the target market user. These are the features that are really hard to avoid: easy, but not free, no benefit.
imachine1980_
A few hours ago this would have been useful, I will probably give it a try in few days. On another note, I recommend clarifying in the heroes page that it's about a one-time purchase, because that's a really big plus.
account-5
To be completely honest I tend to use either powershell or Nushell to query these sorts of files. I do also use sqlite as well when needed.
leftcenterright
does that also work with xlsx files without much pain?
account-5
Nushell has it built in: https://www.nushell.sh/commands/docs/from_xlsx.html
Powershell can query excel files in various ways and there's a module for native powershell excel work: https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/ImportExcel/5.4.2
dowager_dan99
I think I'm your target user, but I currently use DuckDB for this type of work, so unlikely to buy your product. That said, lots of devs pay for Rider and/or DataGrip - sometimes with their own money - so maybe there is a market here?
zipping1549
I think someone who's willing to use SQL will also be willing to convert such files into, well, proper DB.
snappr021
Why not in vanilla js html?
sidcool
Pricing is too weird.
gkbrk
Feels like `clickhouse local` or `duckdb` with a price tag. Especially since duckdb even has a nice UI now.
shubhamjain
Author here. It uses DuckDB under the hood, which is a fantastic piece of software.
Yes, even DuckDB has UI now, but I didn't find it to my taste. There's no table view, filters are a bit weird, and not exactly keyboard accessible. TextQuery also has Visualize feature to quickly create charts and tabs to run things in parallel. Again, it's personal preference, but there are advantages in being a desktop-first app.
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mkayokay
For CSV files you can also import them directly into a SQLite file using https://sqlitebrowser.org/
XLSX would be the same workflow with "save as" CSV and then push it into SQLite.
shubhamjain
IIRC, SQLlite requires you to define a schema first, which can be a bit tedious. DuckDB is actually a better tool for this in every regard, since it can parse CSV files quite well. The latest version includes support for XLSX as well.
My personal take is, yes, it's possible in multiple other ways, but I just like having a well-designed GUI app do it for me. Just how TablePlus does for Database Management.
bob1029
> I just like having a well-designed GUI app do it for me.
MSSQL/SSMS supports this with some fancy techniques.
> This wizard was created to improve the current import experience leveraging an intelligent framework known as Program Synthesis using Examples (PROSE). For a user without specialized domain knowledge, importing data can often be a complex, error prone, and tedious task. This wizard streamlines the import process as simple as selecting an input file and unique table name, and the PROSE framework handles the rest.
> PROSE analyzes data patterns in your input file to infer column names, types, delimiters, and more. This framework learns the structure of the file and does all of the hard work so users don't have to.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/i...
account-5
You can import CSV files into sqlite without a schema, and you can turn of the ability to auto guess a columns data type if needed.
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tobilg
Try https://sql-workbench.com if you‘d like to do this directly in the browser, for free. Including Parquet and Arrow support as well.
null
Congrats on launching, but this feels like an uphill climb to get paying customers. You need to find the intersection of potential customers that know SQL but don't want to use one of the open source options. (perhaps data analysts working in restricted environments where the only option is a web browser)