Explore

Explore a database schema token-efficiently via the DBHub tools; use before writing SQL against a schema you haven't seen.

bytebase Updated

File contents

DBHub Schema Exploration

Use search_objects with progressive disclosure — always coarse to fine:

  1. Orient: object_type: "table", detail_level: "names" (pattern defaults to %, matching all). Cheap even on large schemas.
  2. Narrow: detail_level: "summary" for the tables that matter (row/column counts, comments), using a pattern like %order% rather than listing everything.
  3. Drill in: detail_level: "full" only for the tables you will actually query (complete columns, types, keys) — never as a first, pattern-less call on an unfamiliar schema.

Searching object_type: "column" with a pattern like %email% is the fastest way to find which tables hold a concept.

Querying

  • Always add LIMIT (TOP on SQL Server, FETCH FIRST n ROWS ONLY on Oracle) when sampling data — start with LIMIT 10. Prefer aggregates (COUNT, GROUP BY) over pulling rows to characterize data.
  • Check a table's full detail before writing JOINs so you use real column names — don't guess and retry.
  • This plugin is read-only; if a write is rejected, tell the user rather than trying to work around it.

bytebase/dbhub/tree/main/plugin/skills/explore commit e785ef7c1d

Frequently asked questions

npx skillmds@latest add bytebase/explore