Opening Base from the Terminal

I’ve recently been asked if there’s a way to open a database in Base from the Terminal.

You can use the open command for this. This opens a file in the same way as double-clicking it in the Finder. You do need to have Base installed first, though (get a copy here).

Base 3.3.0 Released

Base 3.3 is now available for download.

Base now provides Quick Look previews for SQLite databases. When you’ve got a database selected in the Finder, pressing the spacebar will show a list of tables, views, triggers and indexes in that file.

Base 3.2.0 Released

Base 3.2 is now available for download.

This update contains mostly quality-of-life improvements, with improvements to the table schema editor, data browsing table and SQL autocompletion.

Base 3.1.0 Released

Base 3.1.0 is now available for download.

This update adopts the new Liquid Glass look on macOS 26 and contains a good selection of quality-of-life improvements to make using Base even nicer.

Retrospective on making Base 3

The first version of Base was released in late 2008. It grew into a v2 by early 2011 and kept going until the last feature release in 2020 (with a few bugfix releases after).

On the 4th July 2020, I started a new branch for Base v3.

Base 3.0.2 Released

Base 3.0.2 is now available for download.

This is a bug-fixing release, containing the following changes:

Base 3.0 Released

I'm incredibly happy to announce that Base 3.0 is now available for download.

The app has had a major overhaul to all areas while keeping a familiar UI.
Base 3 is faster, more capable and even nicer to use.

Base 2.5 Released

After a bit of a gap, I’m pleased to say a new update to Base is available to download.

The highlights include:

• Modernising the UI a bit to bring it more in line with recent versions of macOS. It looks familiar, but feels less old fashioned.
• Adding syntax highlighting themes. You can now have different text colours for light & dark modes which switch automatically.
• Adding support for macOS Dark Mode throughout the app. No more eye glare!
• All versions of Base now require macOS 10.14 (Mojave) and have enabled sandboxing

There’s other minor bugfixes in there too which sort out some UI glitches and misplaced buttons.

Base 2.4.11 Released

Base 2.4.11 is now available to download for direct sale, Setapp and Mac App Store users.

This update fixes a bug causing Base to sometimes crash when re-opening a database on launch. It also updates to SQLite version 3.17.0.

Base 2.4.11 can be downloaded from the product page, Setapp or the Mac App Store.

Base on Setapp

Base is now available on Setapp, a new service from MacPaw which gives you access to more than 50 great apps for $9.99 per month, with a month’s free trial to start.

When you subscribe to Setapp, you have unlimited access to a curated library of useful apps. There are no upgrade fees, no ads, and no in-app purchases. One fixed fee gets you all of it.