Official (Anthropic)Active· 12d★ 4.3by Anthropic

SQLite

Local SQLite database access. Perfect for personal knowledge stores, quick prototypes, or querying app data without a server.

View repo

Safety & Trust

Delv Safety Grade: A

Score 84/100 · assessed 2026-04-22

Maintainer95

Permissions65

Supply chain90

Transparency90

Incidents100

Anthropic's official SQLite MCP server provides local database query access through a well-maintained package. The maintainer score is excellent given Anthropic's backing and active development in the official servers monorepo. Supply chain is solid with npm distribution and standard versioning. Transparency is strong with open source code, clear documentation, and active issue tracking. The permissions profile is the main consideration: whilst SQLite is read-only by default, it still grants database read access to any .sqlite file you point it at, including potentially sensitive personal data stores like browser histories, messaging archives, or health data. The server executes arbitrary SQL queries Claude generates, which could expose unintended data through clever joins or schema inspection. No known security incidents. Best practice is to point it only at databases you're comfortable having fully readable by the AI.

Lethal Trifecta (prompt-injection exposure)

ONE OF THREE

Private dataYes

Reads secrets, credentials, private files

Untrusted inputNo

Ingests web pages, PRs, issues, emails

External commsNo

Can send data outbound

Local DB read/write. Same profile as filesystem.

Green flags

Official Anthropic package with active maintenance and clear provenance
Read-only by default, no write or delete operations exposed
Distributed via npm with standard semver, easy to audit and update
Open source with comprehensive docs and examples in official repo
No network access, purely local file operations

Red flags

Grants read access to entire SQLite database including all tables and schemas
User must manually specify database path, easy to mispoint at sensitive data
SQL query execution allows arbitrary SELECT statements and schema inspection

Permissions requested

Read filesDB read

Assessed by Delv Editorial using public metadata. Grades are advisory and update as the ecosystem changes. They do not replace your own review of permissions and code before granting an agent access to sensitive systems.

Install

npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-sqlite /path/to/db.sqlite

Paste into your host's MCP config:

{
  "sqlite": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-sqlite", "/Users/you/data.sqlite"]
  }
}

Review

This is Anthropic's official SQLite MCP server, and it does exactly what the tin says: lets Claude query local SQLite databases. Point it at a .sqlite file, and Claude can run SELECT queries, inspect schemas, and pull data without you copy-pasting results into the chat. I've used it to query my Obsidian dataview cache, analyse exported fitness data from Apple Health, and debug schema issues in a prototype app. It just works. The workflow is dead simple. You give Claude a question like "show me all notes tagged 'project' created this month", and it writes the SQL, runs it, and formats the results. No context switching to a terminal. The schema introspection means Claude knows what tables and columns exist, so it rarely writes broken queries. When it does, it sees the error and fixes itself. What it's good for: personal knowledge management databases, querying exported data from apps that use SQLite under the hood (there are more than you think), and prototyping data models without spinning up Postgres. I've also used it to sanity-check migrations before running them on production data. The read-only default is sensible, though you can enable writes if you trust your prompts. Quirks: it's strictly local files only. No remote databases, no network access. If your SQLite file is large (multi-GB), queries can be slow, and Claude doesn't get pagination hints. You'll need to prompt it to LIMIT results. The config requires an absolute path, which means you can't share your MCP config across machines without editing it. Who shouldn't bother: if you're querying production databases, use the Postgres MCP instead. If you need writes and complex transactions, you're better off scripting it yourself. This is a read-heavy tool for local exploration, not a database admin interface. One specific workflow I return to: I export my browser history as SQLite, point this server at it, and ask Claude to find patterns in my research sessions. "What domains did I visit most while working on X?" It's faster than writing the query myself, and Claude's natural language output is easier to scan than raw rows.

Verdict

Install this if you work with local SQLite files regularly or want Claude to query your personal data stores. Skip it if you need remote database access or if you're only querying once in a blue moon. It's a narrow tool, but within that niche it's the best option available.

Good at

Schema introspection means Claude knows your table structure without you explaining it.
Read-only by default prevents accidental data corruption from overeager prompts.
Works offline with no network dependencies once installed.
Handles complex queries and self-corrects when SQL syntax is wrong.

Watch out

Requires absolute file paths in config, so not portable across machines without editing.
No support for remote databases or networked SQLite instances.
Large databases can slow down query execution with no built-in pagination hints.
Write mode exists but requires manual flag changes and careful prompt engineering.

Use cases

Querying an app's local DB
Building a personal PKM store
Analysing exported data
Debugging with schema context

Getting started

1. Run `npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-sqlite /path/to/your/database.sqlite` to verify the server starts without errors. 2. Add the config snippet to your MCP host settings (Claude Desktop config is at `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json` on macOS). Replace `/path/to/your/database.sqlite` with the absolute path to your SQLite file. 3. Restart Claude Desktop, then ask it something like "what tables are in this database?" to confirm the connection works. 4. Watch out: the path must be absolute, not relative. If you move the database file, you'll need to update the config. 5. By default, the server is read-only. If you need write access, check the repo docs for the `--readonly false` flag, but be careful with prompts that could mutate data.

Works with

Claude DesktopClaude CodeCursorWindsurf