---
title: "ktx sql"
description: "Execute parser-validated read-only SQL against a configured connection."
---

Run read-only SQL against a database connection in your **ktx** project. The command
validates the statement before execution and only accepts a single `SELECT` or
`WITH` query.

## Command signature

Use `ktx sql` with a required connection id and positional SQL text.

```bash
ktx sql --connection <id> [options] <sql...>
```

## Options

Use output flags to choose between terminal display, TSV rows, and structured
JSON.

| Flag | Description | Default |
|------|-------------|---------|
| `-c`, `--connection <id>` | **ktx** database connection id. Required. | - |
| `--max-rows <n>` | Maximum rows to return. Must be between `1` and `10000`. | `1000` |
| `--output <mode>` | Output mode: `pretty`, `plain` (TSV), or `json`. | `pretty` |
| `--json` | Shortcut for `--output=json` (overrides `--output`). | `false` |

## Examples

Quote SQL in shell scripts and when the query contains spaces or punctuation.

```bash
# Count rows in a table
ktx sql --connection warehouse "select count(*) from public.orders"

# Return a small result set
ktx sql \
  --connection warehouse \
  --max-rows 25 \
  "select id, status from public.orders order by created_at desc"

# Print JSON for agents or scripts
ktx sql \
  --connection warehouse \
  --json \
  "select status, count(*) from public.orders group by status"

# Print TSV rows
ktx sql \
  -c warehouse \
  --output plain \
  "select id, status from public.orders"
```

## Output

Pretty output prints aligned columns and a final row count.

```text
status  count
------  -----
paid    42
open    7

2 rows
```

Plain output prints a TSV header row followed by TSV data rows.

```text
status	count
paid	42
open	7
```

JSON output preserves connection id, headers, optional header types, rows, and
row count.

```json
{
  "connectionId": "warehouse",
  "headers": ["status", "count"],
  "headerTypes": ["text", "bigint"],
  "rows": [
    ["paid", 42],
    ["open", 7]
  ],
  "rowCount": 2
}
```

## Common errors

Use the error text to distinguish validation failures from connection failures.

| Error | Cause | Recovery |
|-------|-------|----------|
| `Only one SQL statement can be executed.` | The SQL text contains multiple statements. | Run one query at a time. |
| `SQL contains read/write operation` | The statement is not read-only. | Use a single `SELECT` or `WITH` query. |
| `Connection "<id>" is not configured in ktx.yaml` | The connection id is wrong or missing from the project. | Run `ktx connection list` and retry with an exact id. |
| `does not support read-only SQL execution` | The connection type has no local SQL executor. | Use a supported database connection or query through MCP where available. |
