Shell commands

Use DBeaver to run shell commands when a connection event occurs. For example, you can run scripts or back up data. This article explains how to configure these commands and adjust their settings.

Configure shell commands¶

To configure shell commands in DBeaver:

Start creating a new connection.
In the connection creation wizard, navigate to Connection details -> Shell Commands to configure shell commands.

Info

Alternatively, if the connection is already created, right-click it and select Edit Connection, then go to Connection settings -> Initialization -> Shell Commands.

You can run a command before or after connecting and before or after disconnecting. Use the settings on this page to control how each command runs.

Events¶

You can run a shell command for any of these events:

Event	Description
Before Connect	Runs before connecting.
After Connect	Runs after connecting.
Before Disconnect	Runs before disconnecting from the database.
After Disconnect	Runs after disconnecting.

Command window¶

Enter the command to run for the selected event in the command window.

Settings¶

Use these settings to control the command:

Setting	Description
Show Process Panel	Shows the running process in a separate panel.
Terminate Process at Disconnect	Stops the process when the connection is closed.
Wait for Process to Finish (ms)	Sets how long to wait for the process to finish.
Pause After Execute (ms)	Sets how long to wait after starting the command.
Working Directory	Sets the directory where the command runs.
Clear command	Removes the command configured for the selected event.

Click the information tip to see the variables you can use in commands.

Manage trusted commands¶

DBeaver stores shell commands configured for connection events in a whitelist. To manage this list, click Manage trusted shell commands on the Shell Commands page.

DBeaver opens the confirmed_shell_commands.json file. Add, edit, or delete command entries in the JSON array, then save the file. The changes are available the next time a command runs.

Example

A confirmed_shell_commands.json file can contain command entries like these:

[
  "pg_dump -U username -h hostname database_name",
  "sh /path/to/your_script.sh"
]

Examples¶

Use Shell commands in DBeaver for tasks such as these:

Back up a PostgreSQL database before disconnecting¶

Event: Select Before Disconnect.
Command Window: Enter the following command:
Example
```
pg_dump -U username -h hostname -p port -F c -b -v -f /path/to/backup.sql database_name
```
Replace username, hostname, port, database_name, and /path/to/backup.sql with your PostgreSQL credentials and the desired backup file path.
Settings: Select Show Process Panel to see the backup progress.

This command creates a custom-format dump of the specified PostgreSQL database before the connection closes.

Run a script after connecting¶

Run a script after connecting to automate a routine task:

Event: Select "After Connect."
Command Window: Enter the following command:
Example
```
sh /path/to/your_script.sh
```
Replace /path/to/your_script.sh with the actual path to the script you want to run.
Settings: Set Wait for Process to Finish (ms) if other tasks should wait for the script to finish.

This command runs the script immediately after the connection is established.

Password from shell command¶

Besides running commands on connection events, DBeaver can also read a database password from the output of a shell command at connect time. This is handy for fetching secrets from a vault or CLI instead of storing the password locally.

Info

For details, see Password from shell command.