PostgreSQL: Secure Read-Only Access & Live Schema Inspection

PostgreSQL secures read-only database access with live schema inspection, enabling seamless audits, compliance, and performance optimization—no locks, just clarity.

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About PostgreSQL

What is PostgreSQL: Secure Read-Only Access & Live Schema Inspection?

This solution provides a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables secure, read-only access to PostgreSQL databases. By exposing schema metadata and executing read-only SQL queries, it allows language models like Claude to safely interact with databases. Transactions are strictly read-only, and schema information is dynamically retrieved from database metadata to ensure real-time accuracy.

How to use PostgreSQL: Secure Read-Only Access & Live Schema Inspection?

To integrate with tools like Claude Desktop, configure the MCP server via Docker or NPX. For Docker deployments on macOS, use host.docker.internal to connect to localhost-based databases. Authentication credentials can be embedded in the PostgreSQL URL. Example configurations include:

Docker: Specify the PostgreSQL connection string in claude_desktop_config.json with proper host mapping
NPX: Run the server directly using the PostgreSQL URI configured for your environment

Replace placeholder values like database names and credentials according to your infrastructure requirements.

PostgreSQL Features

Key Features of PostgreSQL Read-Only Access Solution

Core capabilities include:

Enforced read-only transactions preventing accidental data modification
Automatic schema discovery producing JSON-formatted metadata
Password-protected database connections via URL parameters
Compatibility with PostgreSQL versions supporting modern metadata APIs

Common Use Cases

Typical applications include:

Data analysis platforms requiring safe database interactions
AI/ML models training on read-only datasets
Automated testing environments needing isolated database access
Report generation tools accessing live schema structures

PostgreSQL FAQ

FAQ

How is security ensured? Transactions are strictly read-only and access is controlled through standard PostgreSQL authentication
Does it support other databases? Current implementation is PostgreSQL-specific, though MCP standards allow future extensions
What performance impact can be expected? Overhead is minimal due to query constraints and metadata caching mechanisms
Where can I view licensing details? Full MIT License terms are included in the repository LICENSE file

Content

PostgreSQL

A Model Context Protocol server that provides read-only access to PostgreSQL databases. This server enables LLMs to inspect database schemas and execute read-only queries.

Components

Tools

query
- Execute read-only SQL queries against the connected database
- Input: sql (string): The SQL query to execute
- All queries are executed within a READ ONLY transaction

Resources

The server provides schema information for each table in the database:

Table Schemas (postgres://<host>/<table>/schema)
- JSON schema information for each table
- Includes column names and data types
- Automatically discovered from database metadata

Usage with Claude Desktop

To use this server with the Claude Desktop app, add the following configuration to the "mcpServers" section of your claude_desktop_config.json:

Docker

when running docker on macos, use host.docker.internal if the server is running on the host network (eg localhost)
username/password can be added to the postgresql url with postgresql://user:password@host:port/db-name

{
"mcpServers": {
"postgres": {
"command": "docker",
"args": [
"run",
"-i",
"--rm",
"mcp/postgres",
"postgresql://host.docker.internal:5432/mydb"]
}
}
}

NPX

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "postgres": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-postgres",
        "postgresql://localhost/mydb"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Replace /mydb with your database name.

Building

Docker:

docker build -t mcp/postgres -f src/postgres/Dockerfile .

License

This MCP server is licensed under the MIT License. This means you are free to use, modify, and distribute the software, subject to the terms and conditions of the MIT License. For more details, please see the LICENSE file in the project repository.