SQL — Sails

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*   [SQL](/guides/features/sql)

[Overview](/guides/)

How to

*   [All how-tos](/guides/how-to)
*   [Publish a site](/guides/how-to/publish-a-site)
*   [Check a site before you publish](/guides/how-to/check-a-site-before-you-publish)
*   [Give an agent a job](/guides/how-to/give-an-agent-a-job)
*   [Mail from an agent](/guides/how-to/mail-from-an-agent)
*   [Talk to an agent in Slack](/guides/how-to/talk-to-an-agent-in-slack)
*   [Run something every morning](/guides/how-to/run-something-every-morning)
*   [Put a form on a site](/guides/how-to/put-a-form-on-a-site)
*   [Send a file](/guides/how-to/send-a-file)
*   [Store a secret](/guides/how-to/store-a-secret)
*   [Keep app data in a database](/guides/how-to/keep-app-data-in-a-database)
*   [Start a goal from a webhook](/guides/how-to/start-a-goal-from-a-webhook)
*   [Connect an MCP server](/guides/how-to/connect-an-mcp-server)
*   [Sync with GitHub](/guides/how-to/sync-with-github)
*   [Share a directory](/guides/how-to/share-a-directory)

Features

*   [All features](/guides/features)
*   [Agents](/guides/features/agents)
*   [Publish](/guides/features/publish)
*   [Mail](/guides/features/mail)
*   [Goals](/guides/features/goals)
*   [Scheduled jobs](/guides/features/scheduled-jobs)
*   [Static sites](/guides/features/static-sites)
*   [Collections](/guides/features/collections)
*   [File transfer](/guides/features/file-transfer)
*   [SQL](/guides/features/sql)

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# SQL

`sql --db PATH.db` is the app database. `--db` is always required. The path is a directory (`connection`, `migrations/`, `seeds/`), not a SQLite file.

This is not a page collection. Globs list other pages at compile time. See [Collections](/guides/features/collections).

## Done looks like

```bash
sql --db app.db "SELECT 1"
```

prints `{ "rows": […], "columns": […] }`. First use on a template bundle provisions the tenant DB, writes `connection`, migrates, and seeds.

## Worked example

```bash
cp -r /templates/crm-app ./app
sql --db ./app/app.db "SELECT id, name FROM contacts LIMIT 3"
sql --db ./app/app.db --exec \
  "INSERT INTO contacts (id, name, email) VALUES (?, ?, ?)" \
  "c_demo" "Ada" "ada@example.com"
```

Bind with `?` and trailing args. Output for `--exec` is `{ "affected": 1 }`.

Workspace-only: `createdb`, `dropdb`, `migrate`, `seed`, `begin` / `commit` / `rollback`, `reload`. Published `*.api.sh` may query, exec, and `sql transaction` only.

How to: [Keep app data in a database](/guides/how-to/keep-app-data-in-a-database).