Database Workbench started out as a developer tool specifically for InterBase, "InterBase Workbench", initially modeled after the SQL Navigator tool for Oracle Database by Quest Software.34 During its early years, InterBase became open-source for a short while, and soon after Firebird was created as a fork from the InterBase code base. The main developer of Database Workbench, Martijn Tonies,5 was closely involved in the early development of Firebird, has been a committee member of the Firebird Foundation and continues to be a Foundation member and sponsor.6
Database Workbench continued to support both database systems, initially through a separate "Firebird Workbench" release.7 Not long after, the program became interoperational between the different database systems and this initial support for multiple database systems led to the renaming of the product to its current title "Database Workbench" in 2003. It also opened the path to the inclusion of support for more database systems: support for Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL was added in 2003; in 2005, support for Oracle Database and NexusDB was added and SQL Anywhere support followed in 2008. Early 2010, a full Unicode version of Database Workbench was released and version 5 of Database Workbench was released in August 2014.8 In December 2021, Database Workbench 6 was released with a revamped user interface including a more consistent look and feel and the multi-threaded loading of database metadata. This version introduced the Enterprise Edition with its TeamServer component. In 2024, SQLite support was added. 9
A free version for personal use with limited functionality,10 Database Workbench Lite, is available for MySQL and Firebird.11121314
The current available version of Database Workbench supports the following relational databases: Oracle Database, Microsoft SQL Server, Firebird, NexusDB, InterBase, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite and PostgreSQL151617 Version 6 of Database Workbench is a 64-bit application for Windows platforms, previous versions were 32-bit.18 Under Linux, FreeBSD or Mac OS X Database Workbench can operate using Wine.19
Database Workbench can be used to view, create and edit tables, indexes, stored procedures and other database meta data objects. It also supports:20
It includes several productivity features:
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