Laravel SQL Dashboard: read-only SQL queries, charts and alerts for Laravel

A self-hosted SQL dashboard for your Laravel app, in the spirit of Rails' Blazer. Your team saves SQL queries with typed variables, sees the results as a table and a line, bar or pie chart, downloads them as CSV, puts several on a dashboard, and gets an email when a scheduled check returns rows or crosses a threshold (Slack too, untested; see below). Every run is in an audit log with who ran it.

It is built to be safe to leave switched on: queries run only on a separate read-only connection, one SELECT or WITH statement at a time, inside the database's own read-only transaction, with a row limit and a statement timeout on MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL and SQLite. A connection that can write is refused. Variables are always bound as parameters. Until you define the gates, the dashboard opens only when app()->environment('local') is true; every other environment gets a 403.

Docs and demo: https://amjad.com.pk/laravel/packages/laravel-sql-dashboard

Features

• Saved queries with a name, description and owner, shared with the team or kept private.
• Typed variables: write {since} or {status} in the SQL and pick a type (text, whole number, number, date, date and time, yes/no, one of a list). Values are checked against the type and bound as parameters. Dates accept today, yesterday or -7 days, so a saved query or check always looks at a fresh window.
• Results as a table with a CSV export (formula cells neutralised so a spreadsheet can't run them).
• Charts picked from the result's shape: a date then numbers draws a line, a label then numbers draws bars, a column named pie draws a pie. Or choose line, bar, pie or table per query. Drawn as SVG on the server: no JavaScript library, no CDN.
• Dashboards of several queries, with one form for the variables they share.
• Scheduled checks every 5 minutes, hour or day: fail when the query returns any row, or when a value in the first row crosses a threshold. Mail alerts when a check starts failing, passes again or errors, and Slack alerts (untested, see below).
• Audit log of every run, export, check and refused attempt: who, when, the SQL, the variables, rows, time and outcome.
• Gates for viewing, running and editing, closed by default outside local.

Installation

composer require amjadiqbal/laravel-sql-dashboard
php artisan migrate

Requires PHP 8.3+ and Laravel 12 or 13. The tables it creates (sql_dashboard_*) hold saved queries, dashboards, checks and the audit log, on your default connection (or SQL_DASHBOARD_STORAGE_CONNECTION).

1. Add a read-only connection

The dashboard never runs on your app's own connection. Create a database user that can only read, add a connection for it in config/database.php, and point the dashboard at it:

// config/database.php, in 'connections'
'dashboard' => [
    'driver' => 'mysql', // or mariadb, pgsql
    'host' => env('DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1'),
    'port' => env('DB_PORT', '3306'),
    'database' => env('DB_DATABASE'),
    'username' => env('DASHBOARD_DB_USERNAME'),
    'password' => env('DASHBOARD_DB_PASSWORD'),
    'charset' => 'utf8mb4',
    'collation' => 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci',
],

SQL_DASHBOARD_CONNECTION=dashboard

MySQL / MariaDB

CREATE USER 'dashboard'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'a-long-password';
GRANT SELECT, SHOW VIEW ON your_app.* TO 'dashboard'@'%';

PostgreSQL

CREATE ROLE dashboard LOGIN PASSWORD 'a-long-password';
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA public TO dashboard;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO dashboard;
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES FOR ROLE your_migration_role IN SCHEMA public GRANT SELECT ON TABLES TO dashboard;

SQLite: open the same file read-only.

'dashboard' => [
    'driver' => 'sqlite',
    'database' => database_path('database.sqlite'),
    // PHP 8.3: [PDO::SQLITE_ATTR_OPEN_FLAGS => PDO::SQLITE_OPEN_READONLY]
    'options' => [Pdo\Sqlite::ATTR_OPEN_FLAGS => Pdo\Sqlite::OPEN_READONLY],
],

Then check it:

php artisan sql-dashboard:verify

Connection: dashboard
Driver:     MySQL / MariaDB
Limits:     15s timeout, 1000 rows
Ready: the connection is read-only and SELECT 1 returned 1 in 9 ms.

2. Decide who can use it

Open /sql-dashboard. While app()->environment('local') is true you are let in; in every other environment every page is a 403 until you define the three gates, for example in AppServiceProvider::boot():

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Gate;

Gate::define('viewSqlDashboard', fn ($user = null) => $user?->is_admin || $user?->is_analyst);
Gate::define('runSqlDashboardQueries', fn ($user = null) => $user?->is_admin || $user?->is_analyst);
Gate::define('editSqlDashboardQueries', fn ($user = null) => (bool) $user?->is_admin);

Writing SQL also needs a signed-in user, whatever your gate returns: raw SQL never comes from a guest.

3. Run the scheduler for checks

Checks need Laravel's scheduler, which most apps already run:

* * * * * cd /path-to-your-app && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

The package schedules sql-dashboard:run-checks every minute (each check runs at its own interval) and sql-dashboard:prune-audit daily. For Slack, create an incoming webhook and set SQL_DASHBOARD_SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL. The webhook only comes from your environment, never from the browser. Slack delivery is implemented and tested only against a faked HTTP client, not a real Slack workspace yet; please open an issue if it doesn't arrive.

Using it

Queries. Press New query, write SQL, press Run (or Ctrl/⌘ + Enter) to see the result, then Save. Untick Share with the team to keep a query private.

SELECT day, count(*) AS orders, sum(total) AS revenue
FROM orders
WHERE status = {status} AND day >= {since}
GROUP BY day
ORDER BY day

Each {variable} gets a type, a label, a default and (for lists) its options. Here {status} could be a list of paid, refunded, failed and {since} a date defaulting to -30 days. A {variable} inside quotes is plain text; the editor tells you. Variables stand for values only, never for table or column names.

Charts. The first column decides: a date gives a line per number column (or per label, for date, label, number); a label gives bars. Name the number column pie (SELECT country, count(*) AS pie FROM customers GROUP BY country) for a pie chart. Up to 500 points and 8 series are drawn.

Dashboards. Pick queries to show together. Variables with the same name share one input at the top.

Checks. On a query, press Add check. A check runs the query with each variable's default value (so every variable needs one) and fails when:

• any row is returned: write the query to find bad data, e.g. SELECT id, email FROM users WHERE email_verified_at IS NULL AND created_at < {week_ago}
• a value crosses a threshold in the first row, e.g. SELECT count(*) AS failed FROM failed_jobs above 0.

You get one alert when it starts failing, one when it passes again, and one if it errors, not one every run.

Audit log. Audit log lists every run with who, when, from where (page, editor, dashboard, export, check, console), the SQL, the variable values, rows, milliseconds and the outcome, including refused attempts.

Security

The dashboard runs SQL typed into a browser. It protects your data with three checks: a dialect-aware tokenizer (not a full SQL parser), the database's own read-only transaction, and a check that the database user cannot write. A write to your tables is stopped by the read-only transaction and by the user's privileges, each on its own. Side effects that a read-only transaction does not cover (reading server files, locks that outlive the transaction, opening another connection) are stopped by the tokenizer's deny-list, backed by the user check refusing roles that have those powers. It is not a sandbox: see the limits below.

1. The statement allow-list (a tokenizer). It reads SQL the way your database does (strings, quoted names, nested PostgreSQL comments, dollar quotes, MySQL's -- and # rules) and checks that it is one SELECT or WITH statement. It refuses INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, MERGE, DDL, INTO (including INTO OUTFILE), locking reads (FOR UPDATE, FOR SHARE), a second statement after a semicolon, writes hidden in a CTE (WITH x AS (DELETE ... RETURNING *) SELECT ...), raw ?, $1 or :name parameters, MySQL executable comments (/*! ... */), PostgreSQL U&"..." escaped names, and a deny-list of functions with side effects (set_config, advisory locks, nextval, pg_read_file and the other server-file functions, large objects, dblink, GET_LOCK, LOAD_FILE, load_extension and more), however the name is written: bare, "quoted", `quoted`, [quoted] or schema-qualified. Where text could be read two ways, it refuses rather than guesses. It is a deny-list, not an allow-list of safe functions, because an allow-list would refuse your own functions and extensions; the next two checks are what make a missed name harmless.
2. The database's own read-only mode. MySQL and MariaDB run each query in START TRANSACTION READ ONLY, PostgreSQL in BEGIN READ ONLY behind DECLARE ... CURSOR (which only accepts a query), and SQLite opens the file read-only with query_only on, in a separate process (on PHP 8.5, SQLite's authorizer also allows only reads). The database itself refuses a write, even one the tokenizer missed; the test suite proves this by sending writes straight to this layer with an admin login. After each query the dashboard releases any advisory (PostgreSQL) or GET_LOCK (MySQL) lock the session took.
3. A user that cannot write or reach outside the database. Before running, the dashboard checks the connection's user. On MySQL and MariaDB every privilege in SHOW GRANTS must be a read privilege (SELECT, SHOW VIEW, ...; FILE, PROCESS, SUPER and roles are refused). On PostgreSQL the role must not be a superuser, must not be a member of pg_read_server_files, pg_write_server_files, pg_execute_server_program or pg_signal_backend, must not be able to execute dblink or the server-file functions, must not have USAGE on a foreign server, and must not own, or hold INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE or TRUNCATE on, any table. On SQLite the connection must open the file read-only. Otherwise nothing runs. A read replica (super_read_only, or a PostgreSQL standby) skips the write checks but not the others. The dashboard also refuses the connection it stores its own data on.

And around them:

Variables are bound as parameters by PDO, never put into the SQL. CSV exports neutralise formula cells. Alert e-mails contain up to alerts.rows_in_alert (10) result rows: limit who can receive them with alerts.mail_domains. Private queries and dashboards are invisible (404) to everyone but their owner. Session settings the dashboard changes are put back after each run.

What it does not do:

• Hide columns. Anyone who can write SQL can read every table the read-only user can, so grant that user only the tables (or views) your team should see.
• Know your server's own add-ons. MySQL loadable functions (CREATE FUNCTION ... SONAME) can be called by any user and cannot be seen from a read-only one; the tokenizer refuses the well-known sys_exec family, but don't install such functions on a server the dashboard reads.
• Protect shared work from editors. Anyone who passes the editSqlDashboardQueries gate can edit or delete every shared query, dashboard and check, as in Blazer. Keep that gate for people you trust with the SQL; private queries stay private to their owner.

Configuration

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=sql-dashboard-config

Commands: sql-dashboard:verify, sql-dashboard:run-checks [--check=ID] [--force] and sql-dashboard:prune-audit [--days=N]. php artisan about shows the version, path and connection.

Testing

composer test                # unit and feature tests, including real SQLite runs
scripts/integration.sh       # real MySQL 8.4, MariaDB 11 and PostgreSQL 16 in Docker: the security suite
scripts/ci-local.sh          # PHP 8.3-8.5 x Laravel 12-13, Pint, PHPStan, then the integration run

Need this built into your app, or something custom?

I build reporting, dashboards and data tooling for Laravel apps, from the SQL behind a KPI to alerting on bad data, and I build Laravel packages. If you want this set up for your team, or need something it doesn't do, get in touch.

Support

• 🐛 Bug or feature request: open an issue
• 🔒 Security issue: please report privately via GitHub's security tab

Need this customised, or something built?

I'm available for custom development, package integration, and technical consulting.

More packages

Part of a family of open-source packages. See all of them.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.md. Inspired by Blazer for Rails; this is an independent Laravel package with its own code.