Guides
Twenty-two walkthroughs for getting real work done with data files. Every SQL example has been run against the tool, so the queries and the column names are what you will actually see.
Start here
Plain English to SQL, with no AI
Type a question and watch the SQL appear — with no language model, no API key and no request leaving the tab. What it understands, and where it stops.
Run SQL without installing a database
No server, no admin rights, no ticket. Thirty seconds against an afternoon, plus what SQL is supported and what deliberately is not.
Query 26 files in one statement
How files become tables A to Z, why a big load can look like it's only using four or five of them, and a real twenty-six-file UNION ALL that touches every one.
Everyday tasks
Join two Excel workbooks without VLOOKUP
A real join instead of a lookup that breaks when a row moves — asked in plain English — plus the four reasons a join returns zero rows.
Window functions and nested joins, in plain English
Rank rows within a group, run a total down a column, or join three files that were never told about each other — RANK, running totals, LAG/LEAD and QUALIFY, all from a sentence.
One query across seven file formats
CSV, Excel, JSON, XML, YAML, Avro and Parquet loaded together and joined in one SELECT. How each becomes a table, and what does not survive.
Open a Parquet file offline
Read and query a .parquet file without Python, Spark or DuckDB — and convert it to CSV or Excel while you are there.
Open a .csv.gz file without extracting it
Query a gzipped CSV, JSON or XML export straight away: no gunzip, no uncompressed copy left on disk. What can be inside, the size limit, and why .zip is different.
Opening specialist formats
No SAS licence? Open a .sas7bdat file and turn it into CSV
Read a SAS data set with no SAS installed. Dates arrive as dates, missing values stay missing, and the whole thing exports to CSV, Excel or Parquet.
Inside an FDA submission: reading SAS transport (.xpt) files
Open SDTM and ADaM domains, join AE to DM on USUBJID, and count adverse events by arm — including a whole zipped folder at once.
Survey data stuck in a .sav file? Read it without SPSS
Value labels, user-missing answers and dates handled. Frequencies, crosstabs and weighted means in SQL, then a CSV for colleagues.
From a Stata .dta file to Excel, value labels and all
No Stata, no saveold. Codes and their labels side by side, %td dates as dates, and exactly what the Excel file will hold.
Getting the tables out of an .accdb or .mdb, without Access
On a Mac, a Chromebook or any PC. Every table becomes its own SQL table, plus a crib sheet for turning Access SQL into standard SQL.
Exploring a SQLite database in a browser tab
Browse tables and views with SQLite itself, join two tables of the same database, and the -wal file that can hide recent changes.
Read Avro and Feather files without writing a line of Python
Nested Avro records flattened, an Avro file joined to a Feather file, and pyarrow’s LZ4- and ZSTD-compressed Feather files read as they are.
Open a MongoDB .bson dump without MongoDB installed
ObjectIds become text, nested documents flatten into columns, and a second collection joins by that same id — no server, no driver.
Read MessagePack files with SQL, no code
The compact format behind APIs and caches, opened straight into a table, with a 64-bit id kept exact instead of rounded.
Read CBOR files with SQL, no library
Tagged dates and big integers decoded correctly, a CBOR sequence read the same as an array, joined and grouped in ordinary SQL.
Privacy and proof
How to verify nothing is uploaded
Three independent checks: the network panel, the content security policy, and disconnecting entirely. Start here if you are evaluating.
Working with client data under an NDA
For consultants and auditors: which clauses an online tool quietly breaches, a workflow you can defend, and wording you can give the client.
Working offline
Run SQL with the network disconnected
Load the page, pull the cable, and keep querying and exporting. The two-minute test you can run yourself, and exactly what still works.
Offline and air-gapped machines
For segregated networks. What works with no connection, the one thing that needs one, and how to get a build you host yourself.
Also worth reading
- How To Use — the complete reference: file options, SQL syntax, exports
- Licensing & Contact — internal deployment, written licences, security review packs
Everything in these guides runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
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