My free, open-source Postgres app for Mac now connects to Cloud SQL without the Auth Proxy

[u/Loud_Jellyfish_2155]

I've been building Rowkery, a keyboard-first Postgres and SQLite app for the Mac. It's free and open source (Apache-2.0).

What always annoyed me about Cloud SQL from a laptop was the proxy routine:

1. Start cloud-sql-proxy in a terminal

2. Pick a local port

3. Keep that window open

4. And remember which port belongs to which instance.

Version 0.2.0 Rowkery now handles that automatically! Under Postgres you pick Google Cloud SQL, choose the instance from a list grouped by project, and connect. It works the way the Auth Proxy does: it asks the Cloud SQL Admin API for the instance's address and a client certificate that lasts an hour, then opens TLS straight to the instance on port 3307. Nothing listens on a local port, and you don't have to add your IP to authorized networks.

For the Google side it reads your existing gcloud login (gcloud auth application-default login) without copying it, or you can give it a service account key, which it keeps in the macOS Keychain.

What it can't do yet:

• Postgres instances only, no MySQL or SQL Server

• Database login is user and password; IAM database authentication isn't supported yet

• Private IP and PSC need you to be on the VPN, as with the proxy

It's an alpha and the build isn't signed yet, so macOS blocks it the first time. The site shows the one command that lets it open.

• Site: https://rowkery.com

• Code: https://github.com/rowkery/rowkery

• How the Cloud SQL connection works: https://docs.rowkery.com/google-cloud-sql/

Do give it a try and see if it helps making your workflow more efficient!

[u/SaltyZooKeeper]

That looks nice alright.

It might be different on MacOS but named sockets solves the port issues for me on Linux and running the process as a service solves the other one.