Show HN: Tusk for macOS and Gnome

4/7/2026 at 7:03:49 AM

I can't wait to try this. Finally time to get some more stuff out of spreadsheets. DBeaver is really powerful (and we're lucky to have it); that said, it (at least the default skin on macOS) doesn't have the aesthetic that makes me want to use it for personal projects.

Really appreciate the design from the screenshots.

Is it a few hero sponsors away from notarization, by the way? :)

by Barbing

4/7/2026 at 7:27:49 AM

Yes, I can do that. Personally, I'm not a fan of Apple (or Google) tax. But I understand why notarization helps the end user.

by factorialboy

4/7/2026 at 8:23:19 AM

>helps the end user

I can't recall thinking much of it just a couple of short years ago...

Oh thank you! Yes, spinning up incredibly convincing projects is too cheap, and I'm uh changing my security posture or something like that. Mulling it over at least. (And of course: these comments are NOT at all specific to this project in particular! Speaking very generally here.)

Thanks :)

by Barbing

4/7/2026 at 7:36:24 AM

Had the same thought, I can suggest JetBrains Datagrip (paid software), works really well for me

by yosef123

4/7/2026 at 7:43:28 AM

I'm a long time user of JetBrains myself. The reason I made Tusk was:

* JetBrains does bloated Java instead of bloated Electron. Tusk is truly native to the OS.

* JetBrains does upsell higher tiers. Tusk does not. Especially won't offer an AI service in the tool that connects to your databases.

* DevTools should not distract the user. VS Code was an OG offender, but JetBrains too has too many notifications.

* Tusk is offline, doesn't connect back to a server for telemetry, updates, Ai, or anything else.

by factorialboy

4/7/2026 at 10:18:41 AM

I'm not against using Tusk by any means, native apps can be a lot nicer. I love using Rapid API’s Paw over Postman every day.

But…

> * JetBrains does bloated Java instead of bloated Electron. Tusk is truly native to the OS.

The bloat in JetBrains is negligible comparedy to what it can do and its predecessor eclipse.h

> * JetBrains does upsell higher tiers. Tusk does not. Especially won't offer an AI service in the tool that connects to your databases.

I have never really seen this as an issue except when opening a new project and even then it’s small notifications.

> * Tusk is offline, doesn't connect back to a server for telemetry, updates, Ai, or anything else.

This is probably true but JetBrains is not totally unusable offline.

I wouldn’t completely dismiss JetBrains but everyone has their preferences for whatever suits them better.

by hk1337

4/7/2026 at 10:27:31 AM

> "The bloat in JetBrains is negligible comparedy to what it can do and its predecessor eclipse.h"

Yes. It depends what you compare it with.

> "I have never really seen this as an issue except when opening a new project and even then it’s small notifications."

Tend to agree with you — but I still find it unacceptable to receive notification "ads" for upsells or plugins in a devtool.

I prefer zero-distractions in devtools, and this was the case mostly for a very long time.

> "This is probably true but JetBrains is not totally unusable offline."

Good point.

Not dismissing JetBrains — I was a happy paying customer for over a decade. :)

They're struggling to keep up with a rapidly evolving devtools market.

Thankfully, I / Tusk has no commercial obligations — so I can make it exactly to my liking and taste.

by factorialboy

4/7/2026 at 7:40:55 AM

Also stumbled across https://postgresgui.com/ a few days ago. Looks similar in scope, and open source as well. Though you need to build it yourself to not pay.

by benhoeil

4/7/2026 at 8:19:52 AM

Looks interesting ! I'm a fan of https://eggerapps.at/postico2/ personally but I'll check it out

by mininao

4/7/2026 at 3:55:32 PM

Thanks, let me know how it feels.

by factorialboy

4/6/2026 at 9:51:04 PM

This looks great, definitely going to take it for a spin tomorrow.

I'm pretty happy at the moment editing in vim invoked from psql with \e - which has been my setup for way more than a decade now, but I do miss isql (Query Analyzer) from SQL Server 2000, which was just about perfect.

by petepete

4/6/2026 at 10:23:23 PM

Thanks. Let me know which OS you're on. I suspect macOS might have more users, and deserves more attention.

by factorialboy

4/8/2026 at 7:09:11 AM

Linux and Gnome.

While macOS might have more uses, there's more database clients already fighting it out.

by petepete

4/8/2026 at 8:08:39 AM

Haha, fair enough — but I'm a GNOME user 70% and macOS 30% myself — so the GNOME version is getting a lot of love.

by factorialboy

4/8/2026 at 9:07:03 AM

I took it for a test spin just now and I'm impressed. Some notes:

- to get it to run (on Fedora) I had to manually installed python3-keyring first

- connected with ease, that part is really smooth

- I like the ability to easily flick through the tabs on objects and see the relevant data

- took me a while to work out how to create a new query, expected to be open a query window then save the file rather than create a file/query at once (unless I'm missing something) - usually I want to query first and only save if needed

- UI is really nice, fits in perfectly

- would be nice to be able to collapse/hide the file chooser in the bottom left when I'm not using it

Also, and I understand it's probably a pile of work, but a graphical view of explain would be amazing. This isn't a feature request, I'm sure there's plenty of other stuff that needs attention first :)

Great work, thank you for sharing.

by petepete

4/8/2026 at 4:41:38 PM

Thanks for the detailed feedback and positive words.

I still need to figure out correct packaging on OS's I don't use (Fedora RPM for example).

By end of this week, I'll incorporate some of your feedback into the roadmap. Ty.

by factorialboy

4/7/2026 at 9:17:47 AM

Interesting, looks like it's two completely separate implementations, one in Swift and one in Python.

by NSUserDefaults

4/7/2026 at 10:09:33 AM

It is exactly that. The macOS and GNOME versions share the same vision, but they are entirely different codebases.

by factorialboy

4/7/2026 at 4:25:37 PM

So is this like phpmyadmin but runs locally and talks to postgres not mysql/maria?

by jaffa2

4/7/2026 at 4:38:37 PM

Correct. And, it's a native desktop app, not a web app.

by factorialboy

4/7/2026 at 3:43:45 AM

Are the Gnome features planned to be ported to macOS? Frozen columns and cancelable queries are pretty vital things!

by btown

4/7/2026 at 3:54:21 AM

Yes. Definitely, those two will be ported soon, among some others.

by factorialboy

4/7/2026 at 4:39:24 PM

Shipped those two today.

by factorialboy

4/7/2026 at 2:24:22 PM

This looks fantastic. I would sponsor for AWS IAM auth.

by jamesboehmer

4/7/2026 at 2:43:52 PM

Thanks James - I'd welcome that - You have my email (in the app or in the HN profile) - let's connect and iron out what's needed.

Quick poll — Are you macOS or GNOME?

by factorialboy

4/6/2026 at 10:26:25 PM

Awesome, finally! Are you planning to integrate with Postgres.app?

by irdc

4/6/2026 at 10:42:08 PM

Curious. What type of integration are you looking for?

Postgres.app is server-only, no?

by factorialboy

4/7/2026 at 6:43:30 AM

This is awesome! Thank you for building it!

by ochronus

4/7/2026 at 7:28:19 AM

You are welcome. Would love to hear your feedback.

by factorialboy

4/6/2026 at 11:04:30 PM

definitely running this tomorrow first thing in the morning

by marcogarces

4/6/2026 at 11:06:32 PM

Would love to get your feedback!

by factorialboy

4/6/2026 at 10:05:03 PM

i will try, looks great

by hahooh

4/6/2026 at 10:23:32 PM

Thank you sir.

by factorialboy

4/7/2026 at 7:22:07 AM

Developers adopting mobile toolkits (libadwaita) for desktop apps are degrading the Linux experience

- less information density

- wasted space

- phone tier UX

- optimized for touch screens

- lacks depth

Lazy convergence that ignores how people actually use desktops

by WhereIsTheTruth

4/7/2026 at 12:52:38 PM

I haven't used the app yet, but from the screenshots it appears to follow the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines [1].

You may disagree with said guidelines, of course, but the author can't reasonably be criticised for following the platform standards.

[1]: https://developer.gnome.org/hig/

by monooso

4/7/2026 at 7:30:34 AM

Try it please. This feels alright on GNOME in terms of visual density.

The rest is subjective. But Adwaita / Gnome is what's on my machine, so I follow their design principles.

by factorialboy

4/7/2026 at 7:54:59 AM

[dead]

by ludamn

4/6/2026 at 10:49:51 PM

Website says "native" but it's an Electron app.

by mrichman

4/6/2026 at 10:56:16 PM

Is it possible that the [x Telemetry] [x Electron] and [x Subscription] means that the app does not have those things?

by alcidesfonseca

4/7/2026 at 7:39:33 AM

If that's so, it's really poorly communicated. I strongly recommend full sentences for that.

by laserbeam

4/6/2026 at 11:04:04 PM

it's exactly that, just less good choice for webUI, it was not clear to me at first either

by marcogarces

4/7/2026 at 1:44:17 AM

I second this. To me the styling looks like tags and conveys the opposite meaning.

by lunar_rover

4/6/2026 at 11:07:07 PM

* noted

by factorialboy

4/7/2026 at 1:04:22 PM

It says (No Electron) now. They probably fixed it.

by dizhn

4/6/2026 at 10:54:21 PM

It is not electron. Look at the source code.

by factorialboy

4/6/2026 at 11:32:01 PM

The bullets appear to be suggestive tags not an inverse-feature list. Which is the confusion, perhaps changing the “x” to a red or “cancel” symbol (circle with line through it).

by righthand

4/6/2026 at 11:02:48 PM

"Non Features: No Electron. No telemetry. No subscription."

by kermatt