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Point the connection at a TiDB server’s SQL port, never at PD or TiKV. No minimum TiDB version is enforced. Host, user, password, SSH tunnels, SSL/TLS and Cmd+K database switching work as on MySQL.

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Connection settings

Release the Server Connection After is available under Advanced. AWS IAM, Cloud SQL Auth Proxy and Unix socket are not offered; reach a private cluster through an SSH tunnel.

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Connection URL

tidb+ssh:// opens it through an SSH tunnel. See Connection URL Reference.

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What differs from MySQL

  • The sidebar hides INFORMATION_SCHEMA, METRICS_SCHEMA, PERFORMANCE_SCHEMA, mysql and sys. Sequences are not listed as tables.
  • Stop sends KILL TIDB QUERY for the connection’s own session.
  • EXPLAIN and EXPLAIN ANALYZE show TiDB’s plan as text, not as a plan tree.
  • CHECK constraints appear in the Structure tab on TiDB 7.2 and later, when the cluster has tidb_enable_check_constraint on. Adding one from the Structure tab is not offered.
  • The type picker has MySQL’s types without the Spatial group.
  • Foreign keys can be created, without the SET DEFAULT action. Tables and views can be renamed, and virtual generated columns are supported.
  • Users & Roles works, with no connection limit field.
  • Table Maintenance offers ANALYZE TABLE only.
A connection saved as MySQL that reaches a TiDB server still gets TiDB’s Stop, sequence and Users & Roles handling. The sidebar, type picker, EXPLAIN and the other items above follow the connection type, so choose TiDB for all of them.

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Limitations

  • No triggers, stored routines or events.
  • No Server Dashboard, and File > Backup Dump… stays dimmed. Export with Dumpling instead.
  • Create Table has no engine, charset or collation pickers.
  • Compare & Sync writes no structure script between TiDB and MySQL or MariaDB. TiDB against TiDB works.
  • Pages of an unsorted table can repeat or skip rows on a table spread over several regions. Sort by a column to get stable pages.
  • Behind TiProxy or a load balancer, Stop needs Global Kill, on by default since TiDB 6.1. Without it, connect straight to one TiDB node.
  • TiDB closes a session that receives KILL TIDB QUERY while idle, so Stop pressed just as a statement finishes can end the session, along with its open transaction, temporary tables and variables.