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StackQL FAQ

Answers to the most common questions about StackQL. Each answer is self-contained; follow the links for fuller treatments.

Scope and capability​

What StackQL is. An open-source SQL engine over cloud and SaaS provider APIs: providers become schemas, resources become tables, and the full SQL verb set applies - SELECT for reads, INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE for resource lifecycle, EXEC for other operations. See What is StackQL?.

What StackQL is not. It is not a database (no stored state), not a CMDB (no synced copy), and not a state-file IaC tool (no plan/apply convergence loop). The differences are covered in StackQL vs Terraform, StackQL vs Steampipe, and StackQL vs CloudQuery.

The shape of a query. Required API parameters surface as required WHERE predicates, discoverable at runtime:

SELECT name, language, stargazers_count
FROM github.repos.repos
WHERE org = 'stackql';

SHOW METHODS IN github.repos.repos lists every operation and its required parameters - the same discovery mechanism AI agents use through the MCP tools.

Deployment​

StackQL runs as an interactive shell (stackql shell), a batch executor (stackql exec), a PostgreSQL wire protocol server (stackql srv), and an MCP server for AI agents (stackql mcp). Authentication is per provider via environment variables; metadata operations work unauthenticated. See the how-to series starting at How to authenticate StackQL to AWS.

License and support​

StackQL is open source under the MIT License and free to use for any purpose. Community support is through GitHub Discussions and Discord; bugs and feature requests go to GitHub Issues. For commercial support enquiries, contact StackQL Studios.