Read SQL from stdin or file in query, memory, and bulk

[fuleinist]

Problem

sqlite-utils query, sqlite-utils memory, and sqlite-utils bulk all accept SQL as a single positional string argument. Long or multi-statement scripts (table migrations, conditional UPSERTs, INSERTs with many columns) need shell escaping ($(), \\\", \\$, etc.) or wrapper scripts to invoke. The same codebase already supports the equivalent for Python code (in convert) and for data file inputs (- / stdin in insert, bulk, memory, insert-files via click.argument("file", type=click.File("rb"))). Only the SQL argument hasn't been given the same treatment.

Today this is what the user has to write for a 30-line migration script:

sqlite-utils query data.db "$(cat migrations/2026_07_01_backfill.sql)"

Two pain points:

1. Quoting hell — semicolons, single quotes inside SQL strings, and $(...) references in the SQL body all collide with shell quoting rules. Multi-line SQL containing ' is a known footgun.
2. Stream chaining — when the upstream pipeline already produces SQL (e.g. a generated WITH-CTE from another tool), there is no way to pipe it.

The repo's other CLI conventions already handle exactly this for similar inputs:

• convert (sqlite_utils/cli.py:3085):

  if code == "-":
      # Read code from standard input
      code = sys.stdin.read()

• insert/upsert/bulk and memory already accept - as a sentinel for stdin on file arguments (e.g. cat animals.csv | sqlite-utils insert data.db birds -).
• insert-files (sqlite_utils/cli.py:2791) accepts - for a path argument and dispatches to sys.stdin.read().

Proposal

Treat sql == "-" as a sentinel in the three SQL-accepting commands; read from stdin. Optionally also add a --sql-file PATH flag for the explicit case where the user wants both sql and --sql-file semantics (mirrors how --functions "Python code or file path" already works on query, memory, and bulk).

# New: stdin
sqlite-utils query data.db - < migrations/2026_07_01_backfill.sql
cat <<'SQL' | sqlite-utils memory stdin:csv - "select * from stdin where species = 'dog'"
select 1;
SQL

# New: explicit file (matches the --functions precedent)
sqlite-utils query data.db --sql-file migrations/2026_07_01_backfill.sql

Behavior:

• sql == "-" → sql = sys.stdin.read().strip(); emit the same friendly error path as convert if stdin is closed (raise click.ClickException("Reading SQL from stdin requires an interactive terminal or a piped input")).
• --sql-file PATH → sql = pathlib.Path(PATH).read_text(). Mutually exclusive with each other and with a literal sql argument (raise click.ClickException("--sql-file cannot be combined with a SQL argument") if both are passed).
• All existing flags (--attach, --param, --functions, --flatten, --raw, --csv, --tsv, --nl) compose unchanged.
• Applies to query, memory, bulk. (rows_from_file-style commands already handle their own stdin path; they don't take a SQL argument.)

Implementation surface

Three locations, all bounded, mechanical:

• sqlite_utils/cli.py:1426 (bulk) — add if sql == "-": sql = sys.stdin.read() after the click parsing, like convert's pattern at line 3085.
• sqlite_utils/cli.py:1811 (query) — same.
• sqlite_utils/cli.py:1894 (memory) — same.
• New load_extension_option-style helper decorator sql_input_options(fn) that adds --sql-file PATH and reuses the -/file detection logic, applied via @sql_input_options to all three commands. Keeps the click decorator ordering clean.

Each touchpoint is ~5 lines. No signature changes, no breaking changes to existing callers, no schema or migration work.

Use cases

• CI scripts — run: sqlite-utils query $DB - < sql/maintenance.sql instead of inlining the SQL in run: blocks (GitHub Actions, Drone, Woodpecker).
• Migration tooling — when migrating from MySQL/Postgres, tools often emit a generated SQL dump; pipe it directly: mysqldump ... | sqlite-utils memory stdin:nl - "$sql".
• Notebook-eval workflows — Jupyter/Codespaces users can copy-paste a multi-statement SQL block into a shell pipe instead of saving to a file first.
• Editor integrations — SQL clients that emit select ...; per query (some LSP-driven tools) can pipe rather than write to a tmpfile each time.

What I considered and rejected

• sqlite-utils memory is not a substitute — memory requires a data source on the command line; it doesn't help when you want the SQL+path-form of query.
• sqlite-utils query ... "$(cat file.sql)" is the current workaround. It works for simple cases but breaks under nested quotes, command substitution in the SQL, and pipeline chaining.
• Stream-from-stdin as a separate sql-stream subcommand — adds vocabulary; better to fix the existing commands in place.
• Universal --sql-file only, no - sentinel — drops the pipeline case, which is the more interesting use case. The code == "-" precedent in convert makes the sentinel coherent.

Out of scope

• Multi-statement semantics — if the user pipes select 1; select 2;, query runs only the first (matches current behavior on a literal string). To run multiple, the --sql-file form can later be extended; this issue stays surgical.
• --functions file inference — already covered by --functions "Python code or file path"; not changing it.
• Schema introspection of files — not relevant.

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Filing this from fuleinist, an automated GitHub-issue helper run from MiniMax. Happy to narrow the proposal if a different surface (just query, just --sql-file, etc.) would land better — let me know which shape passes review.