Lukla Data Studio Download

SSMS alternative for MacBuilt for SQL Server. Made for the Mac.

Lukla Data Studio is a native SQL Server client for developers who moved to the Mac. A smart T-SQL editor, a profiler that shows the work instead of the noise, plans you can actually read, and the SSMS extensions you used to install, built in.

Download for Mac Read the docs

Free during the beta · macOS 14 Sonoma or later · Apple silicon

Built in, not bolted on

Everything you installed into SSMS

The extensions SQL Server people add to SSMS, and why they add them, are built into Lukla Data Studio from the start.

Instead of SQL Prompt

Completion that writes the join

Columns with their types, foreign-key joins with the ON clause written, meaningful aliases (Customers → cus, SalesOrderHeader → soh), snippets and formatting.

Instead of SQL Search

Search every object

Names, columns, and the text of every procedure, view, function, trigger and Agent job, across a whole server, as you type.

Instead of Plan Explorer

Plans you can read

Numbered steps with plain-English explanations, a top-operators table that flags bad estimates, index suggestions, and a before-and-after comparison.

Instead of SSMSBoost

A guard on every connection

An UPDATE or DELETE without a WHERE asks before it runs, inside IF, BEGIN…END, TRY/CATCH or after a CTE. Plus search inside the results grid.

Instead of SSMS Tools Pack

Nothing gets lost

Query history with its server and database, every tab restored on launch, local history of each file, and a colour tag per connection.

Instead of sp_WhoIsActive

What's running, and why it's slow

Activity Monitor with blocking chains and running plans, and Analyze Server for configuration, plan-cache and index findings.

Editor

Write T-SQL with help that knows your schema

The editor reads your database, so suggestions, checks and fixes are about your tables, not generic SQL.

  • Errors as you type. Red underlines from the server's own parser, with the message on hover.
  • ⌥↩ quick fixes. Correct a misspelled column, expand * into columns, add an alias, wrap in TRY/CATCH, convert a SELECT to an UPDATE.
  • Code analysis. SSDT-style rules with explanations, suppressions per line, and your own rules in JavaScript.
  • Split, compare, find references. Two views of a script, a diff of two tabs, and every use of an object.
  • Shortcuts you already know. Keymaps for SSMS, DataGrip/Rider and VS Code, and any shortcut you want to change.

Writing queries in the docs →

Profiler

A profiler that shows the work, not the noise

SQL Server Profiler shows you everything: connection-pool resets, IntelliSense chatter, SET options and the same query ten thousand times. Lukla's Extended Events profiler starts calm.

  • Start from a question. Slow queries, errors, deadlocks, one app, one database, or what your Mac sends, all filtered on the server, so the noise is never captured.
  • Noise hidden, never dropped. Connection resets, tool background queries and session setup are counted and one click away.
  • Queries, not events. Thousands of executions grouped by shape, with count, total and average duration, CPU and reads. Double-click to see every execution.
  • Trace this tab. Every statement your query tab runs, statement by statement.

Execution plans

Plans that say what's wrong

The diagram SSMS draws, with numbered steps and an explanation of each one in plain English. Then the parts SSMS leaves out.

  • Top operators. Every operator by cost, with estimated vs actual rows, flagged when the estimate is 10× off.
  • Index suggestions with industry naming and scripts that check before they create.
  • Compare with the previous run. Change the query, run it again, and see the cost, the time and which scan became a seek.
  • Ask AI to review it. The costly operators, bad estimates and warnings go to your AI model, and the fixes come back.

Execution plans in the docs →

Admin, without a Windows VM

The SSMS jobs you still needed Windows for

Object Explorer

Servers, databases, tables, programmability, security, Agent jobs and XEvent sessions, with scripting for every object.

Back up and restore

Restore a .bak with file relocation done for you, even one on your Mac into SQL Server in Docker.

Edit data in the grid

Select cells like SSMS, change, add and delete rows (even in tables without a key), edit JSON and XML in a proper editor, then apply it all in one transaction.

Schema Compare

Two databases side by side, differences by object, and a deploy script you read before you run.

ER diagrams and dependencies

Tables with their keys, and what uses what, before you change it.

Run on several servers

One query on many servers, or on the databases you tick or match by name, with the results merged into one grid.

AI assistant

Your model, your keys, your schema

Bring any OpenAI-compatible endpoint: OpenAI, Anthropic, or a model running on your own Mac with Ollama, LM Studio or llama.cpp. It stays hidden until you set it up and its test passes.

  • Explain, optimize, fix, write. Ask about the selection or the statement at the cursor, review an execution plan, fix the last error, or turn a comment into a query.
  • Knows your tables. The definitions of the tables in the query, or the whole database, or the schemas you pick, go along. Never your rows.
  • Follows your team's rules. Point it at your sql-style.md and every query it writes follows it.
  • Beside the editor. A panel on the right (⇧⌘A), pinned or auto-hiding, and production connections ask before anything is sent.

The AI assistant in the docs →

The AI panel: action buttons, the tables and SQL rules it sends, and an answer explaining a query

Database tools

The tools you added to SSMS one by one

Each one opens in a tab, works on any connected server, and writes a script you read before you run it.

SET STATISTICS IO, TIME

Reads and time, summarised

Logical reads per table with bars, largest first, and CPU and elapsed time, instead of a wall of messages.

 Query Store

Top and regressed queries

The slowest and most frequent queries over a window, the ones that got slower, their plans, and forcing a good one.

 Index maintenance

Reorganize or rebuild

Fragmentation of every index, the recommended action at your thresholds, and a script for the ones you pick.

 Data compare

Two tables, row by row

Rows matched by key across servers, differences side by side, and a sync script, with deletes as an opt-in.

 Test data

Rows that look real

Names, emails, cities, dates and existing parent keys, picked per column, repeatable from a seed.

 Code analysis

Catch it before it runs

29 rules, from SELECT * to a variable that doesn't fit its column, with quick fixes, team settings and your own rules.

Native

Made for the Mac, not ported to it

Built in Swift with the Mac's own controls: fast to open, light on memory, with the shortcuts and gestures you expect.

Your passwords stay in Keychain

Saved connections keep their passwords in the macOS Keychain.

Straight to your server

Lukla Data Studio connects directly to SQL Server: on Windows, Linux, or Docker on your Mac.

Colour-tagged connections

Production looks like production, and the status dot tells you whether you're actually connected.

Free during the beta

Every feature on this page, free while Lukla Data Studio is in beta.

Beta

$0 while in beta
  • Editor, profiler, SQL Search, plans, admin and database tools
  • The AI assistant, with your own model and keys
  • Unlimited connections and servers
  • Updates throughout the beta
Download for Mac

macOS 14 Sonoma or later.

Questions

Something else? Email support@luklalogic.ai.

Is this an SSMS alternative for Mac?

It's a native Mac app for the work you did in SQL Server Management Studio: writing and running T-SQL, Object Explorer, execution plans, profiling, activity monitoring, backups and restores. It isn't made by Microsoft, and it isn't a port. It's built for the Mac, with the features developers used to add to SSMS through extensions.

What does it cost?

Nothing during the beta.

Which Macs does it run on?

Macs with Apple silicon (M1 or later) running macOS 14 Sonoma or later.

Can I restore a .bak file from my Mac into SQL Server in Docker?

Yes. SQL Server reads backups from its own disk, so a path on your Mac doesn't work in a RESTORE statement. When your server runs in Docker on the same Mac, the Restore dialog copies the file into the container first and works out where each database file goes.

What permissions does the profiler need?

The login needs ALTER ANY EVENT SESSION and VIEW SERVER STATE. The profiler uses Extended Events, the replacement for the deprecated SQL Server Profiler, and removes its session when you stop.

Will it run an UPDATE without a WHERE?

Only after you say so. A statement that would change every row asks first, on every connection by default, and production connections say they're production. You can change this in Settings.

Does it use AI, and which models?

Only if you set it up. In Settings ▸ AI, point it at any OpenAI-compatible endpoint (OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, or Ollama, LM Studio and llama.cpp on your own Mac) with your own key, and press Test. Prompts carry your SQL and table definitions, never result rows. See the AI assistant.

Can I keep my SSMS shortcuts?

Yes. Settings ▸ Keyboard has keymaps for SQL Server Management Studio, JetBrains DataGrip and Rider, and VS Code / Azure Data Studio, and you can change any shortcut. See Keyboard shortcuts.

Is there documentation?

Every feature is documented, with screenshots and examples, at datastudio.luklalogic.ai/docs. Press ⌘K there to search it.

How do I report a problem or ask for a feature?

Email support@luklalogic.ai. During the beta, every message is read.

Lukla Data Studio app icon

Your SQL Server, at home on the Mac.

Free during the beta. macOS 14 Sonoma or later.

Download for Mac