Query Data Using SQL from the CLI

This page explains how to run SQL queries against kdb Insights Enterprise databases using the CLI. For SQL via the web interface or REST API, refer to SQL Query Support.

kxi query --sql lets you run SQL queries directly from the CLI.

Permissions

You need the insights.query.data and insights.query.sql roles, which are included in the Views-only preconfigured high-level role. Refer to Roles for details.

Running a SQL query

Pass your SQL query to the --sql flag:

kxi query --sql "SELECT * FROM trades LIMIT 10"

      date                        time  sym  side   price  size
2026-06-10 2026-06-10T09:30:00.000000 AAPL   buy  173.25   500
2026-06-10 2026-06-10T09:30:01.123456 MSFT   buy  419.15   200
2026-06-10 2026-06-10T09:30:02.456789 AMZN  sell  183.15   750
2026-06-10 2026-06-10T09:30:03.789012 AAPL  sell  174.50   300
2026-06-10 2026-06-10T09:30:04.012345 MSFT   buy  418.90   150
2026-06-10 2026-06-10T09:30:05.234567 AMZN   buy  182.75   600
2026-06-10 2026-06-10T09:30:06.567890 AAPL   buy  173.80   400
2026-06-10 2026-06-10T09:30:07.890123 MSFT  sell  419.30   250
2026-06-10 2026-06-10T09:30:08.123456 AMZN  sell  183.40   350
2026-06-10 2026-06-10T09:30:09.456789 AAPL   buy  174.10   700

Output formats

--output-format and --output-file control how query results are returned.

--output-format	--output-file	Action
tabular / unset	—	Print tabular text to console
tabular / unset	✓	Write serialized q bytes to file
csv	either	Write / print CSV
json	either	Write / print columnar JSON
json_records	either	Write / print one JSON object per row
pandas	✓	Write pandas pickle to file

Comparison with kxi query uda

kxi query --sql and kxi query uda support the same output formats, except pandas requires --output-file for --sql and is available without a file when running a named UDA.

Format	--sql	uda (list)	uda .ns.func
tabular	✓	✓	✓
csv	✓	✓	✓
json	✓	✓	✓
json_records	✓	✓	✓
pandas	✓ (file only)	—	✓ (file only)