SQuirreL SQL Client is a graphical Java program that will allow you to view the structure of a JDBC compliant database, browse the data in tables, issue SQL commands etc. It is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License.

The following compatibility matrix shows which version of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is required (minimum version) for different versions of the SQuirreL SQL Client:

SQuirreL SQL Client Version | JRE Minimum Version
3.0 and higher | 1.6
2.4 - 2.6.x | 1.5
2.0 - 2.3.2 | 1.4

The installation offers two install packages Base and Standard and a number of optional plugins. The Standard package contains the following plugins:

- Code Completion - Offers code completion the same way as modern IDEs do.

- Syntax - Syntax highlighting.

- Edit Extras - Auxiliary functions to work with SQL code (for example, formatting)

- Graph - create a chart of tables and foreign-key relationships between them

- SQL Script - Generation of SQL and DDL scripts

- SQL Bookmarks - Managing SQL code templates

- Look and Feel - Switching the look and feel

The following optional plugins are provided:

- Data import - Import arbitary files into the database
- DBCopy - Copy database objects from one session to another
- DB2 - DBMS-specific capabilities
- Derby - DBMS-specific capabilities
- Firebird - DBMS-specific capabilities
- Firebird Manager - Manage your Firebird Database Server
- Hibernate - Tools for developing Hibernate applications
- H2 - DBMS-specific capabilities
- Informix - DBMS-specific capabilities
- Microsoft SQL Server - DBMS-specific capabilities
- MySQL - DBMS-specific capabilities
- Netezza - DBMS-specific capabilities
- Oracle - DBMS-specific capabilities
- PostgreSQL - DBMS-specific capabilities
- Refactoring - refactor your database schema using refactoring patterns
- Smart Tools - Handy tools for manipulating data
- Session Scripts - run SQL when opening an session
- SQL Parametrisation - put variables into your SQL statements
- SQL Replace - place environment variables into your SQL statements
- SQL Validator - validate SQL against the ISO SQL-99 standard
- Sybase - DBMS-specific capabilities
- Internationalization - tools for translators

For Windows the file squirrel-sql.bat will run the application. For Unix the file is squirrel-sql.sh. On some operating systems a "shortcut" will be created in the menu system as part of the installation process.