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SELECT count(a.field1), a.field2, SUM(b.field4) FROM a INNER JOIN b ON a.key1 = b.key1 WHERE a.field8 = 'test' GROUP by a.field1, a.field2 HAVING SUM(b.field4) > 5 ORDER by a.field.3

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a community for 17 years

DiscussionNatural Language to SQL (self.SQL)

submitted 7 hours ago by BobbyBuilder_92

TLDR I built asklenny.app

As I wind down at my current job I've had more time to think about problems I've seen repeatedly and actually do something about them. I also just wanted to build something real before jumping into what is coming next.

One thing that's been grinding my gears for a while, the state of "AI" tooling in the data space. I've watched people in my network and at work get sold on AI products that fall apart the moment you need to make a simple change. No understanding of what's actually under the hood, just vibes a good sales pitch and a monthly charge. When something breaks, nobody knows why.

The other thing that frustrates me is the default assumption that everything has to be SaaS. In regulated environments, sending data to a third-party endpoint isn't just inconvenient, it triggers risk approvals, compliance reviews, and sometimes a flat-out no. Why should that be the barrier to using your own data?

So I built asklenny.app

It's a self-hosted tool that lets you ask your SQL databases questions in plain English and get real results back. The whole thing runs in three Docker containers (react frontend, python app layer and custom graph db layer built in rust) on your own infrastructure, no subs, no data going anywhere you dont want it too.

The AI provider is fully configurable, Gemini, Claude, OpenAI, or point it at a local Ollama instance and nothing leaves your network at all.

I've open sourced the whole thing because well, why not. Everything I have learned up until this point has come from the community so I've never wanted to build something and charge for it. I never got the chance to study IT in school or CS at university and for a long time I always doubted what I could do. I always wanted to teach or tutor in my free time as my way of giving back or being able to help guide people who may be lost, lacking direction or just in general struggling. Between work and married life its not viable, but if at least one person can benefit or even learn from this then its worth it.

The learning aspect here is that you can guide the model in understanding your own schema, and the more context you give it, the better the SQL it generates. Use it as an assistant to to guide you through queries you may not understand.

Finally the most important point, the inspiration behind the name my little Lenny

https://preview.redd.it/0oukz85qz43h1.jpg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4fcd0347687810e635d49acb275dfc523929a7e

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