Firebird driver for Metabase

This driver enables Metabase to connect to FirebirdSQL databases. Please star this repository if you use this driver and find it useful.

Downloads

Legacy driver: If you need to connect to Firebird 1.5 or 2.0, use the legacy driver which bundles Jaybird 2.2.15 for wire protocol 10 support. It registers as a separate driver ("FirebirdSQL Legacy 1.5+") and can coexist with the standard driver.

Installation

• Make sure you have installed a recent Metabase version.
• Download the latest release of the Firebird driver or build it from source.
• Create the plugins directory if it doesn't already exist. By default, that directory is next to the metabase.jar file, but you can specify a different directory by setting the environment variable MB_PLUGINS_DIR.
• Copy the firebird.metabase-driver.jar into the plugins directory. On startup, Metabase will load the plugin and the driver should be available.

Configuration

Under Metabase Admin, click Add database and choose the FirebirdSQL driver from the list. Choose whether you want to fill out all the connection settings or use a connection string. For legacy database engines you will have to use a connection string!

The connection string is constructed like this:

jdbc:firebirdsql://<hostname>:<port>/<database path>?user=<username>&password=<password>&enableProtocol=<protocol>

Authentication issues when using legacy Firebird (2.5 and older)

Example of connection string to connect to Firebird 2.5 (Protocol 12):

jdbc:firebirdsql://hostname:3050//var/lib/firebird/DATA.FDB?user=sysdba&password=masterkey&enableProtocol=12

Use this table below to match the version of Firebird you are trying to connect to.

Note: The standard driver (Jaybird 6.x) does not support Firebird 1.0 – 2.0 (protocol 10/11). For Firebird 1.5+, use the legacy driver instead.

If you cannot get it working, please raise an issue and be sure to include the version of Metabase & Firebird you are having the issue with.

Compatibility

Driver versions 1.6.5 and 1.7.2-legacy require Metabase 0.57+ because Metabase core changed the source-query wrapper alias to __mb_source (see issue #9). On older Metabase, use 1.6.4 / 1.7.1-legacy.

Building from source

Prerequisites

• Java 21+ (OpenJDK recommended)
• Clojure CLI (brew install clojure/tools/clojure on macOS)
• Metabase source checkout as a sibling directory

Setup

Checkout the Metabase repository and the Firebird driver repository in the same parent directory:

workspace/
  metabase/                    # git clone https://github.com/metabase/metabase.git
  metabase-firebird-driver/    # this repository

Clone Metabase if you don't have it:

cd /path/to/workspace
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/metabase/metabase.git

Build

cd metabase-firebird-driver
./build.sh

The driver JAR will be at target/firebird.metabase-driver.jar.

You can also set a custom Metabase path:

METABASE_PATH=/path/to/metabase ./build.sh

Local development

Using Clojure REPL

Set up your ~/.clojure/deps.edn:

{
  :aliases {
    :user/firebird-driver {
      :extra-deps {metabase/firebird-driver {:local/root "../metabase-firebird-driver"}}
      :jvm-opts   ["-Dmb.dev.additional.driver.manifest.paths=../metabase-firebird-driver/resources/metabase-plugin.yaml"]
    }
  }
}

Run a development environment:

# With nREPL
clojure -M:user/firebird-driver:nrepl --bind 0.0.0.0 --port 50605

# Or run directly
clojure -M:user/firebird-driver:run

Using Docker (recommended for testing)

The test/ directory contains a docker-compose.yml that sets up:

• Metabase on port 3001 (with the driver auto-loaded from target/)
• Firebird 4.0 on port 3054
• Firebird 2.5 on port 3055 (for legacy compatibility testing)

# Build the driver first
./build.sh

# Start the test environment
cd test
docker compose up -d

# Open Metabase at http://localhost:3001
# Connect to Firebird using:
#   Host: firebird3 (or firebird25 for legacy)
#   Port: 3050
#   Database: metabase.fdb (or metabase25.fdb)
#   User: SYSDBA
#   Password: masterkey

To stop:

cd test
docker compose down

Running tests

Tests require a running Firebird instance. Using the Docker setup:

# Start the test Firebird database
cd test && docker compose up -d firebird3 && cd ..

# Run tests (from the metabase directory)
cd ../metabase
DRIVERS=firebird \
MB_FIREBIRD_TEST_HOST=localhost \
MB_FIREBIRD_TEST_PORT=3054 \
MB_FIREBIRD_TEST_USER=SYSDBA \
MB_FIREBIRD_TEST_PASSWORD=masterkey \
MB_FIREBIRD_TEST_DB=metabase.fdb \
clojure -X:dev:drivers:drivers-dev:test:user/firebird-driver

Release notes

Version 1.6.5 / 1.7.2-legacy

• Fix dashboard parameter dropdowns sourced from a card or model failing with Column unknown; source.<COLUMN> on Metabase 0.57+ (Issue #9)
• Driver :field method now qualifies source-query column references with __mb_source to match Metabase core's source-query-alias
• Requires Metabase 0.57+ — for older Metabase use 1.6.4 / 1.7.1-legacy

Version 1.6.4 / 1.7.1-legacy

• Fix temporal grouping (group by month, hour, year, etc.) producing GROUP BY on the raw column instead of EXTRACT(...) (Issue #4)
• Fix relative "Year" filters raising conversion error from string due to DATE >= INTEGER type mismatch (Issue #8)
• Lazy QP metadata-provider lookup so unit tests no longer require a fully-initialised QP store
• Reorder BLOB SUB_TYPE patterns so specific variants match before bare BLOB
• Rename :foreign-keys feature declaration to :metadata/key-constraints to match Metabase core's renamed feature key
• build.sh now translates paths via cygpath -m so git-bash on Windows resolves :local/root correctly

Version 1.7.0-legacy

• New legacy driver for Firebird 1.5+ using Jaybird 2.2.15 (wire protocol 10 support)
• Registers as separate "FirebirdSQL (Legacy 1.5+)" driver
• Supports database sync, native SQL queries, and MBQL visual queries
• Firebird 1.5 does not have BOOLEAN type — booleans handled as 0/1 integers

Version 1.6.3

• Fix SUBSTRING SQL generation — removes invalid comma before FROM keyword (Issue #7)
• Fix Firebird 2.5 compatibility for schema sync — uses integer 0/1 instead of BOOLEAN (Issue #3)
• Fix BOOLEAN (type 23) and BLOB SUB_TYPE 0 (binary) not being recognized during schema sync, causing "Table has no Fields" errors
• Add proper differentiation between BLOB SUB_TYPE TEXT and BLOB SUB_TYPE 0 (binary) in field type mapping
• Comprehensive test data suite with 10 tables covering all Firebird data types
• Docker-based test environment with automated setup scripts
• Improved build script with better error handling

Version 1.6.2

• Fixes for Concat and long field names breaking queries

Version 1.6.1

• Added ability to use a connection string
• Has fixes for group by, complex date handling

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