What is sq?

sq is a small command line tool for querying SPARQL endpoints. SPARQL is a query language used to ask questions of data stored as linked facts, similar to how SQL is used for regular databases, and an endpoint is a server that answers those queries. The tool was built because people who work with the same SPARQL endpoint from the command line tend to retype the same server address, prefixes, and options every time. sq lets you save all of that in a configuration file so the common case becomes a short command. A second goal is making SPARQL easier for AI agents to use. Instead of an agent having to build a raw curl command and manage request details itself, it can call sq directly with just the query text. sq is written in Rust as a small native program rather than running on a virtual machine like Java, so it starts almost instantly and runs quickly. You can write a query directly on the command line, read one from a file, or pipe it in from another program. Output can be a readable colored table in the terminal, or plain formats like TSV, CSV, JSON, or XML when the output is being sent to another tool, which makes it easy to combine sq with everyday Unix commands. It also includes several built in shortcuts for common tasks, such as listing the graphs in a dataset, counting instances of a class, or showing everything connected to a specific item, so you do not have to write that SPARQL by hand each time. Updates to the data, such as inserting or deleting information, must go through an explicit update command, and by default sq blocks broad or destructive operations like wiping an entire graph unless you specifically force it. Configuration includes setting a default endpoint plus named alternate endpoints, adding project specific prefixes on top of a built in standard set, and saving frequently used queries under short names you can run later. This project is aimed at people who already work with SPARQL and linked data and want a faster, more convenient way to query it from a terminal or from automated tooling.