How to Integrate Retool with MySQL

Before configuring Retool, set up a dedicated MySQL user for the integration and ensure network access is available. In MySQL, create a dedicated user with minimum required permissions rather than using a root or admin account. Connect to your MySQL instance using your admin credentials and run the appropriate GRANT statement. For Retool Cloud connecting to a cloud MySQL instance: add Retool's IP ranges to your MySQL provider's firewall or security group. For Amazon RDS: in the AWS console, navigate to your RDS instance → Connectivity & Security → VPC Security Group → add an inbound rule for port 3306 from Retool's CIDR ranges (35.90.103.132/30 and 44.208.168.68/30 for US West, or your region's ranges). For PlanetScale: in the PlanetScale dashboard, connection access is controlled via connection credentials — create a new password from the Passwords section of your database, selecting the branch you want to connect to. For Google Cloud SQL: use Cloud SQL Auth Proxy for the most secure connection, or add Retool's IPs to the authorized networks list. For on-premises MySQL behind a firewall: configure an SSH tunnel in the Retool resource settings using a bastion host.

1-- Create a dedicated Retool user with minimum required permissions
2-- Run this as a MySQL admin or root user
3
4-- Read-only user for dashboards
5CREATE USER 'retool_read'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_strong_password';
6GRANT SELECT ON your_database.* TO 'retool_read'@'%';
7FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
8
9-- Read-write user for operational tools
10CREATE USER 'retool_app'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_strong_password';
11GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON your_database.* TO 'retool_app'@'%';
12FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Most cloud-hosted MySQL providers require SSL connections and provide CA certificate files for verification. Download the appropriate certificate for your provider before creating the Retool resource. For Amazon RDS and Aurora: download the global-bundle.pem certificate from https://truststore.pki.rds.amazonaws.com/global/global-bundle.pem — this single file covers all RDS regions. For Google Cloud SQL: in the Cloud SQL console, go to your instance → Connections → Security → Download server certificate. Google Cloud SQL also supports client certificates for mutual TLS authentication — download both the server CA and client certificates if required. For PlanetScale: PlanetScale uses Let's Encrypt certificates signed by a trusted CA, so no custom certificate download is needed — just enable 'Use SSL' in Retool. For Vitess: similar to PlanetScale, uses standard TLS certificates. For self-hosted MySQL: if using a self-signed certificate, export the CA certificate in PEM format from your MySQL server configuration. The CA certificate is the one you need for server verification — you are configuring Retool to trust your MySQL server's certificate, not vice versa. Store the certificate contents in a text file ending in .pem ready to paste into Retool.

In Retool, navigate to the Resources tab and click '+ Create new resource'. Select 'MySQL' from the database connectors section. On the configuration screen, fill in: Name — a descriptive label like 'MySQL Production (orders-db)'. Host — the hostname of your MySQL instance. For RDS, this is your-instance.xxxxxxx.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com. For PlanetScale, use your database's host from the connection string (format: aws.connect.psdb.cloud). Port — MySQL default is 3306. Some providers (like PlanetScale) use 3306. Database name — the specific database schema to connect to. Username and Password — the dedicated user credentials you created earlier. Charset — set this to 'utf8mb4' for modern applications handling emoji and multi-language characters. The older 'utf8' charset in MySQL is actually 3-byte UTF-8 that cannot handle emoji — always prefer 'utf8mb4'. SSL: toggle on 'Use SSL'. In the SSL configuration section, paste your CA certificate PEM content into the 'Server CA certificate' field. For PlanetScale and RDS with standard certificates, you may not need to paste anything — just enabling SSL with 'Verify server certificate' toggled on is sufficient. Click 'Test connection'. A successful test shows the MySQL version and connection details.

Open your Retool app and create a new query in the Code panel at the bottom. Select your MySQL resource. The query editor defaults to SQL mode. Write standard MySQL SQL using the {{ }} syntax for dynamic parameters — Retool automatically converts these to prepared statements, preventing SQL injection from user-supplied values. MySQL uses ? placeholders in prepared statements internally; Retool handles the conversion transparently when you write {{ componentName.value }}. A few MySQL-specific query patterns to know: MySQL uses LIMIT n OFFSET m for pagination (not OFFSET-FETCH like SQL Server). For auto-increment columns, after an INSERT use LAST_INSERT_ID() to retrieve the generated ID. MySQL uses backticks (`) not square brackets for quoting identifiers with spaces. The NOW() function returns the current timestamp. JSON columns are supported in MySQL 5.7+ with JSON_EXTRACT() or the -> shorthand operator. For the most common pattern — search with filters and pagination — structure your query to check for empty component values so unselected filters do not restrict results.

1-- MySQL query with dynamic filtering, pagination, and search
2-- Retool compiles {{ }} expressions to prepared statement parameters
3
4SELECT
5    u.id,
6    u.email,
7    u.first_name,
8    u.last_name,
9    u.status,
10    u.created_at,
11    COUNT(o.id) AS order_count,
12    COALESCE(SUM(o.total_amount), 0) AS lifetime_value
13FROM users u
14LEFT JOIN orders o ON u.id = o.user_id
15WHERE
16    ({{ searchInput.value }} = ''
17        OR u.email LIKE CONCAT('%', {{ searchInput.value }}, '%')
18        OR u.first_name LIKE CONCAT('%', {{ searchInput.value }}, '%'))
19    AND ({{ statusFilter.value }} = '' OR u.status = {{ statusFilter.value }})
20    AND u.created_at >= {{ dateRange.start }}
21    AND u.created_at <= {{ dateRange.end }}
22GROUP BY u.id, u.email, u.first_name, u.last_name, u.status, u.created_at
23ORDER BY u.created_at DESC
24LIMIT {{ table1.pageSize }}
25OFFSET {{ (table1.page - 1) * table1.pageSize }};

For INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE operations, use Retool's GUI mode rather than raw SQL — it provides a visual interface that prevents accidental WHERE-less updates and generates safe parameterized queries automatically. In the query editor, click the 'GUI' tab next to 'SQL'. Select your Table from the dropdown (Retool introspects your MySQL schema to populate this). Choose the operation: 'Bulk insert a list', 'Update by primary key', 'Bulk update by primary key', 'Delete by primary key', or 'Bulk upsert'. For an Update by primary key operation on a users table: set the Primary Key field to {{ table1.selectedRow.id }}, then add column mappings — status → {{ statusSelect.value }}, updated_at → {{ new Date().toISOString() }}. For an INSERT: set the table to 'users' and map form component values to columns. Wire queries together using event handlers: select your createUser query → Success tab → Add handler → Action: Trigger query → select getUsers (to refresh the table). Add a second handler: Show notification → 'User created successfully'. For the Retool Table component, set Pagination type to 'Server-side' and configure the page size and page variables to match your SQL LIMIT/OFFSET values. For complex MySQL integrations involving stored procedures, triggers, and multi-table transactions, RapidDev's team can help architect and build your Retool solution.

1-- UPDATE query equivalent of GUI mode output
2-- Shown for reference; in GUI mode this is generated automatically
3
4UPDATE users
5SET
6    status = {{ statusSelect.value }},
7    notes = {{ notesInput.value }},
8    updated_at = NOW(),
9    updated_by = {{ current_user.email }}
10WHERE id = {{ table1.selectedRow.id }}
11LIMIT 1;