Metabase Project Structure
The easiest, open-source way for everyone in your company to ask questions and learn from data. A large Clojure/React monolith.
Updated 2025-12-30
Project Directory
metabase/
src/metabase/
Clojure Backend
api/
API Endpoints
models/
Data Models (Toucan)
query_processor/
MBQL -> SQL Engine
driver/
Database Drivers
frontend/src/metabase/
React Frontend
visualizations/
Charting
query_builder/
GUI Builder
dashboard/
Dashboard Views
modules/drivers/
External Drivers (Snowflake, BigQuery)
enterprise/
Paid Features
backend/
frontend/
deps.edn
Clojure Deps
package.json
JS Deps
Repository Info
- Repository-metabase/metabase
- Stars-35k+
- License-AGPL-3.0 / Commercial
- Last Analyzed-December 2025
Tech Stack
- Backend-Clojure
- Frontend-React + Redux
- Database-H2 (Default) / Postgres / MySQL
- Build Tool-Shadow-cljs / Webpack
- ORM-Toucan (Custom)
Architecture Notes
Metabase is a single-process application. The Clojure backend serves the React frontend and handles all database queries. The core innovation is the 'Query Processor', which takes a JSON-based query description (MBQL) and translates it into SQL for dozens of different databases.
Key Directories
- src/metabase/query_processor/-The most complex part of the backend. It handles the middleware pipeline that compiles abstract MBQL queries into executable SQL.
- frontend/src/metabase/visualizations/-Contains the logic for rendering data as charts, tables, and maps. Metabase has a highly polished visualization system.
- modules/drivers/-Metabase supports a plugin system for adding new database drivers. Each driver implements a standard Clojure protocol (interface).
Why This Structure?
Metabase is the most popular Clojure application in existence. It proves that a Lisp dialect can be used to build a user-friendly, mainstream product. Its architecture is optimized for query generation and data visualization.
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