Steampipe (Turbot)

What it is

A command-line tool with an embedded Postgres database that maps API data to tables through plugins. Plugins cover AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes, GitHub, and many other services, and the data is fetched live when you query it.

What it helps with

- Finding public buckets, open security groups, or unused keys with SQL
- Joining data across clouds and accounts in one query
- Running compliance benchmarks through Powerpipe mods
- Feeding results to BI or scripts over a Postgres connection

Who it's for

Cloud security engineers, compliance teams, and DevOps staff who need to ask ad hoc questions of their cloud estate.

Worth knowing

The CLI is open source under AGPL-3.0 and plugins are installed separately. Windows users run it through WSL.

Do I need to copy cloud data into a database first?
No, queries call the provider APIs at run time, with results cached briefly.

How is it different from Prowler?
In our view Prowler suits ready-made security checks, while Steampipe suits custom SQL questions, much like osquery does for endpoints.