diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 3a9b3d000..18de0b2a1 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ S3method(cross_join,tbl_lazy)
 S3method(db_analyze,DBIConnection)
 S3method(db_col_types,DBIConnection)
 S3method(db_col_types,MariaDBConnection)
+S3method(db_col_types,MySQL)
+S3method(db_col_types,MySQLConnection)
+S3method(db_col_types,PostgreSQL)
 S3method(db_col_types,PqConnection)
 S3method(db_col_types,TestConnection)
 S3method(db_collect,DBIConnection)
diff --git a/R/backend-mysql.R b/R/backend-mysql.R
index 82d5af960..045bc1cde 100644
--- a/R/backend-mysql.R
+++ b/R/backend-mysql.R
@@ -50,6 +50,17 @@ db_connection_describe.MySQL <- db_connection_describe.MariaDBConnection
 #' @export
 db_connection_describe.MySQLConnection <- db_connection_describe.MariaDBConnection
 
+#' @export
+db_col_types.MariaDBConnection <- function(con, table, call) {
+  table <- as_table_ident(table, error_call = call)
+  col_info_df <- DBI::dbGetQuery(con, glue_sql2(con, "SHOW COLUMNS FROM {.tbl table};"))
+  set_names(col_info_df[["Type"]], col_info_df[["Field"]])
+}
+#' @export
+db_col_types.MySQL <- db_col_types.MariaDBConnection
+#' @export
+db_col_types.MySQLConnection <- db_col_types.MariaDBConnection
+
 #' @export
 sql_translation.MariaDBConnection <- function(con) {
   sql_variant(
diff --git a/R/backend-postgres.R b/R/backend-postgres.R
index 3cc32a92f..3ba4f05e4 100644
--- a/R/backend-postgres.R
+++ b/R/backend-postgres.R
@@ -404,4 +404,17 @@ db_supports_table_alias_with_as.PostgreSQL <- function(con) {
   TRUE
 }
 
+#' @export
+db_col_types.PqConnection <- function(con, table, call) {
+  table <- as_table_ident(table, error_call = call)
+  res <- DBI::dbSendQuery(con, glue_sql2(con, "SELECT * FROM {.tbl table} LIMIT 0"))
+  on.exit(DBI::dbClearResult(res))
+  DBI::dbFetch(res, n = 0)
+  col_info_df <- DBI::dbColumnInfo(res)
+  set_names(col_info_df[[".typname"]], col_info_df[["name"]])
+}
+
+#' @export
+db_col_types.PostgreSQL <- db_col_types.PqConnection
+
 utils::globalVariables(c("strpos", "%::%", "%FROM%", "%ILIKE%", "DATE", "EXTRACT", "TO_CHAR", "string_agg", "%~*%", "%~%", "MONTH", "DOY", "DATE_TRUNC", "INTERVAL", "FLOOR", "WEEK"))
diff --git a/R/db.R b/R/db.R
index cf7512adf..90e8ad1c0 100644
--- a/R/db.R
+++ b/R/db.R
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 #' * `dbplyr_edition()` declares which version of the dbplyr API you want.
 #'    See below for more details.
 #'
+#' * `db_col_types()` returns the column types of a table.
+#'
 #' @section dbplyr 2.0.0:
 #' dbplyr 2.0.0 renamed a number of generics so that they could be cleanly moved
 #' from dplyr to dbplyr. If you have an existing backend, you'll need to rename
@@ -80,6 +82,26 @@ db_sql_render.DBIConnection <- function(con, sql, ..., cte = FALSE, sql_options
   sql_render(sql, con = con, ..., sql_options = sql_options)
 }
 
+#' @rdname db-misc
+#' @export
+db_col_types <- function(con, table, call) {
+  if (is_null(table)) {
+    return(NULL)
+  }
+
+  UseMethod("db_col_types")
+}
+
+#' @export
+db_col_types.TestConnection <- function(con, table, call) {
+  NULL
+}
+
+#' @export
+db_col_types.DBIConnection <- function(con, table, call) {
+  NULL
+}
+
 #' Options for generating SQL
 #'
 #' @param cte If `FALSE`, the default, subqueries are used. If `TRUE` common
diff --git a/R/rows.R b/R/rows.R
index 8bdbca864..7b1b15f2f 100644
--- a/R/rows.R
+++ b/R/rows.R
@@ -758,42 +758,6 @@ rows_auto_copy <- function(x, y, copy, call = caller_env()) {
   auto_copy(x, y, copy = copy, types = x_types)
 }
 
-#' @export
-db_col_types <- function(con, table, call) {
-  if (is_null(table)) {
-    return(NULL)
-  }
-
-  UseMethod("db_col_types")
-}
-
-#' @export
-db_col_types.TestConnection <- function(con, table, call) {
-  NULL
-}
-
-#' @export
-db_col_types.DBIConnection <- function(con, table, call) {
-  NULL
-}
-
-#' @export
-db_col_types.PqConnection <- function(con, table, call) {
-  table <- as_table_ident(table, error_call = call)
-  res <- DBI::dbSendQuery(con, glue_sql2(con, "SELECT * FROM {.tbl table} LIMIT 0"))
-  on.exit(DBI::dbClearResult(res))
-  DBI::dbFetch(res, n = 0)
-  col_info_df <- DBI::dbColumnInfo(res)
-  set_names(col_info_df[[".typname"]], col_info_df[["name"]])
-}
-
-#' @export
-db_col_types.MariaDBConnection <- function(con, table, call) {
-  table <- as_table_ident(table, error_call = call)
-  col_info_df <- DBI::dbGetQuery(con, glue_sql2(con, "SHOW COLUMNS FROM {.tbl table};"))
-  set_names(col_info_df[["Type"]], col_info_df[["Field"]])
-}
-
 rows_get_or_execute <- function(x, sql, returning_cols, call = caller_env()) {
   con <- remote_con(x)
   msg <- "Can't modify database table {.val {remote_name(x)}}."
diff --git a/man/db-misc.Rd b/man/db-misc.Rd
index 0a76400a7..b2a10b497 100644
--- a/man/db-misc.Rd
+++ b/man/db-misc.Rd
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 \alias{db_connection_describe}
 \alias{sql_join_suffix}
 \alias{db_sql_render}
+\alias{db_col_types}
 \alias{dbplyr_edition}
 \title{Miscellaneous database generics}
 \usage{
@@ -13,6 +14,8 @@ sql_join_suffix(con, suffix, ...)
 
 db_sql_render(con, sql, ..., cte = FALSE, sql_options = NULL)
 
+db_col_types(con, table, call)
+
 dbplyr_edition(con)
 }
 \description{
@@ -26,6 +29,7 @@ from. It should be a single line, and ideally less than 60 characters wide.
 \itemize{
 \item \code{dbplyr_edition()} declares which version of the dbplyr API you want.
 See below for more details.
+\item \code{db_col_types()} returns the column types of a table.
 }
 }
 \section{dbplyr 2.0.0}{