DBDiff

DBDiff is an automated database schema and data diff tool. It compares two databases, local or remote, and produces a migration file of the differences automatically.

When used alongside a compatible database migration tool, it can help enable database version control within your team or enterprise.

Features

Compares two databases (local or remote) and generates SQL migrations automatically
Diffs tables, views, triggers, stored procedures/functions, and data — with deterministic, predictable output
Up and down SQL generated in the same file
Built-in migration runner: migration:up, down, status, validate, repair, baseline
Supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite via --driver
Connect via DSN URLs (--server1-url, --server2-url, --db-url) — works with any connection string
Supabase-ready via --supabase one-flag shorthand (not required when using DSN URLs)
Works with Flyway, Liquibase, Laravel Migrations, and more
Ignore specific tables or fields via a YAML config file
Unicode / UTF-8 aware
Fast — tested on databases with millions of rows
Runs on Windows, Linux and macOS (command-line / Terminal)

Supported Databases

Other versions may work but are not actively tested. PRs to add official support are welcome.

MySQL

Version	Status
MySQL 8.0.x	✅ Supported
MySQL 8.4.x (LTS)	✅ Supported
MySQL 9.3.x (Innovation)	✅ Supported
MySQL 9.6.x (Innovation)	✅ Supported

PostgreSQL

Use --driver=pgsql (or driver: pgsql in your .dbdiff config).

Version	Status
PostgreSQL 14.x	✅ Supported
PostgreSQL 15.x	✅ Supported
PostgreSQL 16.x (LTS)	✅ Supported
PostgreSQL 17.x	✅ Supported
PostgreSQL 18.x	✅ Supported

SQLite

Use --driver=sqlite. The file path is passed as the database name:

./dbdiff --driver=sqlite server1./path/to/source.db:server1./path/to/target.db

SQLite 3.x is supported (any version supported by the installed pdo_sqlite PHP extension).

Supabase

--supabase sets driver=pgsql and enables SSL automatically:

./dbdiff --supabase --server1=user:[email protected]:5432 server1.mydb:server1.mydb

Compatible Database Variants

The databases below work with DBDiff’s existing drivers with no code changes. Unless otherwise noted, these have not been tested by the core team. PRs to add official support are welcome.

MySQL-compatible — `--driver=mysql` (default)

Database	Notes
MariaDB 10.x / 11.x	MySQL wire protocol; minor DDL dialect differences
AWS Aurora MySQL	Standard MySQL protocol
PlanetScale	MySQL-compatible SaaS
Vitess / VTGate	MySQL wire protocol via VTGate
Percona XtraDB Cluster	MySQL-compatible; Galera replication metadata ignored
TiDB	MySQL-compatible; default port 4000
Dolt	MySQL-compatible, version-controlled; CI-tested

PostgreSQL-compatible — `--driver=pgsql`

Database	Notes
AWS Aurora PostgreSQL	Standard pgsql connection
AWS RDS PostgreSQL	Standard pgsql connection
Neon	Standard pgsql; supports branch diffing (see below)
AlloyDB (Google Cloud)	Google’s Postgres-compatible offering
CockroachDB	Postgres wire protocol; some DDL differences
YugabyteDB	Postgres-compatible YSQL layer
Multigres	Transparent Postgres proxy; no changes needed
TimescaleDB	Postgres extension; hypertable DDL diffs natively
pgvector	`vector(N)` columns and HNSW/IVFFlat indexes diff natively

Neon Branching

Neon’s copy-on-write branching lets you diff any two branches directly:

./dbdiff \
  --server1-url postgres://user:[email protected]/mydb \
  --server2-url postgres://user:[email protected]/mydb \
  --format=flyway --description=my_feature

Dolt (Git for Databases)

Dolt is a MySQL-compatible database with Git-style branching. Each branch is exposed as a separate database:

./dbdiff server1.main:server1.feature_add_users

Installation

The quickest way to get started is to download a pre-built release directly from GitHub Releases — no PHP, Node, or Composer required:

Method	Available on Releases?	Best for
Pre-built binary	✅ Yes	Quickest start — zero dependencies
PHAR	✅ Yes	Single portable file; requires PHP ≥ 8.1
npm	✅ Yes (via registry)	Node.js projects or CI pipelines
Docker / Podman	—	Isolated environments, CI, or no local PHP
Composer (source)	—	Contributing to DBDiff or PHP integration

PHP requirement: Pre-built binaries, npm packages, and Docker/Podman images bundle PHP 8.3 — no system PHP needed. The PHAR and Composer installs require PHP ≥ 8.1 on your system.

Pre-built Binaries

Download from GitHub Releases. No PHP, Node, or Composer required.

Platform	Asset
Linux x64 (glibc)	`dbdiff-linux-x64`
Linux x64 (Alpine / musl)	`dbdiff-linux-x64-musl`
Linux arm64 (glibc)	`dbdiff-linux-arm64`
Linux arm64 (Alpine / musl)	`dbdiff-linux-arm64-musl`
macOS Apple Silicon	`dbdiff-darwin-arm64`
macOS Intel	`dbdiff-darwin-x64`
Windows x64	`dbdiff-win32-x64.exe`
Windows arm64	`dbdiff-win32-arm64.exe`

After downloading, make it executable (Linux/macOS) and optionally move it to your PATH:

chmod +x dbdiff-linux-x64
sudo mv dbdiff-linux-x64 /usr/local/bin/dbdiff
dbdiff --version

npm

npm install -g @dbdiff/cli
dbdiff --version

The correct platform binary is selected automatically at install time. Supported: Linux x64/arm64 (glibc + musl), macOS x64/arm64, Windows x64/arm64.

PHAR

Download dbdiff.phar from GitHub Releases. Requires PHP ≥ 8.1.

chmod +x dbdiff.phar
sudo mv dbdiff.phar /usr/local/bin/dbdiff
dbdiff --version

To build a PHAR locally from source, see Building a PHAR.

Docker / Podman

Pre-built multi-arch images (linux/amd64 + linux/arm64) are published to GHCR on every release. Both Docker and Podman are fully supported — use whichever is available on your system. No local PHP installation is required.

Pull and run (no build required)

Docker:

docker pull ghcr.io/dbdiff/dbdiff
docker run --rm ghcr.io/dbdiff/dbdiff --version
docker run --rm ghcr.io/dbdiff/dbdiff --driver=mysql \
  --server1=user:pass@host:3306 server1.mydb:server1.mydb

Podman (drop-in replacement — commands are identical):

podman pull ghcr.io/dbdiff/dbdiff
podman run --rm ghcr.io/dbdiff/dbdiff --version
podman run --rm ghcr.io/dbdiff/dbdiff --driver=mysql \
  --server1=user:pass@host:3306 server1.mydb:server1.mydb

Podman on Linux runs rootless by default — no daemon required. Install via your package manager: sudo apt install podman (Debian/Ubuntu) or brew install podman (macOS).

Image variants

Tag pattern	Registry	Description
`latest`, `{version}`, `slim-{version}`	GHCR	Slim — PHAR + PHP Alpine (~120 MB). For production use / CI.
`full`, `full-{version}`	GHCR	Full — Composer source install (~600 MB). For development and cross-version testing.

Build locally

# Slim image (requires dist/dbdiff.phar — run `vendor/bin/box compile` first)
# Replace 'docker' with 'podman' if using Podman
docker build -f docker/Dockerfile.slim -t dbdiff:slim .
docker run --rm dbdiff:slim --version

# Full image (Composer install from source — no PHAR needed)
docker build -f docker/Dockerfile -t dbdiff:full .

See DOCKER.md for cross-version testing, Podman setup, and start.sh flags.

Composer Source Install

git clone https://github.com/DBDiff/DBDiff.git
cd DBDiff
composer install --optimize-autoloader

Or as a project dependency:

composer require "dbdiff/dbdiff:@dev"

Or globally:

composer global require "dbdiff/dbdiff:@dev"

After installing from source, continue with Setup.

Setup

For source installs (git clone / Composer) only. Binaries, PHAR, npm, and Docker do not require these steps.

Create a .dbdiff config file — see File Examples
Run: ./dbdiff server1.db1:server1.db2

Expected output:

ℹ Now calculating schema diff for table `foo`
ℹ Now generating UP migration
ℹ Writing migration file to /path/to/dbdiff/migration.sql
✔ Completed

Command-Line API

`diff` (default command)

Flags always override settings in .dbdiff.

Flag	Description
`--server1=user:pass@host:port`	Source connection. Omit if using only one server.
`--server2=user:pass@host:port`	Target connection (if different from server1).
`--server1-url=<dsn>`	Full DSN URL for source (e.g. `postgres://user:pass@host:5432/db`).
`--server2-url=<dsn>`	Full DSN URL for target. Supported schemes: `mysql://`, `pgsql://`, `postgres://`, `postgresql://`, `sqlite://`.
`--driver=mysql\\|pgsql\\|sqlite`	Database driver. Defaults to `mysql`.
`--supabase`	Shorthand for `--driver=pgsql` + SSL.
`--format=native\\|flyway\\|liquibase-xml\\|liquibase-yaml\\|laravel`	Output format. Defaults to `native`.
`--description=<slug>`	Slug used in generated filenames.
`--template=<path>`	Custom output template.
`--type=schema\\|data\\|all`	What to diff. Defaults to `schema`.
`--include=up\\|down\\|both`	Directions to include. Defaults to `up`. (`all` is accepted as an alias for `both`.)
`--nocomments`	Strip comment headers from output.
`--config=<file>`	Config file path. Defaults to `.dbdiff`.
`--output=<path>`	Output file path. Defaults to `migration.sql`.
`--memory-limit=<value>`	PHP memory limit for this run (e.g. `512M`, `1G`, `2G`, `-1` for unlimited). Overrides the 1G default and any `memory_limit` setting in your config file.
`--debug`	Enable verbose error output.
`server1.db1:server2.db2`	Databases to compare. Or a single table: `server1.db1.table1:server2.db2.table1`.

UP only by default: The generated file includes only the UP (forward) migration by default. To also generate the DOWN (rollback) section, pass --include=all. Example: dbdiff diff --include=all ...

DSN URLs vs --server flags: Use --server1-url / --server2-url when you have a connection string (common with Supabase, Neon, Railway, etc.). Use --server1 / --server2 when specifying credentials separately.

Passwords with special characters: Embed the password percent-encoded in the URL. Use dbdiff url:encode to safely encode any password (see url:encode below). If dbdiff is not yet installed, scripts/encode-password.sh works without any dependencies.

Memory: The CLI sets a default PHP memory limit of 1G. Diffing very large databases may need more — pass --memory-limit=2G on the command line or add memory_limit: 2G to your .dbdiff / dbdiff.yml config. The CLI flag always wins over the config file.

`url:encode` — Password encoder

Percent-encodes a raw password for safe embedding in any --server-url connection string.

dbdiff url:encode '<raw password>'

Capture the result directly into a connection flag:

PASS=$(dbdiff url:encode 'my$ecret#pass@word%123')
dbdiff diff \
  --server1-url="postgres://user:${PASS}@db.xxxx.supabase.co:5432/postgres" \
  --server2-url="postgres://user:[email protected]:5432/postgres"

Accepts stdin too, for use in pipelines:

echo 'my$ecret#pass' | dbdiff url:encode

All characters except RFC 3986 unreserved characters (A–Z a–z 0–9 - _ . ~) are encoded. This is the safe, zero-guesswork approach for any password — including ones containing @, #, ?, /, +, and literal %.

If dbdiff is not yet installed (e.g. you are setting up CI), use the included bash script instead — no Python, Node, or PHP required:

PASS=$(scripts/encode-password.sh 'my$ecret#pass@word%123')

Migration Runner

DBDiff includes a built-in migration runner. All migration:* commands accept:

Flag	Description
`--db-url=<dsn>`	Full DSN URL for the target database.
`--migrations-dir=<path>`	Override the migrations directory.
`--config=<file>`	Path to `dbdiff.yml`.

Command	Description	Extra flags
`migration:new <name>`	Scaffold a new migration file.	`--format=supabase` — plain `.sql` (no DOWN); auto-set inside Supabase projects
`migration:up`	Apply all pending migrations.	`--target=<version>` — stop after this version
`migration:down`	Roll back applied migration(s).	`--last=<n>` (default `1`), `--target=<version>`
`migration:status`	Show applied vs pending migrations. Adds a Supa? column inside Supabase projects.	—
`migration:validate`	Verify on-disk checksums match the history table.	—
`migration:repair`	Remove failed entries so they can be retried.	`--force` — skip confirmation
`migration:baseline`	Mark current DB state as the migration baseline.	`--baseline-version=<YYYYMMDDHHmmss>`, `--description=<text>`, `--force`

Migration file formats

DBDiff supports two on-disk formats in the same directory:

Format	File pattern	Best for
Native (default)	`{version}_{name}.up.sql` + optional `.down.sql`	New projects, rollback support
Supabase	`{version}_{name}.sql` (UP only)	Existing `supabase/migrations/` directories

If both formats exist for the same version timestamp, the native .up.sql file takes precedence.

Supabase project auto-detection

When DBDiff is run inside (or below) a directory that contains supabase/config.toml, it automatically:

Sets the migrations directory to supabase/migrations/ (no --migrations-dir needed)
Defaults migration:new to Supabase format — creating a plain .sql file
Shows a Supa? column in migration:status, indicating which migrations Supabase’s own schema_migrations table considers applied

Pass --format=native to migration:new to override the auto-detected format.

Usage Examples

MySQL (default)

./dbdiff server1.db1:server2.db2

MySQL — data diff only

./dbdiff server1.dev.table1:server2.prod.table1 --nocomments --type=data

MySQL — Flyway format with output path

./dbdiff --format=flyway --description=add_users --include=all \
  server1.db1:server2.db2 --output=./sql/

PostgreSQL

./dbdiff --driver=pgsql --server1=user:pass@localhost:5432 server1.staging:server1.production

Supabase

./dbdiff --supabase --server1=postgres:[email protected]:5432 \
  server1.staging:server1.production

SQLite

./dbdiff --driver=sqlite server1./var/db/v1.db:server1./var/db/v2.db

DSN URLs

./dbdiff diff \
  --server1-url='postgres://user:[email protected]:5432/postgres' \
  --server2-url='postgres://user:[email protected]:5432/postgres'

If your password contains special characters, use dbdiff url:encode (see url:encode in the Command-Line API section):

PASS=$(dbdiff url:encode 'my$ecret#pass@word%123')
./dbdiff diff \
  --server1-url="postgres://user:${PASS}@db.xxxx.supabase.co:5432/postgres" \
  --server2-url='postgres://user:[email protected]:5432/postgres'

Migration runner

# Scaffold a new migration (DBDiff native format)
./dbdiff migration:new create_users_table

# Scaffold a Supabase-format migration (plain .sql, no DOWN file)
./dbdiff migration:new create_users_table --format=supabase

# Inside a Supabase project, format and directory are auto-detected:
cd my-supabase-project   # contains supabase/config.toml
./dbdiff migration:new create_users_table   # → supabase/migrations/{ts}_create_users_table.sql

# Apply all pending migrations
./dbdiff migration:up --db-url='postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/mydb'

# Check status (adds a Supa? column inside Supabase projects)
./dbdiff migration:status --db-url='postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/mydb'

# Roll back the last migration
./dbdiff migration:down --db-url='postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/mydb'

# Validate checksums
./dbdiff migration:validate --db-url='postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/mydb'

Supabase — diff with local stack auto-fill

When inside a Supabase project (supabase/config.toml present) and the local stack is running (supabase start), --server1-url is resolved automatically from supabase status:

# Only supply the remote (production) URL — local stack fills in automatically
./dbdiff diff --server2-url='postgres://user:[email protected]:5432/postgres'

File Examples

A single dbdiff.yml file in your project root configures both the diff command and the migration runner. Copy dbdiff.yml.example to get started.

Auto-detected filenames, in priority order:

Filename	Notes
`.dbdiff`	Legacy — still supported for backwards compatibility
`dbdiff.yml`	Recommended — YAML syntax highlighting, single file for everything
`.dbdiff.yml`	Hidden-file variant
`dbdiff.yaml`	`.yaml` extension variant

You can also pass any filename explicitly: ./dbdiff --config=myconfig.yml server1.db:server2.db

`dbdiff.yml`

# ── Diff command (./dbdiff server1.db:server2.db) ─────────────────────────
server1:
  user: user
  password: password
  port: 3306      # MySQL: 3306 | PostgreSQL: 5432
  host: localhost
server2:
  user: user
  password: password
  port: 3306
  host: host2
driver: mysql     # mysql | pgsql | sqlite
type: all
include: all
nocomments: true
tablesToIgnore:
  - table1
  - table2
fieldsToIgnore:
  table1:
    - field1
    - field2

# ── Migration runner (dbdiff migration:up) ────────────────────────────────
database:
  driver: mysql
  host: localhost
  port: 3306
  name: mydb
  user: root
  password: secret

migrations:
  dir: ./migrations
  history_table: _dbdiff_migrations

How Does the Diff Work?

Comparisons run in this order:

Overall

Checks both databases exist and are accessible
Compares database collation between source and target

Schema

Detects differences in column count, name, type, collation or attributes
New columns in the source are added to the target

Views

Detects created, dropped, and altered views across source and target
ALTER = DROP IF EXISTS + CREATE with the new definition

Triggers

Detects created, dropped, and altered triggers
PostgreSQL DROP TRIGGER includes the required ON table clause

Stored Procedures / Functions

Detects created, dropped, and altered routines (MySQL and PostgreSQL)
SQLite has no stored procedures — routines are skipped automatically
MySQL definitions are normalized (DEFINER, ALGORITHM, SQL SECURITY stripped)

Data

Compares table storage engine, collation, and row count
Records changed rows and missing rows per table

Compatible Migration Tools

DBDiff supports multiple output formats via --format. Use --description=<slug> to customise generated filenames.

`--format`	Tool	Language	Output	Notes
`native` (default)	Plain SQL	Any	`migration.sql`	Up, down, or both
`flyway`	Flyway	Java	`V{ts}__{desc}.sql`	Down adds `U{ts}__{desc}.sql` (Flyway Teams)
`liquibase-xml`	Liquibase	Java	`changelog.xml`	Both directions in one file
`liquibase-yaml`	Liquibase	Java	`changelog.yaml`	Both directions in one file
`laravel`	Laravel Migrations	PHP	`YYYY_MM_DD_HHMMSS_{desc}.php`	`up()`/`down()` methods
(template)	Simple DB Migrate	Python	custom	Use `--template=templates/simple-db-migrate.tmpl`

Let us know if you’re using DBDiff with other tools so we can add them here.

Building a PHAR

PHARs are built automatically and attached to every GitHub Release. To build locally from source:

composer install
vendor/bin/box compile

Output: dist/dbdiff.phar — rename and move to /usr/local/bin/dbdiff if desired.

box.json is pre-configured with GZ compression and check-requirements: false so the PHAR works correctly when stitched with the static micro SAPI runtime used in the pre-built binaries.

Releasing 🚀

Automated (recommended)

Go to GitHub Actions → Release DBDiff → Run workflow
Enter the version number (e.g. 2.1.0 — no v prefix)
The workflow will:
- Build the PHAR with Box
- Build self-contained binaries for all 8 platforms via static-php-cli
- Publish all @dbdiff/cli-* packages to npm (skips any already published)
- Create or update the GitHub Release with all assets
- Create the git tag (skipped if it already exists)

Manual / local

# Build PHAR + tag
scripts/release.sh v2.1.0
git push origin v2.1.0

# Build Linux binaries locally (requires Podman or Docker)
SKIP_PHAR=1 scripts/release-binaries.sh 2.1.0

# Upload assets to an existing GitHub Release
gh release upload v2.1.0 --clobber \
  dist/dbdiff.phar \
  packages/@dbdiff/cli-linux-x64/dbdiff \
  packages/@dbdiff/cli-linux-x64-musl/dbdiff \
  packages/@dbdiff/cli-linux-arm64/dbdiff \
  packages/@dbdiff/cli-linux-arm64-musl/dbdiff

# Update the Homebrew tap formula
scripts/update-homebrew-formula.sh 2.1.0 ../homebrew-dbdiff

Cross-Version Testing

Test DBDiff locally against any combination of PHP and MySQL:

# Single combination
./start.sh 8.3 8.0

# All 16 combinations in parallel
./start.sh all all --parallel

The CI matrix: 5 PHP × 4 MySQL = 20 jobs, plus dedicated jobs for SQLite, PostgreSQL, DSN URLs, and Supabase.

See DOCKER.md for flags covering fast restarts, recording fixtures, and CI usage.

Questions & Support 💡

Open a new issue or check existing ones
For commercial support enquiries, get in touch

Contributions 💖

Please read the Contributing Guide before submitting a PR.

Feedback 💬

Could you spare 2 minutes to share your feedback?

https://forms.gle/gjdJxZxdVsz7BRxg7

License

MIT

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DBDiff

Features

Supported Databases

MySQL

PostgreSQL

SQLite

Supabase

Compatible Database Variants

MySQL-compatible — --driver=mysql (default)

PostgreSQL-compatible — --driver=pgsql

Neon Branching

Dolt (Git for Databases)

Installation

Pre-built Binaries

npm

PHAR

Docker / Podman

Pull and run (no build required)

Image variants

Build locally

Composer Source Install

Setup

Command-Line API

diff (default command)

url:encode — Password encoder

Migration Runner

Migration file formats

Supabase project auto-detection

Usage Examples

MySQL (default)

MySQL — data diff only

MySQL — Flyway format with output path

PostgreSQL

Supabase

SQLite

DSN URLs

Migration runner

Supabase — diff with local stack auto-fill

File Examples

dbdiff.yml

How Does the Diff Work?

Overall

Schema

Views

Triggers

Stored Procedures / Functions

Data

Compatible Migration Tools

Building a PHAR

Releasing 🚀

Automated (recommended)

Manual / local

Cross-Version Testing

Questions & Support 💡

Contributions 💖

Feedback 💬

License

MySQL-compatible — `--driver=mysql` (default)

PostgreSQL-compatible — `--driver=pgsql`

`diff` (default command)

`url:encode` — Password encoder

`dbdiff.yml`