About NSchema
NSchema is a free, open-source project built and maintained by me, Tom Wolfe. I’m just another software engineer who got nerd sniped trying to solve a problem one weekend and let it get way out of hand. While maintaining this project isn’t my full-time job, I do use it both at work and in side projects, so I’m personally invested in its wellbeing.
There are plenty of database migration tools and techniques out there already, but in my experience, they never just work. Whether it’s proprietary tooling, opaque binaries, or hand-written migrations, there’s always one headache or another that makes them not fun to deal with. Compare that with how easy it is to get started managing infrastructure with OpenTofu, and that’s what we deserve for our databases.
The goal of NSchema is to provide a production-grade schema management tool, with the bells and whistles expected from modern software, while offering a slick developer experience with the lowest-possible barrier to entry.
Project status
Section titled “Project status”NSchema is currently a hobby project maintained by just me, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. I use it professionally, and in side projects, so I have a personal commitment to it regardless, but I’m open to outside feedback and contributions. It’s been said before, but I have zero interest making money off this. Our industry runs on open source software, and I just wanted to offer something cool that I built in the hope that it will help others as it’s helped me.
Check GitHub for what I’m currently working on, and Versioning & compatibility for how I approach things like breaking changes (spoiler alert: it’s SemVer).
AI Disclosure
Section titled “AI Disclosure”This project wasn’t vibecoded, but I do use Claude (Opus, and more recently Fable), as both a pair programmer and workhorse. The architecture and design calls here are all mine (for better or worse), and anything I didn’t write personally, I’ve reviewed: AI tooling is never an excuse to disregard good engineering discipline.
License
Section titled “License”NSchema is free and open source under the MIT License.