Ask HN: Is there an application similar to graphviz but for database schemas?

#1

Post by pure_simplicity » Sun, May 29, 2022, 8:54 PM UTC

I'm looking for an application that is like graphviz/dot, but for database schema visualization instead of graph visualization. Is there such an application? (preferably open source)

I'd like to use it with markdown to document code and application architecture, such that the schema definition can be text that is under version control and the generated image can be part of the rendered document.

Re: Ask HN: Is there an application similar to graphviz but for database schemas?

#2

Post by gigatexal » Sun, May 29, 2022, 9:22 PM UTC

Hmm not sure it’s what you want but the ERD diagramming in DBeaver is awesome.

Re: Ask HN: Is there an application similar to graphviz but for database schemas?

#3

Post by pure_simplicity » Sun, May 29, 2022, 9:43 PM UTC

gigatexal wrote: post #2

Hmm not sure it’s what you want but the ERD diagramming in DBeaver is awesome.

Thanks for that! It's not what I'm looking for, but it's good to know about. I really need it to be a CLI application that takes text as in put and produces an image as output.

Re: Ask HN: Is there an application similar to graphviz but for database schemas?

#4

Post by pizza » Mon, May 30, 2022, 9:51 AM UTC

One of these, perhaps: https://github.com/mgramin/awesome-db-tools#diagrams

Re: Ask HN: Is there an application similar to graphviz but for database schemas?

#5

Post by tonerow » Mon, May 30, 2022, 2:36 PM UTC

pure_simplicity wrote: post #3

gigatexal wrote: post #2

Hmm not sure it’s what you want but the ERD diagramming in DBeaver is awesome.

Thanks for that! It's not what I'm looking for, but it's good to know about. I really need it to be a CLI application that takes text as in put and produces an image as output.

https://flowchart.fun doesn't have all the capabilities of UML diagramming for instance, but it is text->diagram conversion with a very simple syntax

Re: Ask HN: Is there an application similar to graphviz but for database schemas?

#6

Post by pure_simplicity » Mon, May 30, 2022, 8:10 PM UTC

pizza wrote: post #4

One of these, perhaps: https://github.com/mgramin/awesome-db-tools#diagrams

This link definitely has some useful stuff. DBML and tbls specifically look very promising. ERAlchemy is also great.

Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Is there an application similar to graphviz but for database schemas?

#7

Post by pure_simplicity » Mon, May 30, 2022, 8:18 PM UTC

tonerow wrote: post #5

pure_simplicity wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for that! It's not what I'm looking for, but it's good to know about. I really need it to be a CLI application that takes text as in put and produces an image as output.

https://flowchart.fun doesn't have all the capabilities of UML diagramming for instance, but it is text->diagram conversion with a very simple syntax

This is not quite what I'm looking for. It needs to be CLI based so it can work with local markdown files in a way that can be easily automated. Also this website isn't tailored for visualizing a database schema, so to repurpose it for that use case requires significant effort. Looking at DBeaver's ER Diagram should like the OP in this response thread suggested should give you a good idea of how I want things to look.

I may have found what I'm looking for from a different top level answer though. Thanks for your contribution.