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.

• Compares two databases (local or remote) and generates SQL migrations automatically
• Diffs schema changes, data changes, or both — with deterministic, predictable output
• Up and down SQL generated in the same file
• Supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite via --driver
• Supabase-ready via --supabase one-flag shorthand
• 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)

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

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

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 sets driver=pgsql and enables SSL automatically:

./dbdiff --supabase --server1=user:pass@db.xxx.supabase.co:5432 server1.mydb:server1.mydb

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.

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

./dbdiff \
  --server1-url postgres://user:pass@main-branch.hostname.neon.tech/mydb \
  --server2-url postgres://user:pass@feature-branch.hostname.neon.tech/mydb \
  --format=flyway --description=my_feature

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

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

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

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

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 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.

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.

Pre-built multi-arch images (linux/amd64 + linux/arm64) are published to GHCR on every release.

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

# Slim image (requires dist/dbdiff.phar — run `vendor/bin/box compile` first)
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 usage, and start.sh flags.

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.

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

1. Create a .dbdiff config file — see File Examples
2. 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

Flags always override settings in .dbdiff.

./dbdiff server1.db1:server2.db2

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

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

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

./dbdiff --supabase --server1=postgres:pass@db.xxxx.supabase.co:5432 \
  server1.staging:server1.production

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

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:

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

# ── 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 migrate:up) ──────────────────────────────────
database:
  driver: mysql
  host: localhost
  port: 3306
  name: mydb
  user: root
  password: secret

migrations:
  dir: ./migrations
  history_table: _dbdiff_migrations

Comparisons run in this order:

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

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

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

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

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

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.

1. Go to GitHub Actions → Release DBDiff → Run workflow
2. Enter the version number (e.g. 2.1.0 — no v prefix)
3. 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)

# 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

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: 6 PHP × 4 MySQL = 24 jobs, plus dedicated jobs for SQLite and PostgreSQL.

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

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

Please read the Contributing Guide before submitting a PR.

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