Dolt — The SQL Database You Can Fork, Clone, Branch and Merge

What it is

Dolt is a MySQL-compatible SQL database that adds Git-style version control to both schemas and data. You can branch, diff, merge, and create pull requests for your database the same way you do with code repositories. Every write creates an addressable commit, making it possible to review data changes, roll back mistakes, and collaborate on datasets.

Dolt targets data teams, ML engineers, and application developers who need auditable data history, reproducible datasets, or collaborative data editing with review workflows.

How it saves time or tokens

Without version control, recovering from a bad migration or data import requires restoring backups, which can take hours. Dolt lets you branch before any risky operation, run it, inspect the diff, and merge only if the result looks correct. Row-level diffs make code review for data practical. The MySQL wire protocol means existing tools (ORMs, BI tools, SQL clients) work without modification.

How to use

1. Install Dolt and initialize a database:

curl -L https://github.com/dolthub/dolt/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sudo bash
mkdir shop && cd shop
dolt init

1. Create tables, insert data, and commit:

dolt sql -q "CREATE TABLE items (id INT PRIMARY KEY, name VARCHAR(64), price DECIMAL(10,2));"
dolt sql -q "INSERT INTO items VALUES (1,'Mug',9.99);"
dolt add . && dolt commit -m 'seed catalogue'

1. Branch, modify, diff, and merge:

dolt checkout -b promo
dolt sql -q "UPDATE items SET price = price * 0.8;"
dolt diff main promo
dolt checkout main && dolt merge promo

Example

Using Dolt as a standard MySQL server:

# Start SQL server
dolt sql-server -u root -p '' --port 3306

# Connect with any MySQL client
mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u root shop

# Query version history
SELECT * FROM dolt_log LIMIT 5;
SELECT * FROM dolt_diff('main', 'promo', 'items');

Related on TokRepo

• AI Tools for Database — more database tools and management utilities
• Featured Workflows — discover popular developer tools on TokRepo

Common pitfalls

• Dolt stores every version of every row, so storage grows faster than a traditional database; configure garbage collection and pruning for large datasets
• While MySQL-compatible, some advanced features (stored procedures, certain window functions) may behave differently; test your specific SQL patterns
• Merge conflicts on the same row require manual resolution, just like Git conflicts in code; establish clear branching conventions for multi-editor workflows