ChartDB Agent – AI DB Schema Design in Cursor

TL;DR

TL;DR: ChartDB Agent is a free AI tool that designs databases from scratch or refactors existing schemas using natural language — exports SQL, generates ER diagrams, and integrates directly into Cursor.

Source and Accuracy Notes

⚠️ This section is MANDATORY. All links must be verified from actual source, not guessed.

• Project page: chartdb.io/ai
• Source repository: github.com/chartdb/chartdb
• License: AGPL-3.0 (verified via GitHub API)
• HN launch thread: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45437594
• Source last checked: 2026-08-08

What Is ChartDB Agent?

ChartDB Agent is an AI-powered database schema design tool built on top of the open-source ChartDB project (22.6k GitHub stars). It lets you create, modify, and export database schemas using natural language — no SQL knowledge required.

The core capabilities, as described by the founders in their HN launch:

• Generate schemas from English — describe your data model in plain text and the agent produces a full schema
• Brainstorm tables and relationships — iterate on schema design with AI feedback
• Visual ERD editing — see changes rendered as an interactive entity-relationship diagram
• Deterministic SQL export — produce migration-ready DDL scripts for PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, SQLite, MariaDB, CockroachDB, or ClickHouse

You can use it directly in your browser at app.chartdb.io/ai (no signup required) or integrate it into Cursor via the ChartDB Agent extension.

Setup Workflow

Option 1: Browser (no install)

Open app.chartdb.io/ai and start describing your database. No account, no API key, no database password needed.

Option 2: Cursor IDE Integration

1. Open Cursor Settings → Features → AI Agents
2. Add the ChartDB Agent plugin
3. Start a new chat and describe your schema

Option 3: Self-Hosted

docker run -e OPENAI_API_KEY=<YOUR_KEY> -p 8080:80 ghcr.io/chartdb/chartdb:latest

Then open http://localhost:8080/ai in your browser.

For AI features, ChartDB uses OpenAI by default. You can also configure a custom inference endpoint:

docker build \
  --build-arg VITE_OPENAI_API_ENDPOINT=<YOUR_ENDPOINT> \
  --build-arg VITE_LLM_MODEL_NAME=<YOUR_MODEL_NAME> \
  -t chartdb .

Deeper Analysis

ChartDB Agent fills a specific gap in the AI-assisted development tooling landscape. Unlike general-purpose coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor Composer) that can reason about schemas but lack dedicated visualization, ChartDB Agent is purpose-built for database design — it produces ER diagrams as first-class output.

The workflow advantage: describe a schema in English, see it rendered as an ERD, export to your dialect of choice. For prototyping, this is significantly faster than writing DDL by hand or drawing diagrams in a separate tool.

Supported target dialects:

• PostgreSQL (including Supabase, Timescale)
• MySQL
• SQL Server
• MariaDB
• SQLite (including Cloudflare D1)
• CockroachDB
• ClickHouse

Practical Evaluation Checklist

• Describe a schema in plain English and verify the generated ERD matches intent
• Test exporting to a dialect you actually use (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.)
• If self-hosting: verify the OPENAI_API_KEY env var enables AI features
• Check that the generated SQL is syntactically valid for your target dialect
• Evaluate readability of the ERD for a schema with 10+ tables

Security Notes

• ChartDB never requires a database password — it works from schema queries or natural language, not direct database access
• If self-hosting, protect your OPENAI_API_KEY the same way you protect any API credential
• The self-hosted Docker image exposes port 8080; bind it to localhost unless you need remote access

FAQ

Q: Does ChartDB Agent support existing production databases? A: Yes. You can connect ChartDB to an existing database to import the current schema, then use the AI agent to design changes or refactors on top of it.

Q: Is the AI feature free? A: The base tool is free to use in-browser with no signup. Self-hosted deployments require your own OpenAI API key or compatible inference endpoint.

Q: Can I use it without Cursor? A: Yes — the browser version at app.chartdb.io/ai has full functionality without any IDE plugin.

Q: What happens to my schema data? A: ChartDB is open-source (AGPL-3.0). The browser version processes schemas server-side; if you self-host, all data stays on your infrastructure.

Conclusion

ChartDB Agent is a focused, free AI tool for database schema design — faster than hand-writing DDL and more visual than general coding agents. If you prototype databases often, it’s worth keeping bookmarked at app.chartdb.io/ai.