What it is

Azimutt is a full-stack database exploration tool built in Elm and released under the MIT license. It presents itself as a next-generation entity-relationship diagram application for designing, exploring, documenting, and analyzing database schemas and data. The project lives in the database tooling ecosystem, positioned between ERD tools, data catalogs, and database clients.

The concrete problem it addresses is the lack of a single tool that helps people understand real-world databases. The README says ERDs provide a diagram interface but fall short when schemas grow, data catalogs focus on governance and lineage while missing relational database knowledge, and database clients emphasize querying and object lists without visual help. Azimutt targets databases with hundreds of tables and messy schemas, combining visual structure, search, navigation, documentation, and analysis.

Key capabilities

• Design database schemas with AML, the tool's diagramming format, for fast visual creation and iteration.
• Explore large schemas with search everywhere, selective table and column display, and relation following.
• Query data while following foreign keys and displaying related entities inside the diagram.
• Document tables and columns with notes, tags, layouts, and memos scoped to use cases, features, or teams.
• Analyze whole databases to discover inconsistencies and suggest best practices.
• Load public SQL files through URL parameters, enabling repository badges that let visitors browse a schema online.
• Supports database technologies named in the topics and badges, including PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, SQL Server, SQLite, MongoDB, and Couchbase.

Who uses it and how

• Database developers and architects use it to understand large or messy schemas without relying only on table lists or static diagrams.
• Teams use it to document schema decisions, feature scopes, and use cases through notes, tags, layouts, and memos.
• Repository owners publish public SQL files and add an Azimutt badge so visitors can explore the schema through a hosted URL.

Getting started

Azimutt is available through its hosted site at azimutt.app, and the README shows loading a public SQL file by adding it as a URL parameter. A common starting workflow is to publish a schema file such as structure.sql and link it to Azimutt for online exploration.

When to use it — and when not to

Use Azimutt when the main need is understanding, documenting, and navigating a database schema, especially when standard ERD tools struggle with large or messy databases. The README does not describe a self-hosted installation, Docker image, package manager, SMTP requirement, or database storage setup, so teams that need a local-only or air-gapped deployment may need to look elsewhere. Its strengths are visual exploration and documentation, but the README does not confirm a full data governance, lineage, or production client feature set, so it should not be assumed to replace specialized catalogs or query tools without evaluation.

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[![Explore database with Azimutt](https://img.shields.io/badge/PostgreSQL-browse_online-gray?labelColor=4169E1&logo=postgresql&logoColor=fff&style=flat)](https://azimutt.app/create?sql=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/azimuttapp/azimutt/refs/heads/main/backend/priv/repo/structure.sql&name=Azimutt)

# Replace with your app-name
HEROKU_APP=<app-name>

# Set PHX_HOST with the URL of the app
heroku config:set PHX_HOST=$(heroku info -s | grep "web_url" | sed 's|web_url=https://||; s|/$||')

# Copy Stackhero access key to S3_KEY_ID
heroku config:set S3_KEY_ID=$(heroku config:get S3_ROOT_ACCESS_KEY)

# Copy Stackhero secret key to S3_KEY_SECRET
heroku config:set S3_KEY_SECRET=$(heroku config:get S3_ROOT_SECRET_KEY)