SeedCLI — Bootstrap Databases With One Command

Live: seedcli.vercel.app

SeedCLI is a tiny command-line tool that solves a boring but constant pain: getting a fresh local database into a useful state without copy-pasting SQL or hand-writing seed scripts every time.

The problem

Every new project starts the same way:

1. Spin up Postgres / MySQL / SQLite.
2. Run migrations.
3. Realize the app is empty and useless.
4. Write a throwaway seed script.
5. Repeat for every teammate.

Existing seeders are either ORM-coupled, framework-locked, or require a heavy schema definition before you can do anything.

What SeedCLI does

• One command, opinionated defaults. Point it at a connection string and it produces realistic fixtures for the tables it can introspect.
• Repeatable runs. Same seed value → same data. Great for reproducing bugs.
• Schema-aware. Reads your tables, infers column types, and generates appropriate fake data (names, emails, dates, JSON blobs).
• Pluggable generators. Override any column with a custom faker function.

Why I built it

I kept rewriting the same seed.ts file across side projects. SeedCLI is the version of that script I wish existed — one binary, no per-project boilerplate, no ORM dependency.

Stack

• TypeScript + Node.
• Tiny landing page on Vercel (seedcli.vercel.app) with install instructions and a live demo of the generator output.
• Distributed as an npx-able package — no global install required.

What’s next

• Postgres extensions: schemas, JSONB, arrays.
• Prisma / Drizzle adapters for typed overrides.
• A --watch mode that re-seeds on schema changes.