Snaplet - Production-like data for development

What is Snaplet?

Snaplet is an all-in-one developer tool that gives developers realistic, production-like data to code against. It solves the common problem developers face when working with databases - having safe, realistic data without exposing sensitive production information.

Key Features

• 📸 Database Snapshots: Capture and transform data from your production database
• 🔐 Data Privacy: Automatically detect and transform PII with built-in anonymization
• 🎯 Data Subsetting: Capture only the data you need while maintaining referential integrity
• 🚀 Fast Restoration: Quickly restore snapshots to your development database
• 🛠️ TypeScript Configuration: Type-safe configuration with full IDE support
• 🏠 Self-Hostable: Run on your own infrastructure for complete control
• 🔄 Database Agnostic: Works with PostgreSQL (more databases coming soon)

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js v18.18.2 or higher
• PostgreSQL database (for capturing/restoring snapshots)
• npm, yarn, or pnpm package manager

Installation

# Using npm
npm install -g @snaplet/snapshot

# Using yarn
yarn global add @snaplet/snapshot

# Using pnpm
pnpm add -g @snaplet/snapshot

Basic Usage

1. Setup Snaplet in your project

snaplet setup

This will create a snaplet.config.ts file in your project root.

2. Capture a snapshot from your database

# Capture from your production database
snaplet snapshot capture --db-url postgresql://user:pass@host:5432/mydb

# Or use environment variables
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://... snaplet snapshot capture

3. List available snapshots

snaplet snapshot list

4. Restore a snapshot to your development database

# Restore the latest snapshot
snaplet snapshot restore --latest

# Restore a specific snapshot
snaplet snapshot restore <snapshot-id>

Configuration

Snaplet uses a TypeScript configuration file (snaplet.config.ts) for advanced features:

import { defineConfig } from '@snaplet/sdk'
import { copycat } from '@snaplet/copycat'

export default defineConfig({
  // Select which schemas to include
  select: {
    public: {
      // Include all tables except 'logs'
      $default: true,
      logs: false,
    }
  },

  // Transform sensitive data
  transform: {
    public: {
      users: ({ row }) => ({
        email: copycat.email(row.email),
        name: copycat.fullName(row.name),
        phone: copycat.phoneNumber(row.phone),
      }),
    }
  },

  // Data subsetting
  subset: {
    enabled: true,
    version: '3',
    targets: [
      {
        table: 'public.users',
        percent: 10, // Capture only 10% of users
      }
    ]
  }
})

Common Use Cases

1. Development Environment Setup

Create safe development databases with production-like data:

# Capture a subset of production data
snaplet snapshot capture --db-url $PROD_DB_URL

# Restore to local development
snaplet snapshot restore --db-url postgresql://localhost:5432/dev_db

2. CI/CD Testing

Use snapshots in your CI pipeline:

# .github/workflows/test.yml
steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v3
  - name: Restore test database
    run: snaplet snapshot restore --latest
  - name: Run tests
    run: npm test

3. Data Privacy Compliance

Transform PII automatically during capture:

// snaplet.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
  transform: {
    $mode: 'auto', // Automatically detect and transform PII
  }
})

CLI Commands

Core Commands

• snaplet setup - Initialize Snaplet in your project
• snaplet snapshot capture - Create a database snapshot
• snaplet snapshot list - List available snapshots
• snaplet snapshot restore - Restore a snapshot
• snaplet config generate - Generate configuration files

Useful Flags

• --db-url - Database connection string
• --latest - Use the latest snapshot
• --yes - Skip confirmation prompts
• --verbose - Enable verbose logging

Run snaplet --help for a complete list of commands and options.

Documentation

Visit our documentation for:

• Getting Started Guide
• Configuration Reference
• CLI Reference
• Recipes & Examples
• Troubleshooting

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details on:

• Setting up your development environment
• Running tests
• Submitting pull requests
• Code style guidelines

Community & Support

• 💬 Join our Discord - Get help and chat with the community
• 🐛 Report Issues - Found a bug? Let us know!
• 📧 Email Support - For sensitive issues or enterprise inquiries

License

Snaplet is licensed under the Functional Source License (FSL-1.1-MIT). See the LICENSE file for details.

After 2 years, the license automatically converts to MIT.

Acknowledgments

Snaplet is built on top of many amazing open-source projects including:

• PostgreSQL - The world's most advanced open source database
• TypeScript - JavaScript with syntax for types
• Turborepo - High-performance build system for JavaScript and TypeScript
• And many more wonderful projects!

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Made with ❤️ by the Snaplet team