CLI Commands

The qail command-line tool — v0.26.3.

Installation

cargo install qail

Commands

qail init

Initialize a new QAIL project. Auto-detects running PostgreSQL instances on the host, Docker, and Podman.

# Interactive mode — scans for running databases
qail init
# 🪝 QAIL Project Initialization
# Scanning for PostgreSQL instances...
#   ✓ Found 2 instance(s):
#     1.  🖥  host localhost:5432 (host)
#     2.  🐳 docker localhost:5433 (docker) — my-pg
#     3.  Enter URL manually
# Select [1-3]:

# Non-interactive mode (CI/scripting)
qail init --name myapp --mode postgres --url postgres://localhost/mydb
qail init --name myapp --mode hybrid --url postgres://localhost/mydb --deployment docker

Options:

• --name <NAME>: Project name
• --mode <MODE>: Database mode (postgres, qdrant, hybrid)
• --url <URL>: Database URL (skips interactive prompt)
• --deployment <TYPE>: Deployment type (host, docker, podman)

Generates qail.toml and necessary migration files.

qail exec

Execute QAIL statements against a database:

# Inline queries
qail exec "get users'id'email[active = true]" --url postgres://...
qail exec "add users fields name, email values 'Alice', 'a@test.com'" --url postgres://... --tx
qail exec "set users[id = 1] fields name = 'Bob'" --url postgres://...

# Count rows
qail exec "cnt orders[status = 'paid']" --url postgres://...
# → SELECT COUNT(*) FROM orders WHERE status = 'paid'

# JSON output (pipe-friendly)
qail exec "get users" --url postgres://... --json
qail exec "get users" --url postgres://... --json | jq '.[].email'

# From file
qail exec -f seed.qail --url postgres://...

# Dry-run (preview generated SQL)
qail exec "get users'*'" --dry-run
# 📋 Parsed 1 QAIL statement(s)
# 🔍 DRY-RUN MODE — Generated SQL:
#   SELECT * FROM users

# With SSH tunnel
qail exec "get users" --url postgres://remote/db --ssh user@bastion

Syntax:

add <table> fields <col1>, <col2> values <val1>, <val2>
set <table>[id = $1] fields name = 'new', updated_at = now
del <table>[id = $1]
get <table>'id'name[active = true]
cnt <table>[active = true]

Value Types:

Options:

• -f, --file <FILE>: Path to .qail file with statements
• -u, --url <URL>: Database connection URL
• --json: Output SELECT results as JSON array
• --tx: Wrap all statements in a transaction
• --dry-run: Preview generated SQL without executing
• --ssh <USER@HOST>: SSH tunnel via bastion host

qail pull

Extract schema from a live database:

qail pull postgres://user:pass@localhost/db > schema.qail

qail diff

Compare two schemas or detect drift against a live database:

# Compare two schema files
qail diff old.qail new.qail
qail diff old.qail new.qail --format json

# Live drift detection (introspects running database)
qail diff _ schema.qail --live --url postgres://localhost/mydb
# Drift detection: [live DB] → schema.qail
#   → Introspecting live database...
#     80 tables, 287 indexes introspected
#   ✅ No drift detected — live DB matches schema file.

Options:

• --format <FMT>: Output format (sql, json, pretty)
• --live: Use live database introspection as “old” schema
• --url <URL>: Database URL (required with --live)

qail check

Validate a schema file or preview migration safety:

# Validate schema
qail check schema.qail
# ✓ Schema is valid
#   Tables: 80 | Columns: 1110 | Indexes: 287
#   ✓ 82 primary key(s)

# Validate modular schema directory
qail check schema/

# Fallback mode: if schema.qail is missing, sibling schema/ is used
qail check schema.qail

# Check migration safety
qail check old.qail:new.qail
# ✓ Both schemas are valid
# Migration preview: 4 operation(s)
#   ✓ 3 safe operation(s)
#   ⚠️  1 reversible operation(s)

Migrate Commands

qail migrate status

View migration history with rich tabular output:

qail migrate status postgres://...
# 📋 Migration Status — mydb
# ┌──────────┬────────────────────┬─────────────────────┬──────────────┐
# │ Version  │ Name               │ Applied At          │ Checksum     │
# ├──────────┼────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼──────────────┤
# │ 001      │ qail_queue         │ 2026-02-01 10:00:00 │ a3b8d1...    │
# │ 002      │ add_users          │ 2026-02-05 14:32:00 │ f81d4f...    │
# └──────────┴────────────────────┴─────────────────────┴──────────────┘

qail migrate up

Apply migrations:

qail migrate up v1.qail:v2.qail postgres://...

# With codebase check (warns about breaking references)
qail migrate up v1.qail:v2.qail postgres://... -c ./src

qail migrate down

Rollback migrations:

qail migrate down v1.qail:v2.qail postgres://...

qail migrate plan

Preview migration SQL without executing (dry-run):

qail migrate plan old.qail:new.qail
# 📋 Migration Plan (dry-run)
# ┌─ UP (2 operations) ─────────────────────────────────┐
# │ 1. ALTER TABLE users ADD COLUMN verified BOOLEAN
# │ 2. CREATE INDEX idx_users_email ON users (email)
# └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

# Save to file
qail migrate plan old.qail:new.qail --output migration.sql

qail migrate analyze

Analyze codebase for breaking changes before migrating:

qail migrate analyze old.qail:new.qail --codebase ./src
# 🔍 Migration Impact Analyzer
# Scanning codebase... Found 395 query references
#
# ⚠️  BREAKING CHANGES DETECTED
# ┌─ DROP TABLE promotions (6 references) ─────────────┐
# │ ❌ src/repository/promotion.rs:89 → INSERT INTO...
# │ ❌ src/repository/promotion.rs:264 → SELECT...
# └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

qail migrate apply

Apply file-based migrations from migrations/ directory:

qail migrate apply
# → Found 1 migrations to apply
# ✓ Connected to mydb
#   → 001_qail_queue.up.qail... ✓
# ✓ All migrations applied successfully!

qail migrate reset

Nuclear option — drop all objects, clear history, re-apply target schema:

qail migrate reset schema.qail postgres://...
# ⚠️  This will DROP all tables, clear migration history, and recreate from schema.
# Phase 1: DROP all tables...
# Phase 2: CLEAR migration history...
# Phase 3: CREATE from schema...
# ✓ Reset complete

qail migrate shadow

Test migrations against a shadow database:

qail migrate shadow v1.qail:v2.qail postgres://shadow-db/...

Other Commands

qail explain

Parse and explain a QAIL query:

qail "get users'id'email[active = true]"
# SELECT id, email FROM users WHERE active = true

qail repl

Interactive QAIL REPL — type queries, see SQL in real-time:

qail repl
# 🪝 QAIL REPL v0.15.8
# Type QAIL queries, see SQL output.
# qail> get users[active = true]
# → SELECT * FROM users WHERE active = true

qail types

Generate typed Rust schema from .qail file:

qail types schema.qail > src/generated/schema.rs

qail watch

Watch schema file for changes and auto-generate migrations:

qail watch schema.qail --url postgres://... --auto-apply

qail lint

Check schema for best practices:

qail lint schema.qail
# 🔍 Schema Linter
# ⚠ 144 warning(s)
# ℹ 266 info(s)

qail sync generate

Generate trigger migrations from [[sync]] rules in qail.toml (Hybrid mode):

qail sync generate
# ✓ Created migrations/002_qail_sync_triggers.up.qail

qail worker

Start the background worker to sync PostgreSQL → Qdrant (Hybrid mode):

qail worker --interval 1000 --batch 100

Global Options