DbClone User Manual¶
- Installation — Download and install DbClone
- First Copy — Clone your first database in 5 minutes
- Connections — Manage source and destination connections
- Copy Modes — Full, Resume, Update, and Backup modes
- Table Selection — Choose which tables Copy, Compare, and Backup process
- Table Overview — Inspect the tables on the destination database
- Comparison — Compare two databases side by side
- Troubleshooting — Common issues and solutions
- Possible Future Features — Ideas that wait for user requirements
What is DbClone?¶
DbClone is a Windows desktop application for cloning and migrating PostgreSQL databases. It handles schema, data, extensions, and dependency ordering — purpose-built for moving databases off managed platforms (Supabase, Aiven, Neon, RDS) to vanilla PostgreSQL without losing schema fidelity.
Why not pg_dump?¶
Standard tools (pg_dump, pg_restore, DBeaver, pgAdmin) work for simple PostgreSQL-to-PostgreSQL copies. They break when your source is a managed platform:
| Problem | Standard tools | DbClone |
|---|---|---|
| Extension-owned objects | Tries to recreate them → fails | Detects via pg_depend, skips automatically |
| Managed schemas (auth, storage) | Permission denied | Platform definition files (.platform) auto-detect the host, resolve version-specific schemas and extensions |
| Dependency ordering | Wrong order → cascading failures | Topological sort with cycle detection |
| Interrupted copy | Start over from scratch | Resume mode — copies only what's missing |
| Silent schema failures | Objects missing on destination | Object count validation — verifies tables, indexes, views, sequences, functions, triggers |
| No visibility | CLI output | Real-time progress, ETA, live log panel |
System Requirements¶
- Windows 10 or 11 (x64)
- Source and destination must be PostgreSQL (tested against PostgreSQL 14+ as used by managed platforms; older versions may work but are not verified)
- No .NET runtime needed — ships self-contained