Possible Future Features
This page collects ideas for potential future enhancements — nothing here is scheduled. Every feature is implemented only when a user actually needs it. The list exists so that when a requirement comes up, the design space is already visible.
User-driven development
DbClone evolves based on user requirements, not a predefined roadmap. If you need a feature from this page, open an issue or request it — that's what moves it from "possible" to "implemented".
Priority Legend
| Tag |
Meaning |
| 💡 Backlog |
Useful idea — will be implemented when a user needs it |
| 🔬 Exploratory |
Open question — feasibility or design not yet settled |
Copy & Data Transfer
| Feature |
Priority |
Description |
| Schema-level filtering |
💡 Backlog |
Select entire schemas to include/exclude without toggling the global "Platform Schemas" flag. |
| Parallel data copy |
🔬 Exploratory |
Copy multiple tables in parallel using concurrent COPY streams to improve throughput on high-bandwidth connections. |
| Incremental / CDC sync |
🔬 Exploratory |
Detect changed rows via xmin/max_age or logical replication slots and transfer only deltas instead of full tables. |
| Copy specific queries |
💡 Backlog |
Allow the user to supply a SELECT query per table to copy a filtered subset of rows (e.g. WHERE created_at > ...). |
| Copy direction reversal |
💡 Backlog |
Swap source and destination in one click to copy data back (useful for seeding a development database from production). |
| Compression during transfer |
🔬 Exploratory |
Compress data in-flight (e.g. LZ4 or zstd over the wire) to reduce bandwidth for large copies over slow links. |
| Batch size auto-tuning |
💡 Backlog |
Automatically adjust the COPY batch size based on observed throughput and available memory. |
Comparison
| Feature |
Priority |
Description |
| Side-by-side data diff viewer |
💡 Backlog |
Show actual row-level differences in a split-pane viewer after a comparison run. |
| Historical comparison snapshots |
💡 Backlog |
Save comparison results over time and diff them to track when drift was introduced. |
| Custom comparison rules |
🔬 Exploratory |
Let users define ignore rules (e.g. ignore updated_at columns, ignore specific constraints, treat certain enum orderings as equivalent). |
| Schema-only comparison mode |
💡 Backlog |
Compare DDL structure without row counts or checksums for a fast structural diff. |
Connections & Security
| Feature |
Priority |
Description |
| SSH tunnel support |
💡 Backlog |
Built-in SSH tunnel configuration so users don't need external tools (PuTTY, OpenSSH) to connect through bastion hosts. |
| Connection templates |
💡 Backlog |
Save reusable connection templates (e.g. "Supabase EU" with pre-filled port, SSL, and common settings). |
| Connection health monitoring |
💡 Backlog |
Periodic background ping of saved connections with visual indicator (green/red dot) showing availability. |
| Secrets manager integration |
🔬 Exploratory |
Store credentials in Windows Credential Manager or Azure Key Vault instead of DPAPI-encrypted JSON. |
| Read-only connection mode |
💡 Backlog |
Mark a connection as read-only to prevent accidental writes — DbClone will refuse any destructive operation on that connection. |
| Multi-user connection sharing |
🔬 Exploratory |
Share encrypted connection profiles across team members via a central server or shared file. |
Copy Modes & Workflows
| Feature |
Priority |
Description |
| Scheduled / recurring copies |
💡 Backlog |
Run copies on a cron-like schedule (e.g. nightly staging refresh) with email or webhook notification on completion. |
| Copy profiles / presets |
💡 Backlog |
Save a named set of copy options (mode, object toggles, schema filters, table filters) and reuse them across sessions. |
| Dry-run mode |
💡 Backlog |
Execute the full pipeline without writing anything — report what would be created, copied, or dropped. |
| Copy from SQL dump file |
🔬 Exploratory |
Parse a pg_dump SQL file as a source and replay it to a destination, without needing a live source connection. |
| Reverse engineering (destination → model) |
🔬 Exploratory |
Read the destination schema and generate a migration script to bring it in line with the source. |
| Feature |
Priority |
Description |
| Additional platform definitions |
💡 Backlog |
Add .platform files for Amazon RDS, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Google Cloud SQL, and Crunchy Bridge with their specific extensions and schemas. |
| MySQL provider |
🔬 Exploratory |
Implement DbClone.MySql with ITableInfoProvider, IDatabaseMaintenanceProvider, etc. Architecture supports it via the provider interface layer. |
| SQL Server provider |
🔬 Exploratory |
Implement DbClone.SqlServer following the same provider pattern. |
| Cross-platform copy |
🔬 Exploratory |
Copy between different database engines (e.g. PostgreSQL → MySQL) via a Canonical Relational Database Model (CRDM) — each provider imports/exports to a shared intermediate format, avoiding N×N converter explosion. |
| Cross-OS support |
🔬 Exploratory |
Evaluate Avalonia or MAUI as an alternative UI framework to enable macOS and Linux builds. |
UI & Usability
| Feature |
Priority |
Description |
| Copy progress chart |
💡 Backlog |
Visualise per-table copy progress as a treemap or flame chart — area proportional to row count, colour indicating status. |
| Quick-assign from Connection Manager |
💡 Backlog |
Right-click a connection in the Connection Manager and choose "Set as Source" or "Set as Destination" to assign it on the main window without manually selecting from the combo box. |
| Recent operations panel |
💡 Backlog |
Show a list of recent copy/compare runs with their settings, duration, and result — one click to re-run. |
| Command-line interface (CLI) |
💡 Backlog |
Headless dbclone.exe copy --source ... --dest ... --mode full for scripting, CI pipelines, and automation. |
| Notification on completion |
💡 Backlog |
Windows toast notification (and optional webhook / email) when a long-running copy or comparison finishes. |
| Dark mode for comparison results |
💡 Backlog |
Ensure the HTML comparison report respects a dark theme or adapts to system preference. |
| Accessibility improvements |
💡 Backlog |
Full keyboard navigation, screen-reader support, and high-contrast theme compliance across all views. |
| ** Localisation / i18n** |
🔬 Exploratory |
Extract all UI strings into resource files for translation into other languages. |
Reporting & Logging
| Feature |
Priority |
Description |
| Copy operation audit log |
💡 Backlog |
Persistent, searchable log of every copy operation with timestamps, settings, and results — exportable for compliance. |
| Real-time log streaming |
💡 Backlog |
Stream the log to an external endpoint (file, syslog, Seq, ELK) during execution for centralised monitoring. |
| Diff report in comparison export |
💡 Backlog |
Include the actual DDL diff (not just "Different") in exported comparison reports. |
| Performance bottleneck report |
🔬 Exploratory |
Post-copy analysis highlighting the slowest stages, largest tables, and throughput bottlenecks with recommendations. |
| Feature |
Priority |
Description |
| Pause and resume mid-stage |
💡 Backlog |
Currently pause/resume works between stages. Allow pausing during a long data copy and resuming from the exact row. |
| Configurable worker pool |
🔬 Exploratory |
Let the user set the number of concurrent workers for data copy and DDL stages. |
| Streaming replication integration |
🔬 Exploratory |
Optionally use logical replication for the initial data sync, falling back to COPY for unsupported setups. |
| Memory-mapped COPY |
🔬 Exploratory |
Use memory-mapped buffers for very large tables to reduce GC pressure during data transfer. |
Already Implemented
For reference, these features from earlier roadmaps are already shipped in the current release:
- Four copy modes (Full, Resume, Update, Backup)
- Manual table selection with named presets — choose which tables Copy, Compare, and Backup process, with FK relationship explorer and validation summary
- Platform auto-detection via
.platform files (Supabase, Aiven, Neon, Vanilla)
- Full database comparison with structural DDL diff
- Dependency-ordered pipeline with 21 stages
- Connection import/export with AES-256 encryption
- Connection groups and color coding
- Real-time progress with per-table ETA
- Object count validation post-copy
- Light/Dark/System theme support
- Keyboard shortcuts for all major operations
- Comparison report export (HTML, Markdown, JSON, Plain Text)
- Row-level and checksum verification modes
- Connection heartbeat between stages
- Automatic extension-owned object exclusion