DB Branching

How to use mirrord to spin up an isolated DB branch for safe development and testing DB migrations

This feature is available to users on the Team and Enterprise pricing plans.

The db_branches feature in mirrord lets developers spin up an isolated DB branch that mirrors the remote DB, while running safely in isolation. This allows schema changes, migrations, and experiments without impacting teammates or shared environments. Currently, the feature is limited to (MySQL, PostgreSQL) databases.

When is this useful?

1. Running schema migrations safely Developers can test migrations and schema changes without risking corruption of the remote databases.

2. Experimenting locally Developers get a branch of the remote DB connected to their local app automatically - no admin setup required.

3. Collaborating with teammates If a branch already exists (with the same ID), mirrord reuses it. Developers can share branches as needed.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

1. Minimum versions installed:

• MySQL: Operator 3.129.0, mirrord CLI 3.160.0 and operator Helm chart 1.37.0 with operator.mysqlBranching value set to true.

• PostgreSQL: Operator 3.131.0, mirrord CLI 3.175.0 and operator Helm chart 1.40.2 with operator.pgBranching value set to true.

1. Your local application is using environment variables to store DB connection strings.

2. mirrord installed and working.

Configuring db_branches

Developers define branches in their mirrord.json:

{
  "db_branches": [
    {
      "id": "users-mysql-db",             // Optional
      "type": "mysql",                    // Available options [mysql|pg|mongodb]
      "version": "8.0",
      "name": "users-database-name",      // Optional
      "ttl_secs": 60,                     // Optional
      "creation_timeout_secs": 20,        // Optional, Defaults to 60 if not specified
      "connection": {
        "url": {
          "type": "env",
          "variable": "DB_CONNECTION_URL" // Required
        }
      },
      "copy": {
        "mode": "empty"                   // Defaults to "empty" if not specified
      }
    }
  ]
}

Key Fields

1. id: When reused, mirrord reattaches to the same branch as long as the time-to-live (TTL) has not expired. This allows multiple sessions to share the same database branch. To prevent accidental reuse of another user’s branch, it is recommended to assign a unique value (for example, a UUID) as the identifier

2. type: Currently "mysql" and "pg" are supported.

3. version: Database engine version.

4. name: Remote database name to clone, the override URL uses name so the connection URL looks like .../dbname. If name is ommited, the override URL just points to the MySQL server; the application must select the DB manually in that case.

5. ttl_secs: Override for branch time-to-live (TTL). The default is 5 minutes. The maximum allowed is 15 minutes. If you set a value above 15, mirrord will automatically fall back to 15 minutes.

6. connection.url: The environment variable that contains your DB connection string.

7. copy.mode: Allows developers to control how the database is cloned when creating a branch, see Advanced Configuration

8. creation_timeout_secs: Override for branch creation timeout. The default is 60 seconds.

9. iam_auth: Optional IAM authentication for AWS RDS or GCP Cloud SQL. See Advanced Configuration for details.

Running With DB Branches

1. Run your app with mirrord and set the db_branches field in the mirrord configuration file.

2. mirrord will spin up a MySQL branch according to the following rules:

• Reusing an existing branch: If you provide an ID that matches an existing branch and its TTL hasn’t expired, mirrord will reuse that branch. When this happens, mirrord will notify you:

  A branch with this ID already exists for the target database.
  You’re about to use it! 

  This means you’re connecting to an existing branch, not a fresh isolated one.

• Creating a new branch: If no ID is specified, or if you choose a new, non-existing ID, mirrord will create a fresh, empty database branch.

1. mirrord will override your DB environment variable with the branch's connection URL, so the app connects to the branch, not to the source db. This setup reduces the risk of accidental writes reaching the source database by directing activity toward an isolated branch.

2. The branch will be destroyed automatically when the TTL is reached and the branch is not in use (reconnecting to the same branch again extends its lifetime).

FAQ

Q: Why does my connection time out? A: By default, branch databases have SSL disabled. Check if your client is specifically requesting SSL.

Q: How do I use IAM authentication instead of passwords? A: mirrord supports IAM authentication for AWS RDS and GCP Cloud SQL. Just add "iam_auth": { "type": "aws_rds" } or "iam_auth": { "type": "gcp_cloud_sql" } — mirrord automatically uses standard env vars like AWS_REGION or GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS from your target pod. See IAM Authentication for details.

What's next?

Next, check out the Advanced Configuration and DB Branch Management sections to learn more about customization and command options.