January 6, 2026
Fake it till you test it
Show HN: DDL to Data – Generate realistic test data from SQL schemas
Paste your tables, get ‘real’ data — HN debates price, scale, and AI
TLDR: A tool generates realistic test data from pasted SQL table definitions, aiming to replace risky production data. Commenters like the idea but argue over high pricing, tight row limits, AI claims, and whether it scales to millions of rows, with comparisons to competitors and calls for performance proof.
A new tool called DDL to Data promises “just paste your CREATE TABLEs and get realistic test data.” Think fake-but-believable emails, sensible timestamps, and no awkward privacy drama from using actual customer info. The Hacker News crowd loved the idea… and immediately cracked their knuckles for debate.
The loudest reactions? Pricing and “is it just Faker?” One commenter poked the bear with a spicy jab at Faker, questioning whether this is simply a fancy wrapper and asking if there’s any AI magic inside. Another waved a red flag at row limits, calling the tiers “too constrained,” while the performance crowd showed up asking if this thing can churn out a million rows without melting. If you’re building analytics or stress-testing, that’s not a cute number — it’s table stakes.
Drama escalated with a straight-to-the-point comparison: “How does this stack up to shadowtraffic.io?” Meanwhile, the community couldn’t resist a meme: a Rust-era sibling named “joindoe” got a shout-out, because of course the SQL pun wars never end. Verdict from the comments: cool concept, real pain point solved, but the crowd wants proof — speed, scale, pricing clarity, and whether there’s more brains than [Faker] under the hood.
Key Points
- •DDL to Data generates realistic test data from pasted SQL CREATE TABLE statements.
- •It preserves foreign key relationships and honors uniqueness constraints.
- •The tool aims to avoid using masked production data and replace fragile seed scripts.
- •It produces data that looks authentic, such as emails and reasonable timestamps.
- •It requires no setup or configuration and supports PostgreSQL and MySQL.