Guides
Practical write-ups on the problems SQL Toolkit's tools are built to solve — safe migrations, converting data between formats, and keeping documentation from going stale.
Adding a NOT NULL Column in Postgres: When It Locks and When It Doesn't
Adding a new NOT NULL column with a constant default is fast on PostgreSQL 11+; making an existing column NOT NULL scans the table, and a backfill-then-validate pattern avoids holding the lock for that scan.
DROP COLUMN in Production: What Actually Breaks (and How to Check First)
The database operation is usually fine — it’s old deploys, cached queries, and background jobs still expecting the column that break.
How to Convert a CSV File to SQL INSERT Statements
Quoting, type inference, NULL vs empty string, and the escaping bug that causes most hand-rolled CSV import scripts to break.
Importing JSON API Responses into a SQL Database
Flattening nested fields, handling inconsistent keys across items, and picking a sane primary key before you convert.
Excel to SQL: Turning a Spreadsheet into a Real Database Table
Header cleanup, merged cells, and the Excel date-formatting quirk that silently turns dates into meaningless numbers.
How to Auto-Generate Documentation from a CREATE TABLE Statement
Why hand-maintained schema wikis always drift from reality, and what to include when you generate docs straight from the SQL.
How to Convert SQL INSERT Statements to JSON
How values map to JSON types, what happens to NULL and quoted numbers, and the multi-row INSERT case that trips up converters.
Database Migration Checklist: What to Review Before Running ALTER TABLE
Destructive, data-dependent, code-breaking and lock-taking statements — a short pre-flight review before production.