SchemaSmith Documentation

Ask Forge

AI-powered CLI agent and MCP server for database schema management.

Ask Forge AI-powered schema assistant

What if your AI assistant knew your database?

Overview

Ask Forge is an AI-powered assistant for SchemaSmith database schema management. It brings the full SchemaSmith toolchain — schema extraction, deployment, validation, migration planning, and more — into a conversational interface powered by large language models.

Built on the Forge Barrett persona — a master database craftsman — Ask Forge speaks the language of your schemas and understands the SchemaSmith ecosystem from the ground up. It works across SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.

With 47 tools organized into 4 tiers, 10 LLM providers, and 3 trust levels, Ask Forge gives you full control over what the assistant can do — from read-only schema exploration to running SchemaSmith tools against live databases.

How It Works

Ask Forge brings AI to your schema workflow through two integration paths — plus direct CLI access when you don't need AI at all.

AI Integration

Run ForgeBarrett.Mcp as an MCP server and connect it to Claude Desktop, VS Code, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client. Your AI reasons over your schema with all 47 SchemaSmith tools — plus resources and prompts built in.

47 Tools
Resources
Prompts
MCP Setup Guide

Don't use MCP? Ask Forge has its own agent with 10 LLM providers built in — Ollama, OpenAI, Anthropic, and more. Same 47 tools, self-contained.

  • Conversational schema review
  • Migration script generation
  • Natural language queries
  • No external client required
Configure Providers

Direct CLI Access

Launch ask-forge for a persistent session. Browse schemas, run tools, and manage your database — no AI provider required. Full command history and direct control over all 47 tools.

Run any Ask Forge tool as a direct, one-off command from your terminal—ideal for scripting and automation. Use the form ask-forge <command> --product <path> [--template <name>] followed by any command-specific options. For example, ask-forge review-schema --product /path/to/MyProduct runs a full schema review, or ask-forge list-tables --product /path/to/MyProduct lists every table in your schema. Direct commands require no LLM provider—they execute, return results, and exit, making them perfect for CI pipelines and automated workflows.

Capabilities at a Glance

Ask Forge organizes its 47 tools into four tiers, from read-only exploration to full external tool execution. Three trust levels control which tiers are accessible.

Tier 1: Read-Only (28 tools)

Observer

Schema navigation, data-quality checks, dependency analysis, validation, search, and diff/compare — plus platform-specific materialized and indexed view inspection.

View Read-Only tools

Tier 2: Generation (3 tools)

Assistant

Generate table JSON from a blueprint, analyze a proposed change with risk assessment, and manage database connections.

View Generation tools

Tier 3: Modification (13 tools)

Operator

Apply changes to schema JSON, create and rename tables and columns, save scripts and migrations, configure data delivery, create views, and build packages. Requires confirmation.

View Modification tools

Tier 4: External (3 tools)

Operator

Execute SchemaTongs, SchemaQuench, and DataTongs against live databases for schema extraction, deployment, and data export. Requires confirmation.

View External tools

Platforms and Providers

Database Platforms

Ask Forge works across SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and MySQL—the same AI assistant and toolset on all three platforms. Whether you use it as an MCP server or the built-in agent, all 47 tools are available. Some tools surface platform-specific features only where they apply, like indexed views on SQL Server or materialized views on PostgreSQL.

10 LLM Providers

Ollama OpenAI Anthropic Azure OpenAI Google Gemini Groq Mistral DeepSeek xAI Custom

Run locally with Ollama or connect to any cloud provider. Configure providers

Documentation