Multi-Database AI Platform Support

Platform Comparison

Ask Forge supports three database platforms. Each platform has its own provider that generates platform-specific SQL, applies naming conventions, and handles platform capabilities.

Feature	SQL Server	PostgreSQL	MySQL
Platform ID	`SqlServer`	`PostgreSQL`	`MySQL`
Default Schema	`dbo`	`public`	None (database-level)
Max Identifier Length	128	63	64
Identifier Wrapping	`[Name]`	`"name"`	`Name`
Naming Convention	PascalCase	snake_case (lowercase preferred)	PascalCase
Identity Syntax	`IDENTITY(1,1)`	`GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY`	`AUTO_INCREMENT`
Schemas
Temporal Tables
Enum Types
Domain Types
Array Types
JSON Columns
Computed Columns
Partitioning
Full-Text Search
XML Indexes

Naming Conventions

Each platform uses its own set of naming prefixes for database objects. Ask Forge applies these automatically when generating SQL.

SQL Server — PascalCase

Object	Prefix
Table	(none)
View	`vw_`
Stored Procedure	`usp_`
Function	`fn_`
Index	`IX_`
Foreign Key	`FK_`
Primary Key	`PK_`
Unique Constraint	`UQ_`
Check Constraint	`CK_`
Default Constraint	`DF_`

PostgreSQL — snake_case (lowercase)

Object	Prefix
Table	(none)
View	`v_`
Stored Procedure	(none)
Function	`fn_`
Index	`ix_`
Foreign Key	`fk_`
Primary Key	`pk_`
Unique Constraint	`uq_`
Check Constraint	`ck_`
Default Constraint	`df_`

Ask Forge will warn you if a table name contains uppercase characters. PostgreSQL requires double-quoting to reference identifiers that are not all-lowercase. Prefer snake_case naming to avoid this issue.

MySQL — PascalCase

Object	Prefix
Table	(none)
View	`vw_`
Stored Procedure	`usp_`
Function	`fn_`
Index	`IX_`
Foreign Key	`FK_`
Primary Key	`PK_`
Unique Constraint	`UQ_`
Check Constraint	`CK_`
Default Constraint	`DF_`

Ask Forge will warn you if a table name uses mixed case. Mixed-case identifiers can cause issues on case-sensitive file systems (Linux with lower_case_table_names=0), making schemas non-portable across operating systems.

Platform Detection

Ask Forge derives the active platform from the schema product you are working in — there is no global platform flag. It resolves the platform in this order:

Product context — Read from the loaded Product.json when you open a product with --product, or when you run inside a product directory (Ask Forge walks up from the current folder to find it).
Previous session — Restored from ~/.schemasmith/session.json on startup.
Default — Falls back to SqlServer if nothing else is set.

Tools that target a specific platform accept a --platform parameter (sqlserver, postgresql, mysql). For example, to inspect a platform's features, naming rules, and identifier limits:

ask-forge show-platform-capabilities --platform postgresql

When Ask Forge runs as an MCP server, its default platform is set by the ForgeBarrett:Platforms:Default configuration key (default SqlServer).

Connection Setup

Configure database connections with the manage-connection command (action set). Each platform has its own default port and connection parameters.

SQL Server

ask-forge manage-connection --action set \
  --platform sqlserver --server localhost --port 1433 \
  --database MyDB --user sa --password "..."

PostgreSQL

ask-forge manage-connection --action set \
  --platform postgresql --server localhost --port 5432 \
  --database mydb --user postgres --password "..."

MySQL

ask-forge manage-connection --action set \
  --platform mysql --server localhost --port 3306 \
  --database mydb --user root --password "..."

See Configuration for the full connection reference, including environment variable substitution for passwords.

Platform Support