The schema is
the application.
Define your database schema, and dbo generates a complete REST API, cell-level security model, content rendering engine, and messaging system automatically — no controllers, no ORMs, no migration scripts to maintain.
Invite-only. We're selective about early partners.
The case against the middle tier
Ship without the scaffold
Traditional development stacks you with controllers, ORMs, service layers, and migration scripts before a single business-value line of code is written. dbo.io eliminates that layer entirely.
The schema defines the API. Column metadata defines validation. Security records define access. There is no middle tier to write, and nothing to maintain when requirements change.
Lower lifetime cost
AI code assistants have made boilerplate fast to generate. But generated code still has to be maintained — updated when the schema evolves, debugged when it fails, understood by the next engineer.
Code generation reduces upfront cost. Schema-driven architecture reduces lifetime cost. They address different problems.
Ready for AI agents
AI models reason about structured, queryable configuration far more reliably than imperative codebases. dbo.io's entire surface is structured data: entity definitions, output configurations, security records — all queryable, all introspectable.
Agents call one endpoint to get the full application definition, use schema introspection to understand available operations, and issue writes with dry-run validation before committing.
From schema to production API
Define your schema
Connect a database (MySQL or SQL Server), or define entities from scratch. Add columns, set data types, define relationships. This is the only configuration step.
API generates automatically
dbo derives your complete REST API from the schema metadata. Query endpoints, write endpoints, schema introspection, security enforcement — ready immediately, no code required.
Build on top
Add content templates, configure messaging, set up automation, deploy through the CLI. Mobile apps, web interfaces, and AI agents all talk to the same API.
A complete platform, not a starting point
Security without code
Cell-level access control — entity, row, and column granularity — enforced at query construction time. Configure it as data records. It applies everywhere, automatically, for every consumer of the API.
Messaging built in
Email (SMTP), SMS/MMS (Twilio), and AI chatbot (OpenAI) through a single messaging API. Scheduled delivery handlers with retry. All messages logged and queryable.
Complete audit trail
Every change to any asset writes a revision record — operation, full snapshot, user attribution, ticket reference. Full rollback to any prior state. Expected for enterprise.
Media management
Binary file serving with multi-tier cache control, S3 presigned URL support, external media server routing, and public/private access control. Uploaded in the same request as record inserts.
Content rendering engine
Server-side template rendering for HTML pages, API responses, email bodies, and CSV exports — all from the same underlying data, through the same security model. One application, any output format.
Automation scheduler
Built-in scheduled URL triggers for background processing, recurring reports, data sync, and cache invalidation. Configured as data records alongside the rest of the application definition.
CLI and local development
The dbo CLI syncs your app to a local filesystem. Edit in any editor. Push changes back to the server. Deep integration with Claude Code — AI-assisted development out of the box.
Portable applications
Apps export as self-contained archives: schema, content, security, and media in one file. Clone to dev, staging, or production. Deploy to a client's VPC. Every release tracked with per-asset change records.
What people build with dbo.io
Built in production. Proven at scale.
One organization uses a single dbo application to manage the operations of a distributed enterprise across hundreds of employees. Databases with billions of rows, used to manage data across nearly the entire enterprise — payments, inventory, payroll, customer accounts, and more.Enterprise operation — client name withheld by request
Backend as data. Frontend as data.
dbo.io handles the backend — API generation, security, messaging, media, and data management, all from your schema.
The Operator management console, which runs entirely on dbo.io, also powers the frontend interfaces your team builds — workspaces, dashboards, and end-user experiences — using a declarative UI runtime where the interface is described as data, not written as component code.
That runtime is currently embedded in Operator and is being extracted as a standalone open-source project: PlotOS.
PlotOS
Describe your UI as data. PlotOS turns it into a fully functional application, rendering and managing the entire experience in the browser.
No middle tier in either direction.
PlotOS is backend-agnostic and will be freely available as a standalone library. Site coming soon.
Ready to stop writing the middle tier?
dbo.io is invite-only. We work with a small number of early partners to make sure the integration is set up right. Tell us about what you're building.