Dolt is an open-source database that brings the full Git versioning model to structured data. Under the hood it implements a storage engine built on prolly trees that makes branch, merge, diff, blame, and log operations first-class SQL-accessible workflows rather than external tooling. MySQL wire protocol compatibility means applications and tools that already connect to MySQL can usually connect to Dolt without changing database drivers, then use Dolt's commit, branch, and diff model for tables.
The versioning primitives map directly to Git concepts. Developers create branches to experiment with data transformations, diff branches to see exactly which rows changed, merge branches with automatic three-way conflict resolution, and tag releases for reproducibility. The system call interface exposes these operations as stored procedures, so version control happens inside SQL transactions rather than through a separate CLI. DoltHub provides a hosted collaboration platform where teams can fork, clone, and submit pull requests on databases.
Dolt has found strong adoption in AI and ML workflows where training data lineage and reproducibility are critical. Teams use branches to A/B test dataset modifications, diff to audit data quality changes, and the full commit history as an audit trail. The same branch-and-merge model can also support agent-memory experiments when teams need isolated working state and reviewed merges. Dolt is Apache 2.0 licensed with about 23K GitHub stars and a commercial hosted offering called Hosted Dolt.
