What is Liam ERD used for?

Liam ERD generates interactive entity relationship diagrams from your database schema, with zoom, pan and filtering for exploring complex structures. It is a good fit for documenting database schemas, onboarding developers to a large database and reviewing schema changes visually.

Is Liam ERD open source?

Yes. Liam ERD is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at liam-hq/liam and is written mainly in TypeScript.

Yes. Liam ERD is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.

What is Liam ERD an alternative to?

Liam ERD is an open-source alternative to dbdiagram.io, DrawSQL, DbSchema and erwin Data Modeler. Other open-source alternatives to dbdiagram.io include ChartDB and drawDB.

Is Liam ERD actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Liam ERD was on 24 September 2026. The project has 5.1k stars on GitHub.

Liam ERD: open-source alternative to dbdiagram.io, DrawSQL

About Liam ERD

Liam ERD turns an existing database schema into a clear, interactive entity relationship diagram. It is meant for developers and teams who need to understand or document a database without drawing the diagram manually, and it works with both public and private repositories.

The interface supports panning, zooming and filtering so even complex schemas stay readable, and it reverse-engineers diagrams directly from your schema with little setup. Repository topics list PostgreSQL, Prisma, Ruby on Rails, tbls and SQL as input sources, with React Flow used for rendering. A command-line package is published for generating diagrams locally, and the project provides documentation and a roadmap.

Liam is written in TypeScript and licensed under Apache-2.0. You can run the CLI yourself, and the project's website also offers a hosted way to view diagrams. It suits engineering teams who want schema documentation that stays in sync with the code.

Key features

Interactive ER diagrams from existing schemas
Panning, zooming and filtering
Reverse engineering with minimal setup
Works with PostgreSQL, Prisma and Rails schemas
Command-line package for local use
Open-source TypeScript codebase

Good fit for

→Documenting database schemas
→Onboarding developers to a large database
→Reviewing schema changes visually

Built with: TypeScript; Node.js; PostgreSQL; Rails
Tags: er-diagram; database-schema; documentation; visualization; postgresql; prisma; typescript

Liam ERD: questions and answers

What is Liam ERD used for?: Liam ERD generates interactive entity relationship diagrams from your database schema, with zoom, pan and filtering for exploring complex structures. It is a good fit for documenting database schemas, onboarding developers to a large database and reviewing schema changes visually.
Is Liam ERD open source?: Yes. Liam ERD is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at liam-hq/liam and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is Liam ERD free?: Yes. Liam ERD is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.
What is Liam ERD an alternative to?: Liam ERD is an open-source alternative to dbdiagram.io, DrawSQL, DbSchema and erwin Data Modeler. Other open-source alternatives to dbdiagram.io include ChartDB and drawDB.
Is Liam ERD actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Liam ERD was on 24 September 2026. The project has 5.1k stars on GitHub.