I built a 13-database ORM for Node.js because Prisma doesn't support Oracle

MADANI — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 08:23:26 +0000

I'm Hamid — Software Engineer & Ophthalmologist in Algeria.

My clinic's software needed to run on Oracle (government mandate), but my team writes TypeScript with Prisma.
Prisma doesn't support Oracle. Rewriting everything wasn't an option.

So I built @mostajs/orm — a Hibernate-inspired ORM with 13 database backends.

## The problem

Prisma is excellent for DX. But:

6 databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, MongoDB, SQL Server, CockroachDB). No Oracle. No DB2. No SAP HANA.
30MB engine binary shipped with every deployment
100K-line generated client that grows with your schema
No cross-dialect replication

If your enterprise client says "we use Oracle" — you're stuck.

## The solution

@mostajs/orm — one API, 13 databases:

SQLite · PostgreSQL · MySQL · MariaDB · MongoDB · Oracle · SQL Server · CockroachDB · DB2 · SAP HANA · HSQLDB ·
Spanner · Sybase


bash
  npm install @mostajs/orm better-sqlite3

  import { registerSchemas, getDialect, BaseRepository } from '@mostajs/orm'

  registerSchemas([UserSchema])
  const dialect = await getDialect()  // reads DB_DIALECT from .env
  const repo = new BaseRepository(UserSchema, dialect)

  await repo.create({ email: 'ada@shop.io', name: 'Ada' })
  await repo.findAll({ status: 'active' })

  Switch databases with one env var. Same code everywhere.

  No engine, no codegen

  ┌───────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────┐
  │               │                Prisma                 │         @mostajs/orm          │
  ├───────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────┤
  │ Engine        │ 30MB WASM binary                      │ None — ~200 lines per dialect │
  ├───────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────┤
  │ Codegen       │ 100K-line generated client            │ Plain objects (EntitySchema)  │
  ├───────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────┤
  │ Databases     │ 6                                     │ 13                            │
  ├───────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────┤
  │ Bundle impact │ Heavy (serverExternalPackages needed) │ Lazy-loaded, bundler-friendly │
  └───────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────┘

  Already using Prisma? 3-line migration

  // Before (Prisma)
  import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client'
  export const db = new PrismaClient()

  // After (@mostajs/orm-bridge)
  import { createPrismaLikeDb } from '@mostajs/orm-bridge'
  export const db = await createPrismaLikeDb()

  Your db.User.findMany({ include, orderBy, take }) keeps working. The bridge translates Prisma's API to our
  dialect layer.

  Or migrate an entire Prisma project in one command:

  npx @mostajs/orm-cli bootstrap

  This does: codemod + install deps + convert schema + create tables + optional data migration.

  Cross-dialect replication

  This is the feature nobody else has:

  SQLite (dev) → PostgreSQL (prod) → MongoDB (analytics)

  One config, live monitor dashboard, promoteToMaster failover in one CLI command. No Kafka, no infrastructure.

  Data backup — 1 source → N destinations

  npx mostajs-copy \
    --source db --source-dialect postgres --source-uri "$PROD_URI" \
    --dest db --dest-dialect sqlite --dest-uri ./backup.sqlite \
    --dest sql-dump --dest-file ./backup.sql \
    --dest json --dest-file ./backup.json \
    --schemas entities.json --create-tables

  Supports: DB → DB, DB → SQL dump, DB → CSV, DB → JSON, and reverse.

  8 demo videos

  I recorded the full workflow — from project init to live replication to Prisma migration. All videos are in the
   GitHub README.

  The ecosystem

  ┌──────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │         Package          │                        What it does                         │
  ├──────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ @mostajs/orm             │ Core ORM — 13 dialects                                      │
  ├──────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ @mostajs/orm-bridge      │ Prisma drop-in replacement                                  │
  ├──────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ @mostajs/orm-cli         │ Interactive CLI (convert, init, seed, replicate, bootstrap) │
  ├──────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ @mostajs/replicator      │ Cross-dialect CDC replication                               │
  ├──────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ @mostajs/replica-monitor │ Live replication dashboard                                  │
  ├──────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ @mostajs/orm-copy-data   │ One-shot data copy & backup                                 │
  ├──────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ @mostajs/media           │ Screen capture + video editor (ffmpeg.wasm)                 │
  └──────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

  Links

  - GitHub: github.com/apolocine/mosta-orm
  - npm: @mostajs/orm

  Open source (AGPL-3.0) + commercial license available.

  ---
  Built by a doctor who codes, in Algeria. Because government mandates don't care about your ORM's database
  support list.

DEV Community: MADANI

I built a 13-database ORM for Node.js because Prisma doesn't support Oracle