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Prerequisites:
  • Node.js (LTS recommended)
  • A Postgres connection string (Supabase, RDS, Neon, or self-hosted)
1

Install the CLI

npm install -g ardent-cli
2

Log in

ardent login
This opens your browser to authenticate with GitHub or email.
3

Connect your database

ardent connector create postgresql postgresql://user:password@host:5432/mydb
Ardent replicates your database during initial setup. This may take some time depending on the size of your data — but you only do this once. After setup, every branch creates in under 6 seconds regardless of data size.
4

Create your first branch

ardent branch create my-feature
Done. You now have an isolated copy of your production database. The CLI returns a connection string you can use anywhere — psql, your app, an ORM, or hand it to an agent.

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What’s next

  • Feed the connection URL to Claude Code — test if your migration breaks, try a new index to see if it speeds up your queries, or let it write and validate schema changes against real data
  • Try ardent branch diff to see what changed
  • Create more branches for different tasks — they auto-suspend when idle, so don’t worry about cleanup

How it works

Architecture and the tech under the hood.

CLI Reference

Every command, flag, and option.

FAQ

Common questions answered.