Basic Workflow

# Step 1: Clone production schema (read-only, safe)
aphelion clone postgres://readonly:pass@prod.example.com:5432/myapp \
  --output myapp-schema.json \
  --rows 10000 \
  --exclude audit_logs,sessions

# Step 2: Generate test data
aphelion generate myapp-schema.json \
  --target postgres://testuser:testpass@localhost:5432/myapp_test \
  --truncate

Using Environment Variables

Keep sensitive credentials out of command history:

# Set environment variables
export DB_USER="myuser"
export DB_PASS="mypassword"
export DB_HOST="localhost"
export DB_NAME="mydb"

# Use them in connection strings
aphelion clone "postgres://${DB_USER}:${DB_PASS}@${DB_HOST}:5432/${DB_NAME}" \
  --output schema.json

aphelion generate schema.json \
  --target "postgres://${DB_USER}:${DB_PASS}@${DB_HOST}:5432/test_${DB_NAME}"

# Method 1: URL-encode special characters
# $ becomes %24, @ becomes %40, # becomes %23
export DB_PASS="my%24pass%40word"  # For password: my$pass@word

# Method 2: Use single quotes to prevent shell expansion
export DB_PASS='my$pass@word'  # Single quotes preserve literal values

# Method 3: Escape special characters
export DB_PASS="my\$pass@word"  # Backslash escapes the $

# Then use in connection string (always use double quotes)
aphelion clone "postgres://user:${DB_PASS}@localhost:5432/db" \
  --output schema.json

Reproducible Data (Same Seed)

Generate identical data every time for consistent testing:

# Generate with seed 42
aphelion generate schema.json \
  --target postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/test_db \
  --seed 42

# Running again with same seed produces identical data
aphelion generate schema.json \
  --target postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/test_db2 \
  --seed 42

CI/CD Integration (Pro/Enterprise)

Automated test data refresh in your pipeline:

#!/bin/bash
# .github/workflows/test-data.sh

# Use pipeline ID as seed for reproducibility
aphelion generate schema.json \
  --target $TEST_DB_URL \
  --seed $CI_PIPELINE_ID \
  --auto-approve \
  --truncate

# Run your tests
npm test

Controlling Data Volume

Three ways to control how much data is generated:

aphelion clone postgres://... \
  --output schema.json \
  --rows 5000  # Each table gets 5,000 rows by default

aphelion generate schema.json \
  --target postgres://... \
  --rows 50000  # Override to 50,000 rows per table

{
  "tables": {
    "users": {
      "rowCount": 10000,    // 10k users
      ...
    },
    "orders": {
      "rowCount": 100000,   // 100k orders
      ...
    }
  }
}

aphelion clone

Extract schema from an existing database and save it as JSON

Basic Usage:

aphelion clone <connection-string> --output schema.json

Options:

• --output, -o - Output file path (required)
• --rows, -r - Default row count for generation (default: 100)
• --tables, -t - Specific tables to clone (comma-separated)
• --exclude - Tables to exclude (comma-separated)

Examples:

# Clone entire database
aphelion clone postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/mydb \\
  --output schema.json

# Clone specific tables only
aphelion clone postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/mydb \\
  --output schema.json \\
  --tables users,orders,products

# Clone with custom row count
aphelion clone postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/mydb \\
  --output schema.json \\
  --rows 5000

aphelion generate

Generate synthetic data from a schema file

Basic Usage:

aphelion generate <schema-file> --target <connection-string>

Options:

• --target, -t - Target database connection string (required)
• --seed, -s - Random seed for deterministic output (default: random)
• --rows, -r - Override row count from schema
• --auto-approve - Skip confirmation prompts (Pro/Enterprise only)
• --drop-existing - Drop existing tables before generation
• --truncate - Truncate existing tables before generation

Examples:

# Basic generation
aphelion generate schema.json \\
  --target postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/test_db

# Deterministic generation with seed
aphelion generate schema.json \\
  --target postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/test_db \\
  --seed 12345

# CI/CD mode (Pro/Enterprise)
aphelion generate schema.json \\
  --target postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/test_db \\
  --auto-approve \\
  --truncate

# Override row count
aphelion generate schema.json \\
  --target postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/test_db \\
  --rows 10000

aphelion license

Manage and verify your Aphelion license

Subcommands:

# Verify license is valid
aphelion license verify

# Show license details
aphelion license info

# Show version
aphelion --version

License Locations:

Aphelion searches for licenses in this order:

1. Current directory: ./.aphelion-license
2. Home directory: ~/.aphelion/.aphelion-license

Getting Help

# Show all commands
aphelion --help

# Show command-specific help
aphelion clone --help
aphelion generate --help