Quickstart
February 4, 2026 · View on GitHub
Norman: Scaffolder and Migration Manager for Norm
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Norman is a scaffolder and migration manager for Norm ORM <https://norm.nim.town>__.
Norman provides a CLI tool to manage migrations and a normanpkg/prelude module that helps writing migrations.
-
Repo <https://github.com/moigagoo/norman>__Issues <https://github.com/moigagoo/norman/issues>__Pull requests <https://github.com/moigagoo/norman/pulls>__
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Sample app <https://github.com/moigagoo/shopapp>__ -
API index <theindex.html>__ -
Changelog <https://github.com/moigagoo/norman/blob/develop/changelog.rst>__
Quickstart
- Install Norman with
Nimble <https://github.com/nim-lang/nimble>_:
.. code-block::
$ nimble install -y norman
2. Add Norman to your .nimble file:
.. code-block:: nim
requires "norman >= 2.1.0"
Note for Nim 2.0 users
If you are using Nim 2.0 or later, you might need to enable deepcopy support in your project's nim.cfg or config.nims file:
.. code-block::
deepcopy:on
Usage
-
Create a blank Nimble package with
nimble init. Choose package type "binary". -
Run
norman initinside the package directory:
.. code-block::
$ norman init
Creating folders and files:
migrations
migrations/config.nims
src/foo/models
src/foo/db_backend.nim
.env
3. Add your first model with norman model:
.. code-block::
$ norman model -n user
Creating blank model:
src/foo/models/user.nim
4. Open the model in your favorite editor and add fields to it:
.. code-block:: nim
import norm/model
type
User* = ref object of Model
func newUser*: User =
User()
⏬⏬⏬
.. code-block:: nim
import norm/model
type
User* = ref object of Model
email*: string
func newUser*(email: string): User =
User(email: email)
func newUser*: User =
newUser("")
5. Generate a migration for the new model with norman generate:
.. code-block::
$ norman generate -i user
Creating blank migration:
migrations/1595536838_init_user/migration.nim
Copying models:
src/foo/models
6. Apply migrations with norman migrate:
.. code-block::
$ norman migrate
Applying migrations:
migrations/1595536838_init_user
This creates the table for your new model.
- Generate a migration with
norman generate:
.. code-block::
$ norman generate -m "seed users"
Creating blank migration:
migrations/1595537495_seed_users/migration.nim
Copying models:
src/foo/models
8. Edit the migration to actually insert rows into the DB:
.. code-block:: nim
include normanpkg/prelude
import foo/db_backend
migrate:
withDb:
db.transaction:
let qry = """ALTER TABLE "Table" ADD COLUMN column TYPE NOT NULL DEFAULT value"""
debug qry
db.exec sql qry
undo:
withDb:
db.transaction:
let qry = """ALTER TABLE "Table" DROP COLUMN column"""
debug qry
db.exec sql qry
⏬⏬⏬
.. code-block:: nim
include normanpkg/prelude
import strutils
import sugar
import foo/db_backend
import models/user
migrate:
withDb:
db.transaction:
for i in 1..10:
discard newUser("user$#@example.com" % $i).dup:
db.insert
undo:
withDb:
db.transaction:
discard @[newUser()].dup:
db.select("1")
db.delete
9. Apply the new migration:
.. code-block::
$ norman migrate
Applying migrations:
migrations/1595537495_seed_users
10. To undo the last applied migration, run norman undo:
.. code-block::
$ norman undo
Undoing migration:
migrations/1595537495_seed_users
Troubleshooting
"Error: cannot open file: normanpkg/prelude"
If you see this error, it is likely that you are using nimble setup (project isolation) but haven't re-run it after adding norman to your dependencies.
Solution: Run nimble setup again in your project root.
.. code-block::
$ nimble setup
This updates nimble.paths to include norman, allowing migrations to find it.
If the error persists or you need to manually configure paths, ensure migrations/config.nims includes nimble.paths correctly:
.. code-block:: nim
when fileExists("$projectDir/../../nimble.paths"):
include "$projectDir/../../nimble.paths"
And ensure the path to your source is correct:
.. code-block:: nim
switch("path", "$projectDir/../../src")
"Error: 'deepcopy' support has to be enabled"
If you are using Nim 2.0 or newer, you must enable deepcopy for migrations to work.
Add this line to your migrations/config.nims:
.. code-block:: nim
switch("deepcopy", "on")