After three months of continuous development since the initial alpha release, pgModeler 2.0.0-alpha1 is officially here. This version represents a major leap in our ongoing UI modernization effort and, significantly, is the first release truly built under the umbrella of Nullptr Labs. Our focus for this milestone was completing the redesign of all model object editing forms, enhancing overall usability, and introducing quality-of-life improvements that make database modeling more intuitive and efficient than ever before.

Complete redesign of editing forms

The most significant change in this release is the comprehensive redesign of all object editing forms. Every single form—from simple objects like Roles and Schemas to complex ones like Tables, Relationships, and Constraints—has been modernized with a cleaner, more organized layout. We’ve adopted a tabbed interface for complex forms, making it easier to navigate through different configuration sections. All forms now share a consistent visual language with improved label organization and intuitive control grouping, significantly reducing visual clutter and speeding up your editing workflow.

Enhanced keyboard navigation

Recognizing that many power users prefer keyboard-based workflows, this release introduces a new tab order manager system. It automatically configures the tab order for all editing forms, allowing you to navigate through fields using the Tab key in a logical, predictable manner without manual setup. The system is smart enough to skip hidden or disabled widgets and properly handles Shift+Tab for reverse navigation. This enhancement makes data entry faster and the application more accessible for keyboard-centric users.

Improved visual feedback

To make the interface feel more responsive, we’ve introduced subtle visual effects throughout the application. Input widgets, buttons, checkboxes, and radio buttons now feature custom hover effects that provide immediate feedback during interaction. We’ve also added focus borders to checkboxes and radio buttons to clarify selection, while progress bars now display smooth busy indicator animations during long-running operations. These small touches combine to create a more polished, professional user experience.

Modernized code preview

The code preview functionality has been completely overhauled with a more capable and user-friendly widget. Replacing the old implementation, the new code preview offers superior syntax highlighting, improved filtering capabilities, and a cleaner interface. This makes reviewing generated SQL and XML code a much more pleasant task, particularly when inspecting complex database objects or troubleshooting code generation issues.

Integrated object associations viewer

Understanding the relationships between database objects is crucial for effective design. In this release, the object associations viewer has been directly integrated into the object editing forms under the new Associations tab. This integration makes it much easier to track dependencies and references in real-time while editing an object, helping you understand the full impact of changes immediately without having to leave the configuration dialog.

Note: Please keep in mind that associations for an object are listed only when it has been effectively created in the database model. If an object is new and does not yet exist in the model, the associations list will remain blank until the object is committed.

Enhanced CLI capabilities

The command-line interface has received several key upgrades. The help menu now features automatic line wrapping with sentence-based breaks, making it much easier to read on narrow terminals. Additionally, we've added support for version-only printing, which is particularly useful for integration with deployment pipelines and automation scripts. These enhancements make pgModeler CLI more versatile for automated workflows.

$> ./pgmodeler-cli --version

pgmodeler-cli 2.0.0-alpha1 20260213.70de3f984

Quality and stability improvements

Beyond the visible UI changes, this release includes numerous under-the-hood improvements. We have fixed several crash bugs, including issues when editing connections while browsing databases and crashes in the model export widget. Memory management has been improved with fixes for critical memory-related issues, and the validation system now catches more potential errors—such as foreign keys with SET NULL actions tied to NOT NULL columns.

Experimental features: case-insensitivity object names

This release introduces experimental support for disabling name quoting, allowing pgModeler to treat object names as case-insensitive. This feature addresses a long-standing request from users who prefer to work with unquoted identifiers. While still experimental, it represents significant progress toward supporting a wider variety of naming conventions and workflows. The option that controls this new feature is found at General settings, checkbox Disable automatic name quoting.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This option is potentially dangerous if enabled for models created in previous versions of pgModeler. Using it on older models may lead to a breakdown of the model structure. If this occurs, it will be necessary to apply a correction process via the pgmodeler-cli --fix-model to restore the model's integrity.

Visual refinements and identity

The application's visual identity continues to evolve with updated logos and icons that maintain the flatter, more colorful style introduced in the alpha series. Numerous small UI adjustments throughout the app improve overall consistency and polish. Furthermore, the theme system has been refined with better detection and more sophisticated rendering of various UI components.

Roadmap: The path to pgModeler Plus

Now that the project is from now on being developed and maintained by Nullptr Labs, a company founded by pgModeler's original author and dedicated to providing professional-grade database modeling tools. This transition ensures the long-term sustainability of the project and enables us to invest more resources in development, support, and innovation. We are excited about the future and committed to delivering the best experience to our users in both the open-source community and enterprise environments. As we march toward the stable 2.0 release, we are preparing exclusive features for pgModeler Plus that will bridge the gap between design and deployment:

1. Native Git integration: Soon, you’ll be able to manage your model’s version history, switch branches, and commit changes directly within the pgModeler interface. No more external tools to keep your team’s designs in sync.

2. AI-powered management plugin: We are integrating AI to help you manage your live databases—optimizing performance and suggesting structural improvements in real-time.

The vision: In the near future, pgModeler Plus will introduce a dedicated AI modeling assistant. Imagine an intelligent partner that suggests optimal data types, detects normalization issues, and generates documentation on the fly. We are elevating the level of excellence to ensure you aren't just drawing diagrams, but engineering perfect databases.

This release marks a significant step forward in the evolution of pgModeler, balancing a modernized user interface with the long-term stability provided by Nullptr Labs. By focusing on intuitive design and improved workflows, we are committed to making database modeling more efficient for every developer. We invite you to download pgModeler 2.0.0-alpha1, explore the new integrated features, and help us refine the tool with your feedback as we begin this new chapter together.