Meet Kinetic SQL — a lightweight, type-safe wrapper for Express and NestJS with native real-time subscriptions and the flexibility of calling Stored Procedures as local JavaScript methods.
As an engineer who has spent the last 14 years building backend systems, I’ve wrestled with every ORM known to developers.
We all know the cycle. You start a new Node.js project. You install TypeORM or Prisma because it's the "standard." But as the project grows, so does the friction. Complex queries become an unreadable mess of chained methods. You find yourself fighting the framework just to execute a simple stored procedure.
And if you want real-time database subscriptions? Get ready to deploy Redis, configure external event buses, and write a mountain of boilerplate.
Whether I was spinning up a lean Express.js server or architecting a massive NestJS monolith, I wanted a lightweight engine that stayed out of my way, gave me absolute type safety, and handled Change Data Capture (CDC) natively.
Since I couldn't find one that fit the bill, I decided to build it.
Enter Kinetic SQL
Kinetic SQL is a minimal, high-performance SQL wrapper designed for the entire Node.js ecosystem. It currently supports PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQLite (with MSSQL support right around the corner).
I built it to solve three massive headaches for backend developers:
1. Native Real-Time Subscriptions
If your app needs a live dashboard, a chat interface, or real-time notifications, Kinetic SQL handles it natively. You can subscribe to table changes (INSERT/UPDATE) directly in your Node.js controllers and immediately push those events to your clients via WebSockets or Server-Sent Events (SSE). No Redis required.
2. Zero-Touch TypeScript Interfaces
Writing and maintaining TypeScript interfaces to match your database schema is a massive waste of time. Kinetic SQL ships with a CLI (npx k-sql gen) that scans your schema and automatically generates your TypeScript definitions. You get absolute type safety without typing a single interface manually.
3. Calling DB Procedures like Native JavaScript
Stop writing raw string queries to execute your database functions. Kinetic SQL allows you to call your stored procedures exactly as if they were native JavaScript methods, complete with type inference.
Universal by Design
Express.js developers love simplicity, which is why Kinetic SQL is built to be completely framework-agnostic. You can drop it into an Express or Fastify route in seconds.
However, if you are working in an enterprise environment, it also ships with a dedicated module for seamless, dependency-injected integration into NestJS.
The Proof: A Real-Time Stock Simulator
Claims are great, but seeing is believing. To stress-test Kinetic SQL’s event-mapping capabilities, I built a high-frequency Live Stock Market Simulator.
I deployed the backend on Render and the frontend on Vercel. Thanks to the lightweight nature of the library, the app boasts a 0-second cold start and handles hundreds of database ticks a minute without breaking a sweat.
👉 Check out the Live Stock Simulator here
Try it out
I released Kinetic SQL completely open-source under the MIT license. If you're tired of ORM bloat and want to try something faster and more intuitive, you can install it today:
npm install kinetic-sql
NPM Package: kinetic-sql
Repo: GitHub Repository
Give it a spin on your next Node.js project, and let me know what you think! Would really appreciate the feedback.
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