Exporting models to a separate go package - Desirable?

[matias-martini]

Hi everyone! First of all, thank you for all the work that goes into sqlc. It’s an amazing project and we rely on it a lot.

I’d like to ask about a feature that has come up a few times: generating models in a separate package/module instead of everything living in one generated package.

Relevant links:

• Export models to a different package #835
• Proposal: group querier interface by query filenames or tags in query annotations #1594
• Package per model output #2890
• Existing PR: feat(codegen/golang): Allow exporting models to a different package #3874

Big thanks to @berk-karaal for the work done in that PR. It made understanding the approach much easier.

Context / why this would help

In our case we have a single database schema and migrations, but several modules with their own queries and controllers. Conceptually, it looks like this:

├── db
│   ├── schema.sql
│   └── migrations
│       ├── 0001_init.sql
│       ├── 0002_add_saved_replies.sql
│       └── 0003_add_updates.sql
├── modules
│   ├── saved_replies
│   │   └── db
│   │       ├── models.go
│   │       ├── db.go
│   │       ├── querier.go
│   │       ├── queries
│   │       │   ├── saved_replies.sql
│   │       │   └── selections.sql
│   │       ├── saved_replies.sql.go
│   │       └── selections.sql.go
│   ├── updates
│   │   └── db
│   │       ├── models.go
│   │       ├── db.go
│   │       ├── querier.go
│   │       ├── queries
│   │       │   └── updates.sql
│   │       └── updates.sql.go
│   └── (more modules…)
└── sqlc.yaml

An the proposed PR/issues would allow us to have something like this:

├── db
│   ├── models.go           # <--- ideally a single shared models file/package
│   ├── db.go               # <--- ideally a single shared db.go
│   ├── schema.sql
│   └── migrations
│       ├── 0001_init.sql
│       ├── 0002_add_saved_replies.sql
│       └── 0003_add_updates.sql
├── modules
│   ├── saved_replies
│   │   └── db
│   │       ├── querier.go
│   │       ├── queries
│   │       │   ├── saved_replies.sql
│   │       │   └── selections.sql
│   │       ├── saved_replies.sql.go
│   │       └── selections.sql.go
│   ├── updates
│   │   └── db
│   │       ├── querier.go
│   │       ├── queries
│   │       │   └── updates.sql
│   │       └── updates.sql.go
│   └── (more modules…)
└── sqlc.yaml

Having models.go in a single place (instead of one per module/db package) would make it easier to share types across modules while keeping queries and controllers modular.

My question

Before diving into code, I’d love to know what the community think:

• Is this feature aligned with sqlc’s philosophy, and something you would consider merging if done?
• If yes:
  – Is the existing PR enough, or would you prefer a different direction? Maybe extend this feature to all supported languages is required?
  – Or would you prefer a fresh proposal/approach? Maybe an RFC?
• If no, totally fine — I’d appreciate guidance on alternatives (plugins, different structure, etc.).

I’m happy to do the work (code, tests, docs, keeping it backwards-compatible), but I don’t want to go in a direction that doesn’t fit the project.

Thanks again to all maintainers, and again to @berk-karaal for the initial implementation. Looking forward to your thoughts!

[kyleconroy]

@matias-martini I'll take another look at the existing PR and see if it's a good state. I'd love a solution that doesn't require as much configuration, but I know that this is a feature that people really want.