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Sutando ORM: The Laravel Eloquent Experience for Node.js

Dylan Yu

in about 15 hours

The Familiar Active‑Record You Love, Now for JavaScript

Sutando ORM speaks the same language as Laravel’s Eloquent—methods, naming, and conventions—yet runs anywhere in the Node.js ecosystem, without tying you to a full‑stack framework.

Nearly Drop‑In Compatible with Laravel Eloquent

If you’ve written an Eloquent query, you already know Sutando:

// models/User.ts
import { Model, Attribute } from 'sutando';

export class User extends Model {
  table = 'users';

  // cast
  casts = {
    metadata: 'json',
  }

  // 

  // attribute
  attributeFullName() {
    return Attribute.make({
      get: () => {
        return this.first_name + ' ' + this.last_name;
      },
    });
  }

  // relation
  relationPosts() {
    return this.hasMany(Post);
  }
}

const users = await User.query().with('posts').get();

• Identical relationship helpers (hasMany, belongsTo, morphTo, etc.)
• Chainable query builder with where, orderBy, limit, with, has, whereHas, and more
• Soft deletes, events, global scopes, and eager loading work just like in Laravel
• Migrations, factories, and seeders share the same philosophies—moving from PHP feels effortless

Framework‑Agnostic by Design—A Contrast to AdonisJS

Full‑stack solutions such as AdonisJS ship with Lucid ORM, which shines when you commit to the entire framework. Sutando takes the opposite route:

Feature	Sutando ORM	AdonisJS Lucid
Framework dependency	None — plug into Express, Fastify, Next.js, Cloudflare Workers, Bun, or anything else	Tightly integrated with AdonisJS
Migration to existing stack	Drop‑in; no need to rewrite your server	Requires adopting AdonisJS conventions

This decoupled approach lets you adopt Sutando gradually—add it to a legacy Express API, a React server, or even into an AdonisJS project if you prefer its API surface.

Fluent Query Builder Example

const latestActive = await User.query()
  .with('posts.comments')
  .where('status', 'active')
  .orderBy('created_at', 'desc')
  .limit(10)
  .get();

You read it like a sentence, just as in Laravel—no extra boilerplate, no new mental model.

Powerful Plugins & Lifecycle Hooks

Need soft deletes, multi‑tenancy, or automatic timestamps? Write it once and apply everywhere:

User.saving(async (model) => {
  model.last_updated_at = new Date();
});

Quick Start

npm install sutando --save

Configure your database, create your first model, and run queries—no framework migration required. Full docs live at https://sutando.org/guide/getting-started.html.

const { sutando, Model } = require('sutando');

// Add SQL Connection Info
sutando.addConnection({
  client: 'mysql2',
  connection: {
    host : '127.0.0.1',
    port : 3306,
    user : 'root',
    password : '',
    database : 'test'
  },
});

const db = sutando.connection();

// Using The Query Builder
const users = await sutando.table('users').where('votes', '>', 100).get();
// or
const users = await db.table('users').where('votes', '>', 100).get();

// Using The Schema Builder
await sutando.schema().createTable('users', table => {
  table.increments('id').primary();
  table.integer('votes');
  table.timestamps();
});

// Using The ORM
class User extends Model {}
const users = await User.query().where('votes', '>', 100).get();

Build Faster, Stay Flexible

Sutando ORM delivers the Eloquent developer experience Laravel fans adore, yet keeps your architecture open. Whether you’re upgrading a JavaScript codebase, experimenting with serverless, or simply want an Active‑Record that feels right, Sutando is ready to power your next app—framework‑free.

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