DCL — DataClawe Command Language

A JSON-based database command standard for AI agents, frontend engineers, and anyone who finds SQL too complex.

"If you understand MySQL and MSX-BASIC, you already understand DCL."

What is DCL?

DCL (DataClawe Command Language) is an open standard for communicating with databases using simple JSON.

It is designed for:

• AI agents (Claude, GPT, Cursor, and others) to safely read and write structured data
• Frontend engineers who need database access without writing SQL
• MCP (Model Context Protocol) tool integration
• Any application connecting to MySQL or PostgreSQL — legacy or new

DCL translates into native SQL internally. Your existing database does not change. Your existing application does not change.

Design Philosophy

DCL follows three rules:

1. If you can read it, you understand it. No cryptic operators. No framework-specific syntax. No : chaining.

2. MySQL words. JSON structure. Actions like SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE are exactly what you expect. WHERE conditions are written the way MySQL engineers already write them.

3. MSX-BASIC level simplicity. If a condition like age >= 20 needs an explanation, the design has failed.

4. Simple by default. Powerful when needed. Standard covers most real-world needs. Advanced covers the rest. You never pay the complexity cost until you need it.

Quick Start

Fetch data

{
  "dcl": "1.0",
  "action": "SELECT",
  "table": "users",
  "columns": ["id", "name", "email"],
  "where": [
    "status = 'active'",
    "age >= 20"
  ],
  "order": "created_at DESC",
  "limit": 10,
  "offset": 0
}

Insert a record

{
  "dcl": "1.0",
  "action": "INSERT",
  "table": "users",
  "data": {
    "name": "kimura",
    "email": "kimura@example.com",
    "status": "active"
  }
}

Update records

{
  "dcl": "1.0",
  "action": "UPDATE",
  "table": "users",
  "data": {
    "status": "inactive"
  },
  "where": [
    "id = 123"
  ]
}

Delete a record (logical delete)

{
  "dcl": "1.0",
  "action": "DELETE",
  "table": "users",
  "where": [
    "id = 123"
  ]
}

Actions

WHERE Conditions

WHERE is an array of condition strings. Multiple conditions are AND by default.

Basic comparisons

"where": [
  "status = 'active'",
  "age >= 20",
  "age <= 60",
  "status != 'deleted'"
]

OR conditions

"where": {
  "OR": [
    "status = 'active'",
    "status = 'pending'"
  ]
}

AND + OR combined

"where": {
  "AND": [
    "age >= 20",
    {
      "OR": [
        "status = 'active'",
        "status = 'pending'"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

LIKE

"where": [
  "name LIKE 'kimura%'"
]

IN

"where": [
  "status IN ('active', 'pending')"
]

BETWEEN

"where": [
  "age BETWEEN 20 AND 60"
]

NULL checks

"where": [
  "deleted_at IS NULL"
]

"where": [
  "deleted_at IS NOT NULL"
]

Aggregation

{
  "dcl": "1.0",
  "action": "SELECT",
  "table": "orders",
  "columns": [
    "SUM(amount) AS total",
    "AVG(amount) AS average",
    "COUNT(*) AS count"
  ],
  "where

... [View full README on GitHub](https://github.com/DataClawe/dcl-spec#readme)