Merisio

A modern MERISE database modeling tool built with Python and PySide6.

Features

• MCD Editor - Visual diagram editor for entities, associations, and links
  • Drag-and-drop positioning
  • Multi-selection and deletion
  • Cardinalities: (0,1), (0,N), (1,1), (1,N)
  • Link styles: Curved, Orthogonal, Straight
  • Toggle attribute visibility
  • Zoom controls with slider (25%-400%)
  • Customizable colors for entities, associations, and links
• Export - Export diagrams to SVG, PNG, or PDF formats
• CLI Tool (merisio-cli) - Command-line interface for batch processing
  • Validate MCD models
  • Generate PostgreSQL DDL
  • Inspect MLD tables
  • Export diagrams (PNG, SVG, PDF) headlessly
• Data Dictionary - Overview of all attributes across entities
• MLD View - Logical Data Model with table/column tree view
  • Editable column names (right-click or double-click to rename)
  • Custom names saved in project and used in SQL generation
• SQL Generation - PostgreSQL CREATE TABLE statements
• Project Management - Save/load projects in .merisio JSON format
• Options Menu - Show/hide attributes, link style, diagram colors

Screenshots

MCD Editor - First screenshot of Merisio v1.0.0 (January 21, 2026)

Man Pages

Man pages are provided for both binaries:

# Install system-wide (requires root)
sudo python build.py install-man

# Then use:
man merisio
man merisio-cli

# Uninstall
sudo python build.py uninstall-man

You can also read them directly from the source tree:

man ./man/merisio.1
man ./man/merisio-cli.1

Requirements

• Python 3.11+
• PySide6

Installation

Pre-built Binaries

Download the latest release from the Releases page.

Linux:

• Merisio-x.x.x-linux-x64.tar.gz - Portable archive
• merisio_x.x.x_amd64.deb - Debian/Ubuntu package

Windows:

• Merisio-x.x.x-windows-x64.zip - Portable archive

Linux Installation

From .deb package (Debian/Ubuntu):

sudo dpkg -i merisio_1.3.0_amd64.deb

This installs both merisio (GUI) and merisio-cli (CLI) to /usr/bin/.

From archive:

tar -xzvf Merisio-linux-x64.tar.gz
cd Merisio-linux-x64
./Merisio        # GUI
./merisio-cli    # CLI

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/AchrafSoltani/Merisio.git
cd Merisio

# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Linux/macOS
# or: venv\Scripts\activate  # Windows

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run the application
python main.py

Building from Source

Prerequisites

pip install pyinstaller

Build Commands

# Activate virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate   # Linux/macOS
# or: venv\Scripts\activate  # Windows

# Build both GUI and CLI (default)
python build.py build-all

# Build GUI only
python build.py build

# Build CLI only
python build.py build-cli

# Create .ico from PNG (Windows, requires ImageMagick)
python build.py ico

# Install/uninstall man pages (Linux, requires root)
sudo python build.py install-man
sudo python build.py uninstall-man

# Clean build files
python build.py clean

Output:

• dist/Merisio (GUI) and dist/merisio-cli (CLI) on Linux
• dist\Merisio.exe and dist\merisio-cli.exe on Windows

Usage

Both binaries support --help and --version:

merisio --help          # Print usage and exit
merisio --version       # Print version and exit
merisio-cli --help      # Print CLI usage and exit
merisio-cli --version   # Print CLI version and exit

GUI Workflow

1. Create Entities - Right-click on the MCD canvas or use the toolbar to add entities
2. Create Associations - Add associations to define relationships between entities
3. Link Them - Connect entities to associations with cardinalities
4. View MLD - Switch to MLD tab to see the logical model (double-click columns to rename)
5. Generate SQL - Switch to SQL tab to see PostgreSQL DDL statements
6. Save Project - File > Save to save your work

CLI Usage

The merisio-cli tool allows you to work with .merisio project files from the command line, useful for CI pipelines and scripting.

merisio-cli <file.merisio> <command> [options]

Examples:

# Show project info
merisio-cli project.merisio info

# Validate and fail CI on errors
merisio-cli project.merisio validate

# Generate SQL to stdout or file
merisio-cli project.merisio sql
merisio-cli project.merisio sql -o schema.sql

# View MLD tables
merisio-cli project.merisio mld

# Export diagram
merisio-cli project.merisio export --format png -o diagram.png
merisio-cli project.merisio export --format svg -o diagram.svg
merisio-cli project.merisio export --format pdf -o diagram.pdf
merisio-cli project.merisio export --format png -o diagram.png --scale 3.0

Keyboard Shortcuts

Options Menu

Project Structure

Merisio/
├── main.py                 # GUI entry point
├── cli.py                  # CLI entry point (merisio-cli)
├── build.py                # Build script for PyInstaller
├── merisio.desktop         # Linux desktop integration
├── requirements.txt        # Python dependencies
├── man/
│   ├── merisio.1           # GUI man page
│   └── merisio-cli.1       # CLI man page
├── resources/
│   └── icons/
│       ├── app_icon.svg    # Vector icon
│       └── app_icon.png    # PNG icon (256x256)
├── src/
│   ├── models/             # Data models (Entity, Association, Link, Project)
│   ├── views/              # UI components (Canvas, Dialogs, Views)
│   ├── controllers/        # Business logic (MLD transformer, SQL generator)
│   ├── export/             # Headless diagram renderer (used by CLI)
│   └── utils/              # Utilities, constants, theme
├── tests/                  # Unit tests
└── .github/
    └── workflows/
        └── build.yml       # GitHub Actions CI/CD

File Format

Merisio uses a JSON-based project format with the .merisio extension:

{
  "version": "2.1",
  "metadata": {
    "name": "Project Name",
    "description": "Project description",
    "author": "Author Name",
    "created_at": "2026-01-20T10:00:00",
    "modified_at": "2026-02-01T15:30:00"
  },
  "mcd": {
    "entities": [...],
    "associations": [...],
    "links": [...]
  },
  "mld": {
    "column_overrides": { "TABLE.original_col": "renamed_col" }
  },
  "colors": {
    "entity_fill": "#E3F2FD",
    "entity_border": "#1976D2",
    "association_fill": "#FFF3E0",
    "association_border": "#F57C00",
    "link_color": "#000000"
  }
}

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for version history and release notes.

License

GNU GPL v2

Author

Achraf SOLTANI
Email: achraf.soltani@pm.me
GitHub: @AchrafSoltani

Acknowledgments

Inspired by the original AnalyseSI Java project.