EdgeDB/Gel Acquisition Impact

Disappointment about Gel sunsetting after Vercel acquisition, appreciation for EdgeQL language design, and discussion of community fork efforts

The acquisition of Gel (formerly EdgeDB) by Vercel has sparked widespread disappointment within the developer community, as the move effectively sunsets the database project while the core team transitions to other internal initiatives. Many users have expressed deep regret over the loss of "beautifully designed" features like EdgeQL, which some considered a highlight of the modern database landscape. In response to this sunsetting, a community-driven effort is currently underway to organize a formal working group and launch a "blessed" fork to ensure the project's continued maintenance and evolution. This initiative aims to provide a path forward for developers who aren't ready to abandon the platform's innovative design and infrastructure.

View on HN · Topics

The author mentions about it in the name change for edgeDb to gel. However, it could also have been added in the Acquisitions landscape. Gel joined vercel [1].

1. https://www.geldata.com/blog/gel-joins-vercel

View on HN · Topics

Thanks for catching this. Updated: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pavlo/blog/2026/01/2025-databases-re...

I need to figure out an automatic way to track these.

View on HN · Topics

You just ruined my day. The post makes it sound like gel is now dead. The post by Vercel does not give me much hope either [1]. Last commit on the gel repo was two weeks ago.

[1] https://vercel.com/blog/investing-in-the-python-ecosystem

View on HN · Topics

From discord:

> There has been a ton of interest expressed this week about potential community maintenance of Gel moving forward. To help organize and channel these hopes, I'm putting out a call for volunteers to join a Gel Community Fork Working Group (...GCFWG??). We are looking for 3-5 enthusiastic, trustworthy, and competent engineers to form a working group to create a "blessed" community-maintained fork of Gel. I would be available as an advisor to the WG, on a limited basis, in the beginning.

> The goal would be to produce a fork with its own build and distribution infrastructure and a credible commitment to maintainership. If successful, we will link to the project from the old Gel repos before archiving them, and potentially make the final CLI release support upgrading to the community fork.

> Applications accepted here: https://forms.gle/GcooC6ZDTjNRen939

> I'll be reaching out to people about applications in January.

View on HN · Topics

> Acquisitions ... Gel → Vercel

is a bit misleading. Gel (formerly EdgeDB) is sunsetting it's development. (extremely talented) Team joins Vercel to work on other stuff.

That was a hard hit for me in December. I loved working with EdgeQL so much.

View on HN · Topics

It is a beautifully designed language and would make a great starting point for future DB projects.

Summarizer