The original title is: "The Data Dictionary Should Live in the ERD, Not in a Spreadsheet"

Short summary

The author argues that data dictionaries should live inside ERD diagrams rather than in separate spreadsheets or wikis that inevitably drift out of sync. The post introduces Schemity, a desktop ERD tool that attaches markdown descriptions to entities, legends, and context views directly on the diagram. Descriptions are stored in workspace JSON files rather than database comments to avoid requiring SQL migrations for documentation edits.

• •Data dictionaries in spreadsheets/wikis drift from schema with 100% failure rate over time
• •Schemity embeds markdown descriptions directly into ERD entities and legends
• •Descriptions stored in JSON, not DB comments, to keep doc edits safe and portable

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