This page details some MySQL data types and their SurrealQL equivalents, followed by links to the Surreal Sync tool which allows data from MySQL to be automatically imported to SurrealDB.
The following chart shows MySQL data types along with the equivalent or near-equivalent SurrealQL data type for each.
| MySQL Data Type | Wire Protocol Type | SQL Representation | SurrealDB Mapping | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOOLEAN/BOOL | Tiny | 0/1 | bool | 0=false, 1=true conversion |
| TINYINT | Tiny | -128 to 127 | int | Converted to 64-bit integer |
| SMALLINT | Short | -32768 to 32767 | int | Converted to 64-bit integer |
| MEDIUMINT | Int24 | -8388608 to 8388607 | int | Converted to 64-bit integer |
| INT/INTEGER | Long | -2147483648 to 2147483647 | int | Converted to 64-bit integer |
| BIGINT | LongLong | -9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807 | int | Direct conversion |
| FLOAT | Float | 3.14 | float (f64) | Converted to double precision |
| DOUBLE | Double | 3.141592653589793 | float (f64) | Direct conversion |
| DECIMAL/NUMERIC | NewDecimal | 123.45 | number | Converted to SurrealDB Number with precision |
| CHAR(n) | String | 'text' | string | Fixed-length, padding removed |
| VARCHAR(n) | VarString | 'text' | string | Variable-length string |
| TEXT | Blob | 'long text' | string | Text blob as string |
| TINYTEXT | TinyBlob | 'short text' | string | Small text as string |
| MEDIUMTEXT | MediumBlob | 'medium text' | string | Medium text as string |
| LONGTEXT | LongBlob | 'very long text' | string | Large text as string |
| BINARY(n) | String | 0x48656c6c6f | bytes | Fixed-length binary data |
| VARBINARY(n) | VarString | 0x48656c6c6f | bytes | Variable-length binary data |
| BLOB | Blob | 0x48656c6c6f | bytes | Binary large object |
| TINYBLOB | TinyBlob | 0x48656c6c6f | bytes | Small binary data |
| MEDIUMBLOB | MediumBlob | 0x48656c6c6f | bytes | Medium binary data |
| LONGBLOB | LongBlob | 0x48656c6c6f | bytes | Large binary data |
| DATE | Date | '2024-01-15' | datetime | Converted to datetime at midnight UTC |
| TIME | Time | '14:30:00' | string | Time format as string (HH:MM:SS.microseconds) |
| DATETIME | DateTime | '2024-01-15 14:30:00' | datetime | Converted to UTC datetime |
| TIMESTAMP | Timestamp | '2024-01-15 14:30:00' | datetime | Timezone-aware, converted to UTC |
| YEAR | Year | 2024 | int | Year as integer |
| JSON | Json | '{"key": "value"}' | object | Parsed and converted recursively |
| GEOMETRY | Geometry | ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)') | object | Converted to geometric object with coordinates |
| POINT | Geometry | POINT(1.5, 2.5) | object | Converted to {"x": 1.5, "y": 2.5} object |
| ENUM | Enum | 'option1' | string | Enum value as string, constraints lost |
| SET | Set | 'value1,value2' | array | Converted to array of strings |
| BIT(n) | Bit | b'1010' | string | Bit string as binary string representation |
Surreal Sync can be used to exports MySQL tables to SurrealDB.
It supports inconsistent full syncs and consistent incremental syncs, and together provides ability to reproduce consistent snapshots from the source MySQL tables onto the target SurrealDB tables.
For more on how to import data from MySQL to SurrealDB, please see the following pages in the Surreal Sync repo.
