The Scenario
You are a solutions architect three weeks into a migration project. The client is moving twelve application databases from a legacy Postgres cluster to Neon. Before any migration scripts run, the project manager needs the full DDL for each of the twelve main branches documented in an Excel workbook — one row per branch, schema in column D — so the team can sign off branch by branch.
The bad version of the next afternoon:
- Connect to branch one with psql
- Run pg_dump --schema-only, capture the output
- Paste the DDL into cell D2
- Close the connection, open a new one for branch two
- Repeat eleven more times
- The DDL for branch seven is truncated because the cell hit Excel's character limit
- You spend the last hour of the day splitting the DDL across multiple cells and updating the sign-off template.
The fast version is one prompt.
The Easy Way: One Prompt in SheetXAI
SheetXAI reads the branch list from your workbook and retrieves the schema DDL through the Neon API for each one.
Open the SheetXAI sidebar and type:
Pull the PostgreSQL schema for the database on each branch listed in my Excel sheet — use the project ID and branch ID columns — and write the DDL output into a 'Schema DDL' column.
SheetXAI calls the Neon API for each row, retrieves the schema, and writes the DDL into the designated column. Twelve rows, twelve exports, no psql sessions.
What You Get
A complete schema documentation workbook with:
- Schema DDL column — the full CREATE TABLE statements for each branch and database
- Row-by-row traceability — each DDL is tied to the exact project ID and branch ID in the same row
- Client-ready layout — the project manager can check off each row as the schema is reviewed
The DDL comes from the API, not from a connection string. No local Postgres client required.
What If the Data Is Not Quite Ready
Migration workbooks often have incomplete or inconsistent identifiers. SheetXAI resolves them in the same prompt.
When branch IDs are branch names
Your team used branch names like "main" instead of branch IDs.
For each row, resolve the branch name in the branch column to the actual Neon branch ID for the project in column A. Write the branch ID back into the branch column, then retrieve the schema DDL and write it into the Schema DDL column.
When you only want DDL for tables containing PII
The project manager only needs to review tables that store sensitive customer data.
For each row, retrieve the schema DDL from Neon. Filter to include only CREATE TABLE statements for tables whose names contain 'user', 'customer', or 'account'. Write the filtered DDL into the Schema DDL column.
When some rows are missing the database name
Several rows have blank database names. The default Neon database name is "neondb."
For any row where the database name column is blank, use 'neondb'. Then retrieve the schema DDL for each row and write it into the Schema DDL column.
When the client also wants a table count per schema
The project manager wants a quick count alongside the DDL for the sign-off checklist.
For each row, retrieve the schema DDL from Neon and write it into the Schema DDL column. Count the number of CREATE TABLE statements and write that count into a 'Table Count' column.
The pattern: the workbook is the audit trail and the sign-off record. One prompt populates the documentation column and enables every downstream approval step.
Try It
Get the 7-day free trial of SheetXAI and open any Excel workbook with Neon project IDs and branch IDs, then ask it to retrieve the schema DDL. The Neon integration is included in every plan. See also how to compare Neon branch schemas in an Excel workbook or the Neon in Excel overview.