Ask HN: How to upgrade my personal project database from Notion

4 points·patrickwalton··4 comments

I've been using Notion as the database for some personal projects. The backend of the projects are written in Python. I don't have any formal CS training and have a vague idea that the better database solution has something to do with "data warehouses" and SQL, but I'm not sure where to go from here.

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How are you accessing the data in notion now? Via HTTP? It might make sense to migrate to something that supports that interface in order to ease migration instead of a wholesale rewrite. You could start with sqlite or even postgres and with extensions mimic the interface you're used to while transitioning to a pretty scalable database.

I'm just using notion_client, a Python wrapper for the Notion API which says it's a Python version of the reference JavaScript SDK. https://pypi.org/project/notion-client/

Would sqlite or postgres still be the right place to start if I don't have an http interface to start off of?

What's the problem you're trying to solve?

I'm trying to get some general knowledge of how databases are typically managed to avoid staying in Notion workaround longer than I have to. I'm just unfamiliar with other solutions so I don't have anything to compare against. I guess it would have been better to frame the question as what would be a good alternative to learn as a general starting point.

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