Gaea

Free plan Self-hosted

What Gaea is

Gaea is self-hosted middleware and a proxy for applications using the MySQL protocol. Developed by Xiaomi’s B2C development team, it routes SQL, separates read and write traffic, and supports database and table sharding. Its proxy features include multiple clusters and tenants, transparent SQL forwarding, connection pooling, replica load balancing, and configuration hot reload. It can identify slow and error SQL fingerprints, route by annotations, and apply custom SQL interception and filtering. Access controls include client and backend credentials, read-only or read/write permissions, IP allowlists, and optional encryption for sensitive namespace data. The project documents Prometheus metrics and Grafana dashboards for monitoring. Configuration can use files or etcd, but file mode does not support hot reload, and etcd is the only supported configuration center. Gaea is free and open source under Apache-2.0; its Go quick start describes compiling the gaea and gaea-cc executables for local use. For sharded tables, it does not rewrite SQL semantics or calculate concatenated results across multiple result sets. Cross-shard transactions are unsupported.

Who it suits

Gaea suits teams running MySQL databases that need self-hosted SQL routing, sharding, or read/write separation. It may fit deployments prepared to work within its cross-shard query and transaction limits.

What it does well

Supports multiple clusters and tenants.
Provides connection pooling and replica load balancing.
Includes IP allowlists and read-only permissions.
Prometheus metrics and Grafana dashboards are documented.
Free and licensed under Apache-2.0.

What to know first

File configuration does not support hot reload.
Cross-shard transactions are unsupported.
Cross-shard joins and multi-shard batch inserts are unsupported.
Supports MySQL only.

Limits

Sharded tables do not support cross-shard joins, multi-shard batch inserts, or INSERT INTO SELECT. Gaea supports single-shard transactions, but distributed transactions are not implemented and cross-shard transactions return an error.

Getting started

Open the Gaea GitHub website
Use the Go project to compile the gaea and gaea-cc executables
Choose file or etcd configuration
Deploy the executables in a self-hosted environment
Connect MySQL clients through the proxy

Verdict

Gaea provides a broad set of proxy, routing, and access-control functions for self-hosted MySQL deployments. Review its sharding and transaction limits against your application’s SQL patterns before adopting it.

Questions

Is Gaea free?

Yes. Gaea is free and open-source software licensed under Apache-2.0.

What database does Gaea support?

The listed supported database is MySQL.

How is Gaea deployed?

Gaea is self-hosted. Its Go quick start describes compiling gaea and gaea-cc executables for local use.

What configuration options are available?

Configuration can use files or etcd. File mode does not support hot reload, and etcd is the supported configuration center.

Does Gaea provide monitoring integrations?

Its monitoring documentation names Prometheus metrics and Grafana dashboards for proxy and tenant metrics.

Facts from Gaea's own pages

Compatibility limit: For sharded tables, the project describes itself as lightweight and says it does not rewrite SQL semantics or calculate concatenated results from multiple result sets. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Configuration: Gaea supports file and etcd configuration; the documentation says file mode does not support hot reload and etcd is the only supported configuration center. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Deployment: The quick start says Gaea is written in Go and can be compiled into gaea and gaea-cc executables for local use. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Integrations: The project documentation names etcd for configuration and Grafana for monitoring dashboards. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Intended users: The README says Gaea is used across mobile, automotive, ecosystem-chain, finance, and internet businesses. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
License: The GitHub repository identifies the project as licensed under Apache-2.0. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Maker: The repository says Gaea is developed by Xiaomi’s B2C development team. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Monitoring: Its monitoring documentation describes Prometheus metrics and Grafana dashboards for proxy and tenant metrics. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Multi-tenancy: Its listed basic features include multiple clusters and multiple tenants. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Product: Gaea is a MySQL protocol database middleware and proxy developed by Xiaomi’s B2C development team. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Proxy features: Listed features include multi-cluster and multi-tenant support, transparent SQL forwarding, connection pooling, and configuration hot reload. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Purpose: It supports database and table sharding, SQL routing, and read/write separation. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Security controls: Documented controls include client and backend user credentials, read-only and read/write permissions, IP allowlists, and optional encryption of sensitive namespace data. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Sharding: Gaea supports database and table sharding, SQL routing, and read/write separation. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Sharding compatibility: Its sharding approach supports Mycat database sharding and Kingshard table sharding, with aggregation functions and certain joins across shards. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
SQL controls: Gaea supports slow and error SQL fingerprints, custom SQL interception and filtering, and IP or CIDR allowlists. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
SQL handling: It supports transparent SQL forwarding, annotation-based routing, slow and error SQL fingerprints, and custom SQL interception and filtering. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
SQL limitations: For sharded tables, the compatibility guide says cross-shard joins, multi-shard batch inserts, and INSERT INTO SELECT are unsupported. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Traffic management: It supports read/write separation with replica load balancing, connection pooling, and configuration hot reloading. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Transaction limitation: Gaea supports single-shard transactions but has not implemented distributed transactions; cross-shard transactions return an error. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026

Where Gaea stands on Freedom251

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