Introduction

Clonio is a database cloning tool that creates safe, anonymized copies of production databases for development, testing, and staging environments. It provides a web-based interface for configuring connections, defining anonymization rules, scheduling cloning runs, and monitoring execution in real time. For data protection auditors there is a signed audit log to prove the transferred data settings and log entries.

The Problem

Development teams need production-like data to build and test effectively, but production databases contain personally identifiable information (PII) that cannot be used outside of production. Manually copying and sanitizing data is error-prone, time-consuming, and difficult to audit.

Regulations like the GDPR require that personal data is handled with care. A single oversight - an unmasked email address, a real phone number in a test environment - can lead to compliance violations and fines.

What Clonio Does

Clonio sits between your production database and your non-production environments. It reads from the source, applies transformation rules you define, and writes the anonymized data to the target.

Core capabilities:

• Multi-database support — Connects to MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server as both source and target. Cross-database cloning (e.g., MySQL to PostgreSQL) is supported.
• Data anonymization — Replace sensitive columns with fake data (names, emails, phone numbers), hash values, mask content, or set to null. Transformations are configured per column, per table.
• Row selection — Copy full tables, only the first X rows, or only the last X rows. Useful for reducing dataset size in test environments while keeping recent data.
• Foreign key awareness — When a parent table uses row selection, child tables are automatically filtered to preserve referential integrity.
• Schema replication — Clonio reads the source schema and ensures the target schema matches before transferring data. New columns or tables are created automatically.
• Scheduling and triggers — Run clonings manually, on a cron schedule, or via an API trigger URL that integrates with CI/CD pipelines.
• Webhook notifications — Get notified via HTTP webhooks when a cloning run succeeds or fails.
• Audit trail — Every cloning run generates a cryptographically signed audit report documenting the configuration, execution log, and GDPR compliance status. Audit reports can be printed or shared via public links.
• Real-time execution console — Monitor cloning progress live with a timestamped log showing each step as it happens.

How It Works

A typical workflow follows these steps:

1. Configure connections — Add your source (production) and target (test/staging) database connections.
2. Create a cloning — Use the step-by-step wizard to name the cloning, select source and target, configure table transformations, set a schedule, and define triggers.
3. Run the cloning — Execute manually, wait for the schedule, or trigger via API. Clonio replicates the schema, transfers data in chunks, applies anonymization rules, and maintains foreign key integrity.
4. Monitor and audit — Watch progress in real time. After completion, review the audit trail report for compliance documentation.

Next Steps

Head to the Installation guide to set up Clonio and run your first clone.