OurSQL Foundation launches to back MySQL community
Tue, 2nd Jun 2026 (Today)
The OurSQL Foundation has launched to support MySQL users, developers and companies, positioning itself as an independent organisation for the wider MySQL community.
It aims to provide a venue for collaboration, knowledge sharing and feedback on MySQL's future development. The group has been set up to serve users, software developers, deployers, consultants and businesses that build services or products around MySQL and compatible technologies.
Created as a non-profit trade body in the US, the organisation will operate separately from any single supplier. That structure is intended to give the MySQL ecosystem a forum that represents the broader market rather than one commercial interest.
Plans include oversight of community events, shared repositories and adoption work. The foundation also intends to create committees focused on events, collaboration and support for using MySQL.
The launch comes as MySQL remains widely used across corporate and developer environments, with an ecosystem that includes cloud providers, database specialists, software vendors and consultants. The new body wants to support MySQL's growth as an open-source database while working with all market participants, including Oracle.
Board members
The founding board includes members from several companies and the independent MySQL community. Vadim Tkachenko, Technology Fellow and Co-Founder at Percona, will serve as President; Matt Lord, Software Engineer at PlanetScale, as Secretary; and Tomas Ulin, Village Historian at VillageSQL, as Treasurer.
Other board members are Sunny Bains, Software Architect at PingCAP; Zongzhi Chen, Manager, Cloud RDS Team at Alibaba; Jean-François Gagné, MySQL Expert and Independent Consultant; and Peter Zaitsev, Co-Founder at Percona.
The foundation will follow a model used by other open-source bodies, with vendor-neutral governance and participation based on merit. It also sees a role in stewarding community assets, including possible shared issue tracking, portals for tools and open-source projects, and records related to security patches.
Another area under consideration is education. The organisation may support training materials, certification and academic partnerships aimed at engaging new developers around MySQL.
The launch highlights a longstanding question in the MySQL market: how users and vendors coordinate around a database that remains open source but sits within Oracle's portfolio. Oracle is not a member, though the foundation intends to collaborate where interests align.
Tkachenko said the group was created to address a gap in community coordination around MySQL.
"This Foundation will provide a platform to promote and support MySQL as a database, fostering collaboration across everyone looking to contribute to the broad MySQL ecosystem. It will pool resources and provide guidance around where MySQL fits into the technology landscape today, something that has been missing over the past few years. By bringing the community together under the banner of an independent Foundation, we can demonstrate that MySQL has a valid and vibrant future ahead of it. The OurSQL Foundation will be a neutral organization that will support MySQL as a technology, helping the community as a whole to grow and succeed in parallel with Oracle's renewed focus on MySQL community development," said Vadim Tkachenko, Co-Founder at Percona.
Community role
Supporters argue that MySQL still has a large installed base but needs a more visible and organised community structure to remain relevant among newer developers. They point to the need for independent resources, common information hubs and a stronger voice on roadmap issues affecting users and businesses.
PlanetScale said its backing for the foundation reflects its long involvement with MySQL and Vitess, as well as its interest in keeping developer attention on the database.
"PlanetScale has been working deeply with MySQL and Vitess for many years - helping to support the broader MySQL community and our customers as they encounter challenges operating MySQL at scale. Supporting The OurSQL Foundation is another route for us to support MySQL and help grow the community. Without the next generation of developers learning about where and how MySQL shines versus alternatives in the space, the community will continue to slowly retract. For companies that rely on MySQL at scale, keeping that pipeline of developer interest and talent centered around MySQL will be essential and the OurSQL Foundation is uniquely positioned to help foster a healthy future for MySQL," said Matt Lord, Software Engineer at PlanetScale.
Gagné linked the initiative to existing volunteer work in the MySQL community, including publishing and news aggregation.
"Open source involves collaboration and finding ways to give back, so that we can learn and meet our challenges together. Doing my part involves blogging and speaking around MySQL, and maintaining the Planet for the MySQL Community news aggregator. I support The OurSQL Foundation as a continuation of this effort, providing the community with a vendor-neutral forum to collaborate and to make sure MySQL keeps allowing us to meet our challenges in the years to come," said Jean-François Gagné, MySQL Expert and Independent Consultant.