Bintrail is a new open-source layer that adds time-travel SQL queries to MySQL — the only major relational database without native temporal querying. It works by parsing MySQL ROW-format binary logs, indexing every row event with before/after images, and routing historical queries (AS OF, BETWEEN) through ProxySQL without modifying MySQL or application code. The system maintains its own indexed history store independent of MySQL binlog retention, supports Parquet archival on S3, and enables point-in-time recovery and audit lookups. Current limitations include support only for literal timestamp queries, primary-key lookups, and capped full-table restores — joins and complex filtering must be handled outside the shim layer. Bintrail is available on GitHub under the BUSL source-available license.
