SSMS has had script projects for a while. Earlier this year (2026), SSMS added SQL Database Projects. I knew about this feature, but I haven’t sat down to work with this feature in SSMS.
A project allows you to store related scripts together under one unit. One use is to export the scripts to build your database objects, and then store that in source control, to track changes made.
If you’ve worked with Visual Studio, database projects have been used in it for several years. I’ve used that to export database objects into separate scripts, add those scripts to a project, and then put them into source control.
You’ll need to be on v22 of SSMS, at least 22.4.1. I’m using 22.8.2
We’ll go through an example where we export our database into a database project.

Install Database Devops Component:
In order to export our database objects to a project, first we’ll need to install a Database Devops component for SSMS. Close SSMS before you go through these steps.
Since the install of v22 of SSMS is managed through the Visual Studio Installer, we’ll need to open it.
Under SQL Server Management Studio (22), click Modify. On the Workloads screen that comes up, check the Database DevOps component, then click Modify.
Once the install has completed, you can close the installer and then re-open SSMS.

Create Project:
For the database that we want to add to a project, right click on the database in Object Explorer, go to Tasks, then select Create Project from Database.
In the screen that comes up, you should see the Source data for the database filled in. Name your project, and select a location on your filesystem to store it.
Click Create to start. This will start the process of exporting all of the database objects to the project we created.
Once it has completed, we should see the solution explorer with our new project. You can browse the project to see your objects.
The objects are organized by schema, then by object type.
You can then commit the project to whatever source control system you use, and track any changes made.

Update Project:
Once you make changes to your objects, you’ll need to update the project. If you make your changes directly in the database, then you can run a schema compare to sync the projects. I wrote a little about the schema compare tool in SSMS previously.
If you right click on the project, select Schema Compare. Once the Schema Compare screen opens, your project will be filled in for the Source box. Click Switch Direction to move the project to the Target. In the Source box, click the ellipses next to it, select Database, then select your server and database. Clicking Compare will start the process.
If differences are found, you’ll see a list of the changes. You can uncheck any changes that you don’t want to add to the project.
Click Apply to add any of the checked changes.

Wrap-up:
This is just one use case for the SQL Database Projects. You are also able to create a DACPAC to use in deployments, and use the project in CI/CD pipelines.
You can also build the project to run validation on the database objects, to uncover issues before you deploy.

Links:

Microsoft Learn – Projects in SQL Server Management Studio

MSSQLTips – How to use a Project in SQL Server Management Studio

Microsoft Learn – What are SQL database projects?

Microsoft Learn – Database DevOps (preview) in SQL Server Management Studio