...Define custom validations (several builtin validations, check instance properties before saving - see enforce for details). Model instance caching and integrity (table rows fetched twice are the same object, changes to one change all). Plugins: MySQL FTS , Pagination , Transaction, Timestamps, Migrations. A Model is an abstraction over one or more database tables. Models support associations. The name of the model is assumed to match the table name. Models can be in separate modules. Simply ensure that the module holding the models uses module.exports to publish a function that accepts the database connection, then load your models however you like.