You might want to consider converting to DBM::Deep. Not only does dbm-deep actually support useful features (like transactions, concurrency, and proper Perlish multi-level data structures), but mst and others in the gang like it a lot. Enough so that you'd probably get a good amount of help writing a proper model around it. In addition, there's been a lot of around-a-beer discussion of making a proper DBIx::Class plugin for dbm-deep, but no-one's actually had a need for it. Sounds like you might be the guinea p person to help out with that.