If your query was meant to say,

SELECT * FROM users JOIN posts ON posts.userId = users.id

the ORM has so many unnecessary characters just to get to this straight forward SQL and you have to learn how to make sure the way you write will generate the SQL that you want that uses the proper index everytime you change framework is just something I wouldn't do.

I didn't say the SQL generated is convoluted but the way you need to write so many characters that doesn't hold a meaning is convoluted.

So we have to choose what we think is the least-worst compromise.

Since I wrote the library I am obviously anything but impartial, but the compromise I outlined above is one I'm pretty happy with (and it's much easier to read if you add a few line breaks). It's a bit noisier than your JOIN query, but for the price of that noise you get type safety and an appropriate JSON structure for the result.