rqlite 9.0: Real-time Change Data Capture for Distributed SQLite

rqlite is a lightweight, user-friendly, open-source, distributed relational database. It’s written in Go, employs Raft for distributed consensus, and uses SQLite as its storage engine.

rqlite 9.0 introduces Change Data Capture (CDC), enabling you to stream the changes occurring to the underlying SQLite database to other systems. With CDC, rqlite is no longer just a distributed database—it’s a live event source. So let’s take a look at what the latest release allows us to do, and some of the design challenges that needed solving — especially building Change Data Capture on SQLite.

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On the way to rqlite 9.0

rqlite is a lightweight, open-source, distributed relational database written in Go, which uses SQLite as its storage engine.

Development for the 9.0 release has started, and should be an important release. The main goals for 9.0 include:

  • Change Data Capture (CDC). CDC will allow you to stream changes from rqlite as they happen. This long-requested feature will make it easy to integrate rqlite with caches, pub-sub systems, and more.
  • API improvements. This will include better error codes, while maintaining current behaviour.

Upgrading from the 8.x release series should be seamless.

Consistency Over Availability: How rqlite handles the CAP Theorem

rqlite is a lightweight, user-friendly, open-source, distributed relational database. It’s written in Go and uses SQLite as its storage engine.

When it comes to distributed systems the CAP theorem is an essential concept. It states that it’s impossible for a distributed database to simultaneously provide Consistency, Availability, and Partition tolerance. The challenge is in the face of a network partition, a database can only be available or consistent, but not both.

Let’s take a look at the CAP theorem and see how rqlite fits into this fundamental trade-off.

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rqlite 8.38.0 to 8.42.0: Leader Stepdown, Google Cloud Backups, and More

rqlite is a lightweight, user-friendly, open-source, distributed relational database. It’s written in Go and uses SQLite as its storage engine. Recent versions—8.38.0 through 8.42.0—introduce several notable improvements, including Google Cloud Storage support, new HTTP APIs for cluster control, and improvements to Backup support.

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The Developer’s Manifesto for the Age of LLMs

We built the old software systems by hand. Line by line. Module by module. That era is ending.

Something profound is happening. For the first time in the history of software, we are not the only entities capable of understanding and generating code. And yet the role of the open-source developer has never mattered more.

This post is a statement of what we must preserve, what we must change, and how we must lead—now that we write software alongside intelligent systems.

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GPT is writing the GitHub issues, Copilot is fixing them

rqlite  is a lightweight, open-source, distributed relational database written in Go. It uses SQLite as its storage engine and Raft for consensus.

Last week, I wrote about my experience with language models, how they evolved from simple Python helpers to full-blown design partners and even a sort of AI Product Manager for rqlite, advising on features like Change-Data-Capture. I talked about assigning entire GitHub issues to agents, treating them like junior engineers who just wouldn’t quit until the PR was merged.

It was impressive, a fundamental shift in how I thought about shipping code. But that was last week. This week, the workflow has taken another, mind-blowing, leap.

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rqlite development: the Agents are here

rqlite  is a lightweight, open-source, distributed relational database written in Go. It uses SQLite as its storage engine and Raft for consensus.

I’ve been developing rqlite for about ten years, and until recently, the workflow hadn’t changed much. I write the code. Others contribute here and there. GitHub issues are filed, triaged, and resolved. The usual.

Then language models showed up, and things started to shift.

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