Twelve years of distributed SQLite
In September 2014 I published a short post announcing rqlite. The idea was simple: take SQLite, put a Raft log in front of it, and replicate every write to a cluster so that the loss of a node did not…
Philip O'Toole
Software engineering, distributed systems, databases, and the teams that build them
Philip O'Toole
Software engineering, distributed systems, databases, and the teams that build them
Tag programming
rqlite 10.5.1 to 10.6.0: Numeric Error Codes, Node Promotion, and CDC Fixes
rqlite is a lightweight, open-source, fault-tolerant relational database built on SQLite and the Raft consensus protocol. Versions 10.5.1 through 10.6.0 focus on four core themes: richer error reporting in the API, changing a node’s voting status at runtime, a security…
Improved web console in rqlite v10.5.0
rqlite is a lightweight, open-source, fault-tolerant relational database built on SQLite and the Raft consensus protocol. v10.5.0 is out now, and comes with an improved web console. Specifically the console features a new cluster topology view, allowing you to quickly…
rqlite 10.3.1 to 10.4.0: Cluster Integrity, Streaming Backups, and CDC Security
rqlite is a lightweight, open-source, distributed relational database built on SQLite and the Raft consensus protocol. Versions 10.3.1 through 10.4.0 focus on four core themes: safeguarding cluster consistency under local fault conditions, overhauling how database backups stream over the network,…
Antithesis breaks rqlite on purpose
rqlite is a lightweight, open-source, distributed relational database built on SQLite and Raft. Antithesis has published a post on how they use AI Agents to inject bugs in rqlite, then check whether their tests catch them. Along the way their tests found three real…
From 18 months to 6: High-velocity database engineering
I recently appeared on the Bug Bash podcast to talk about rqlite, software testing, and the impact of Agentic coding. You check out the audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, and the video on YouTube.
First impressions of Claude Fable
Today I tried Anthropic’s latest model, Fable, for the first time. I asked it to run a full code review of the core Go code of rqlite. Fable rejected my first prompt as unsafe – review the rqlite code base…
rqlite v10.1: Schema management via the Web Console
rqlite is a lightweight, open-source, distributed relational database built on SQLite and Raft. Version 10.1.0 has been released with improvements to the built-in web console. The web console now support directly examining the schema of your database tables, and basic…
Taking control of the SQLite WAL
rqlite is a lightweight, open-source, fault-tolerant relational database built on SQLite and Raft. Version 10 is out now. rqlite uses SQLite as its storage engine and has a particular relationship with the SQLite Write-Ahead Log (WAL). SQLite, left to itself, manages its…
rqlite 10.0: Better clustering and better management
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 v10.0 has been released and introduces improved cluster and management features, including a new…
New guide for working with rqlite clusters
rqlite is a lightweight, open-source, distributed relational database built on SQLite and Raft. I’ve published a new guide for client applications, explaining the various techniques you can use to access rqlite clusters. You can check it out here.
Native Linux packages for rqlite
rqlite is a lightweight, open-source, distributed relational database built on SQLite and Raft. Starting with v9.4.1 rqlite now ships native Linux packages (.deb and .rpm) for easier installation and upgrades. Both amd64 and arm64 packages are available.
The source code was the moat. But not anymore
Last week I started using some of the new coding agents properly. Not in a careful, experimental way, but properly — for three days on rqlite. Claude Code. Copilot CLI. Tools I had yet to fully integrate into how I…
Discovering git worktrees
While working with Claude Code, I quickly needed it to operate on multiple versions of the rqlite codebase at the same time. Cloning the repository repeatedly would have worked, but it felt wasteful.
Agentic coding with Claude and Copilot
After many months of direct ChatGPT use, I’ve finally started coding with the help of Copilot and Claude Code. It’s definitely an intriguing experience. The biggest difference so far? I’m going to hit my Claude Code Pro limits pretty quickly,…
rqlite 9.3.5 to 9.3.10: Snapshot Robustness, WAL Handling, and Shell Improvements
rqlite is a lightweight, open-source, distributed relational database built on SQLite and Raft. Versions 9.3.5 through 9.3.10 focus on internal correctness and operational robustness, particularly around Raft snapshotting, WAL handling, and testing. These releases also include improvements to logging, the…
rqlite 9.3.1 to 9.3.4: Parser Updates, Static Analysis Fixes, and Non-Root Docker Images
rqlite is a lightweight, open-source, distributed relational database built on SQLite and Raft. Versions 9.3.1 through 9.3.4 deliver a set of targeted fixes and internal improvements, most of them aimed at code quality, security posture, and correctness. The only user-facing…
Tokens & Tactics: Scaling Yourself Horizontally with AI
I was recently interviewed by Noah Brier for his BRXND Tokens & Tactics AI newsletter. Noah and I used to work together a few years ago at Percolate so it was good to connect again. You can check out the…
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…
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…
My development team costs $41.73 a month
Two years ago, I appeared on Contributor, a podcast hosted by Eric Anderson of Scale Venture Partners. I was there to talk about rqlite, the open-source database I maintain.
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…
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…
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…
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…