# rqlite/rqlite

The lightweight, fault-tolerant database built on SQLite. Designed to keep your data highly available with minimal effort.

Repository: https://github.com/rqlite/rqlite
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/rqlite
Homepage: https://rqlite.io
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: go, sqlite, distributed-systems, database, relational-database, raft, consensus, distributed-database, sql, fault-tolerance
Last push: 2026-08-25T18:44:37+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 93/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:39:23.370411+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 80, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4393, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 59, "gap_med": 3, "n_releases_24m": 118}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 17704, forks 804 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:20.194125+00:00)

## What it is
rqlite is a lightweight, fault-tolerant distributed relational database built on SQLite, replicating data across nodes using the Raft consensus algorithm. It ships as a single self-contained binary with an HTTP/JSON API, making it exceptionally easy to deploy and operate in the cloud or at the edge.

## Use cases
- run a highly available SQL database without complex operations
- deploy a fault-tolerant SQLite-backed database cluster
- store critical application data that survives node failures
- query a relational database over plain HTTP with no drivers
- run a consistent replicated database at the edge or on small servers
- set up a distributed database in seconds with Docker or Kubernetes

## When to choose
- you need SQLite's simplicity with high availability and fault tolerance
- you want a database that deploys as a single binary with an HTTP API
- your workload is read-heavy and consistency matters more than write throughput
- you need full SQL, full-text search, JSON, or SQLite extensions in a replicated setting

## When to avoid
- you need high write throughput or write scaling, since every write goes through the Raft log
- you need a full-featured distributed database with horizontal write sharding
- you need heavy analytical or OLAP workloads better served by columnar databases

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: stable
- function: database, http-server, search-engine, cli
- domain: databases, microservices, self-hosted, backend, developer-tools
- platform: windows, go, cross-platform
- tags: sqlite, raft-consensus, fault-tolerance, distributed-database, http-api, replication, high-availability, edge-computing, linux, macos, docker, kubernetes

## Member repositories
- rqlite/rqlite (main) score 93

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:20.194125+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:02:29.386056+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/rqlite/rqlite (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:20.194125+00:00, sha cfe7d569c137)
  - homepage: https://rqlite.io (fetched 2026-08-29T08:00:51.438491+00:00, sha 246b110c736f)
  - site_page: https://rqlite.io/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T08:00:51.441025+00:00, sha d366ccace06f)
  - site_page: https://rqlite.io/docs/features (fetched 2026-08-29T08:00:51.442999+00:00, sha a7e11db7f07f)
  - site_page: https://rqlite.io/docs/install-rqlite (fetched 2026-08-29T08:00:51.445140+00:00, sha 81064c371b49)
  - site_page: https://rqlite.io/docs/quick-start (fetched 2026-08-29T08:00:51.446909+00:00, sha 8e07bb268b13)
  - site_page: https://rqlite.io/docs/api/client-libraries (fetched 2026-08-29T08:00:51.448717+00:00, sha 6309e054b1d3)
  - site_page: https://rqlite.io/docs/api/api (fetched 2026-08-29T08:00:51.450537+00:00, sha 176338e7221d)
  - site_page: https://rqlite.io/docs/guides/docker-compose (fetched 2026-08-29T08:00:51.452830+00:00, sha 5ff7beb7c01a)
  - site_page: https://rqlite.io/docs/guides/kubernetes (fetched 2026-08-29T08:00:51.454631+00:00, sha 0eb22ef0bc84)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.