# pmwkaa/sophia

Modern transactional key-value/row storage library.

Repository: https://github.com/pmwkaa/sophia
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/sophia
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-03-03T18:04:46+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 54/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 70, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4735, "days_push": 183, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1885, forks 146 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:48.978608+00:00)

## What it is
Sophia is a transactional MVCC key-value/row storage engine implemented as a small, dependency-free C library with a minimalistic, FFI-friendly API. It uses a RAM-disk hybrid append-only architecture with guaranteed O(1) worst-case complexity for reads, writes, and range scans.

## Use cases
- embed a fast transactional key-value store in a C application
- store key-value data with ACID guarantees and MVCC concurrency
- build secondary indexes over a key-value storage engine
- perform prefix search and range scans with consistent cursors
- automatically expire keys and garbage-collect old versions
- compress on-disk data with lz4 or zstd
- run multi-database workloads sharing a single write-ahead log

## When to choose
- you need an embeddable, zero-dependency C storage engine with full ACID and MVCC semantics
- you want predictable O(1) worst-case read/write/scan performance without LSM degradation over time
- you need cross-database transactions, key expiration, or hot backup in a lightweight library
- you are studying storage engine design or building on ideas used in Amelia and Monotone

## When to avoid
- you need a project that is actively developed and maintained - Sophia is no longer developed
- you need SQL, a client-server database, or rich ecosystem tooling
- you require guaranteed long-term security fixes or community support
- you prefer mainstream engines like SQLite, RocksDB, or LMDB with larger communities

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: abandoned
- function: database, caching, serialization, compression
- domain: databases, developer-tools, performance
- platform: cross-platform, c
- tags: key-value-store, storage-engine, mvcc, acid, embedded-database, append-only, transactional, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- pmwkaa/sophia (main) score 54

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:48.978608+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 2026-08-30T03:13:37.233712+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/pmwkaa/sophia (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:48.978608+00:00, sha 50468a661350)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.