npm package: @nikvdp/absurd-sql
Description: This is an absurd project.
Latest version: 0.0.53


This is an absurd project.

It implements a backend for [sql.js](https://github.com/sql-js/sql.js/) (sqlite3 compiled for the web) that treats IndexedDB like a disk and stores data in blocks there. That means your sqlite3 database is persisted. And not in the terrible way of reading and writing the whole image at once -- it reads and writes your db in small chunks.

It basically stores a whole database into another database. Which is absurd.

[See the demo](https://priceless-keller-d097e5.netlify.app/). You can also view an entire app using this [here](https://app-next.actualbudget.com/?wtf_source=absurd).

You should also read [this blog post](https://jlongster.com/future-sql-web) which explains the project in great detail.

If you like my work, feel free to [buy me a coffee!](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/jlongster)

## How do I use it?

You can check out the [example project](https://github.com/jlongster/absurd-example-project) to get started. Or follow the steps below:

First you install the packages:

```
yarn add @jlongster/sql.js absurd-sql
```

Right now you need to use my fork of `sql.js`, but I'm going to open a PR and hopefully get it merged. The changes are minimal.

absurd-sql **must** run in a worker. This is fine because you really shouldn't be blocking the main thread anyway. So on the main thread, do this:

```js
import { initBackend } from 'absurd-sql/dist/indexeddb-main-thread';

function init() {
  let worker = new Worker(new URL('./index.worker.js', import.meta.url));
  // This is only required because Safari doesn't support nested
  // workers. This installs a handler that will proxy creating web
  // workers through the main thread
  initBackend(worker);
}

init();
```

Then in `index.worker.js` do this:

```js
import initSqlJs from '@jlongster/sql.js';
import { SQLiteFS } from 'absurd-sql';
import IndexedDBBackend from 'absurd-sql/dist/indexeddb-backend';

async function run() {
  let SQL = await initSqlJs({ locateFile: file => file });
  let sqlFS = new SQLiteFS(SQL.FS, new IndexedDBBackend());
  SQL.register_for_idb(sqlFS);

  SQL.FS.mkdir('/sql');
  SQL.FS.mount(sqlFS, {}, '/sql');

  const path = '/sql/db.sqlite';
  if (typeof SharedArrayBuffer === 'undefined') {
    let stream = SQL.FS.open(path, 'a+');
    await stream.node.contents.readIfFallback();
    SQL.FS.close(stream);
  }

  let db = new SQL.Database(path, { filename: true });
  // You might want to try `PRAGMA page_size=8192;` too!
  db.exec(`
    PRAGMA journal_mode=MEMORY;
  `);

   // Your code
}
```

## Requirements

Because this uses `SharedArrayBuffer` and the `Atomics` API, there are some requirement for code to run.

* It must be run in a worker thread (you shouldn't block the main thread with queries anyway)
* Your server must respond with the following headers:

```
Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy: same-origin
Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy: require-corp
```

Those headers are required because browsers only enable `SharedArrayBuffer` if you tell it to isolate the process. There are potential security problems if `SharedArrayBuffer` was available everywhere.

## Fallback mode

We do support browsers without `SharedArrayBuffer` (only Safari). Read more about it here: https://jlongster.com/future-sql-web#fallback-mode-without-sharedarraybuffer

There are some limitations in this mode: only one tab can be writing the database at a time. The database will never be corrupted; if multiple tabs try to write it will just throw an error (in the future it should call a handler that you provide so you can notify the user).

## Performance

It consistently beats IndexedDB performance up to 10x:

Read performance: doing something like `SELECT SUM(value) FROM kv`:

<img width="610" alt="perf-sum-chrome" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/17031/129102253-8adf163a-76b6-4af8-a1cf-8e2e39012ab0.png">

Write performance: doing a bulk insert:

<img width="609" alt="perf-writes-chrome" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/17031/129102454-b4c362b3-1b0a-4625-ac96-72fc276497f3.png">

These are all on a 2015 macbook pro. Benchmark code is in `src/examples/bench`.

## How does it work?

Read [this blog post](https://jlongster.com/future-sql-web) for more details.

## Where you can help

There are several things that could be done:

* Add a bunch more tests
* Implement a `webkitFileSystem` backend
  * I already started it [here](https://gist.github.com/jlongster/ec00ddbb47b4b29897ab5939b8e32fbe), but initial results showed that it was way slower?
* Bug fixes