SQLite Event Store

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SQLite adapter for Emmett providing lightweight, file-based or in-memory event storage perfect for development, testing, and embedded applications.

Overview

The SQLite event store is ideal for:

• Local development - Zero configuration, instant startup
• Testing - Fast, isolated, reproducible
• Embedded applications - Desktop apps, edge computing
• Prototyping - Quick iteration before choosing production database

It provides:

• File or in-memory storage - Flexible persistence options
• Full ACID transactions - Same guarantees as production databases
• Inline projections - Consistent read model updates
• Background consumers - Async processing with checkpointing

Installation

npm install @event-driven-io/emmett-sqlite

Peer Dependencies

npm install @event-driven-io/emmett better-sqlite3
npm install -D @types/better-sqlite3

Quick Start

File-Based Storage

import { getSQLiteEventStore } from '@event-driven-io/emmett-sqlite';

const eventStore = getSQLiteEventStore('./events.db');

// Schema auto-creates on first use

In-Memory Storage

const eventStore = getSQLiteEventStore(':memory:');

Appending Events

import { type Event } from '@event-driven-io/emmett';

type ProductItemAdded = Event<
  'ProductItemAdded',
  { productId: string; quantity: number; price: number }
>;

const result = await eventStore.appendToStream<ProductItemAdded>(
  'ShoppingCart-123',
  [
    {
      type: 'ProductItemAdded',
      data: { productId: 'shoes-1', quantity: 2, price: 99.99 },
    },
  ],
);

Reading Events

const { events, currentStreamVersion } =
  await eventStore.readStream('ShoppingCart-123');

for (const event of events) {
  console.log(event.type, event.data);
}

Aggregating State

const { state } = await eventStore.aggregateStream('ShoppingCart-123', {
  evolve: (state, event) => {
    switch (event.type) {
      case 'ProductItemAdded':
        return { ...state, items: [...state.items, event.data] };
      default:
        return state;
    }
  },
  initialState: () => ({ items: [] }),
});

Inline Projections

import { sqliteSingleStreamProjection } from '@event-driven-io/emmett-sqlite';

interface CartSummary {
  id: string;
  totalItems: number;
  totalAmount: number;
}

const cartSummaryProjection = sqliteSingleStreamProjection<
  CartSummary,
  ShoppingCartEvent
>({
  tableName: 'cart_summaries',
  canHandle: ['ProductItemAdded', 'ProductItemRemoved'],
  evolve: (document, event) => {
    const current = document ?? { totalItems: 0, totalAmount: 0 };

    switch (event.type) {
      case 'ProductItemAdded':
        return {
          ...current,
          totalItems: current.totalItems + event.data.quantity,
          totalAmount:
            current.totalAmount + event.data.price * event.data.quantity,
        };
      case 'ProductItemRemoved':
        return {
          ...current,
          totalItems: current.totalItems - event.data.quantity,
          totalAmount:
            current.totalAmount - event.data.price * event.data.quantity,
        };
    }
  },
});

const eventStore = getSQLiteEventStore('./events.db', {
  projections: [cartSummaryProjection],
});

Background Consumers

Process events asynchronously:

const consumer = eventStore.consumer();

consumer.projector({
  processorId: 'analytics',
  projection: {
    name: 'Analytics',
    canHandle: ['ProductItemAdded', 'ShoppingCartConfirmed'],
    handle: async (events, context) => {
      for (const event of events) {
        await updateAnalytics(event);
      }
    },
  },
});

await consumer.start();

// Polling configuration
const consumer = eventStore.consumer({
  pollingIntervalMs: 100, // How often to check for new events
  batchSize: 100, // Max events per batch
});

Shared In-Memory Database

For tests that need to share state:

import Database from 'better-sqlite3';
import { getSQLiteEventStore } from '@event-driven-io/emmett-sqlite';

// Create shared database
const db = new Database(':memory:');

// Multiple stores using same database
const eventStore1 = getSQLiteEventStore({ database: db });
const eventStore2 = getSQLiteEventStore({ database: db });

// Both see the same events

Before-Commit Hooks

Run logic before transaction commits:

const eventStore = getSQLiteEventStore('./events.db', {
  beforeCommit: async (events, context) => {
    // Validate, enrich, or reject events
    for (const event of events) {
      if (event.type === 'ProductItemAdded' && event.data.quantity > 100) {
        throw new Error('Quantity too large');
      }
    }
  },
});

Manual Schema Management

For advanced control:

const eventStore = getSQLiteEventStore('./events.db', {
  schema: {
    autoMigration: 'None', // Don't auto-create tables
  },
});

// Get schema SQL
const sql = eventStore.schema.sql();
console.log(sql);

// Manually migrate
await eventStore.schema.migrate();

Database Schema

SQLite event store creates three tables:

Table	Purpose
emt_streams	Stream metadata and versions
emt_messages	Event storage (JSON)
emt_subscriptions	Consumer checkpoints

Configuration Options

const eventStore = getSQLiteEventStore({
  driver: sqlite3EventStoreDriver,
  fileName: './events.db',

  // Inline projections
  projections: projections.inline([projection1, projection2]),

  // Schema migration
  schema: {
    autoMigration: 'CreateOrUpdate', // or 'None'
    databaseSchemaName: 'events',
    projectionsDatabaseSchemaName: 'read_models',
    migrationTable: {
      schemaName: 'infrastructure',
      tableName: 'emmett_migrations',
    },
  },

  // Before-commit hook
  hooks: {
    onBeforeCommit: async (events, context) => {
      /* ... */
    },
  },
});

Database Schemas

By default, SQLite objects are created without a schema prefix. Set schema.databaseSchemaName to put the event-store tables and processor checkpoints in a specific database schema.

schema.projectionsDatabaseSchemaName controls the default schema for SQLite projection data such as Pongo collections. If it is omitted, it falls back to schema.databaseSchemaName. A projection can still override its own collection schema.

schema.migrationTable.schemaName and schema.migrationTable.tableName control the shared Dumbo migration table used by the event store and SQLite projections. If schemaName is omitted, it falls back to schema.databaseSchemaName.

If you omit all of these names, objects are created without a prefix. Existing databases are not affected.

SQLite has no native schemas, so a schema name works differently than in PostgreSQL. A configured schema name becomes a prefix on the physical table name. With databaseSchemaName: 'events', the streams table is physically named events.emt_streams and is quoted as "events.emt_streams" inside the one SQLite database file. Emmett runs no CREATE SCHEMA statement on SQLite.

The isolation comes from naming, not from a database object. You do not create anything before you use a schema name. A schema name cannot contain a ., because the . is what separates the prefix from the table name. A name that contains a . is rejected by Dumbo when it renders the SQL, not by Emmett when you configure the store, so the error appears on the first render and not at construction time. Changing or removing databaseSchemaName later leaves the old prefixed tables behind, and Emmett does not move existing data between prefixes.

Testing Best Practices

Isolated Test Databases

import { v4 as uuid } from 'uuid';

describe('Shopping Cart', () => {
  let eventStore: SQLiteEventStore;

  beforeEach(() => {
    // Each test gets fresh in-memory database
    eventStore = getSQLiteEventStore(':memory:');
  });

  it('adds products', async () => {
    await eventStore.appendToStream('cart-1', [
      {
        type: 'ProductItemAdded',
        data: { productId: 'p1', quantity: 1, price: 10 },
      },
    ]);

    const { events } = await eventStore.readStream('cart-1');
    expect(events).toHaveLength(1);
  });
});

Testing Projections

import { SQLiteProjectionSpec } from '@event-driven-io/emmett-sqlite';

describe('Cart Summary Projection', () => {
  let given: SQLiteProjectionSpec<ShoppingCartEvent>;

  beforeEach(() => {
    given = SQLiteProjectionSpec.for({
      projection: cartSummaryProjection,
      database: ':memory:',
    });
  });

  it('creates summary', () =>
    given([])
      .when([
        {
          type: 'ProductItemAdded',
          data: { productId: 'shoes', quantity: 2, price: 100 },
          metadata: { streamName: 'cart-123' },
        },
      ])
      .then(
        expectRow('cart_summaries', 'cart-123').toEqual({
          totalItems: 2,
          totalAmount: 200,
        }),
      ));
});

Limitations

SQLite is excellent for development but has production limitations:

Aspect	Limitation
Concurrency	Single writer at a time
Scaling	No horizontal scaling
Networking	File-based, no remote access
Size	Practical limit ~1TB

These features are not implemented for SQLite:

• Processor and projection locks
• Projection management in emt_projections
• Projection rebuild

For production, consider:

• PostgreSQL - Most applications
• EventStoreDB - Native Event Sourcing
• MongoDB - Document-centric

Full Package Documentation

For complete API reference and advanced usage, see the package README.

See Also

• Choosing an Event Store
• Testing Patterns
• Read Models Guide