monlite

The local-first backend for TypeScript — documents, full-text + vector search, cache, queue, and cron in one .db file, with a zero-dependency core — and the same API on a networked Postgres when you scale.

monlite is SQLite with a Mongo/Prisma-style API and an opt-in family of packages that cover the rest of a backend. It runs in Node, the browser (WASM), the desktop (Electron), the edge, and Python — anywhere SQLite runs — and the identical collection code runs on Postgres when you outgrow one file.

import { createDb } from "@monlite/core";

const db = createDb("app.db");
const users = db.collection<{ name: string; age: number }>("users");

await users.create({ data: { name: "Ali", age: 30 } });
const adults = await users.findMany({ where: { age: { gte: 18 } }, orderBy: { age: "asc" } });

The package family

The core is lean and dependency-free. Each additional capability is an opt-in package — install only what you need. Or grab them all at once with the all-in-one monlite bundle (npm install monlite).

Package	Replaces	What it gives you
@monlite/core	MongoDB (documents)	Document + structured collections, one query API, aggregation, transactions, reactive watch()
@monlite/postgres	A managed Postgres	The same API on a networked Postgres (JSONB) — swap the engine, not your code
@monlite/fts	Search engines	Full-text search (SQLite FTS5 / Postgres tsvector) — plugin + createSearchIndex(db)
@monlite/vector	Qdrant / Pinecone	Vector / semantic search (sqlite-vec / pgvector) — plugin + createVectorStore(db)
@monlite/kv	Redis	Cache, atomic locks, TTLs, pub/sub, sorted sets
@monlite/queue	BullMQ / Redis	Durable job queue — retries, backoff, delays, priorities, dedupe
@monlite/cron	Cron servers	Persisted scheduled jobs — 5-field syntax, time zones, jitter
@monlite/realtime	Firebase / Pusher	Stream live queries & documents to remote clients over SSE
@monlite/sync	Cloud sync	Local-first replication to MongoDB / PostgreSQL / MySQL
@monlite/wasm	—	Run monlite in the browser on SQLite-WASM
@monlite/electron	—	Share one database across Electron windows over IPC
@monlite/studio	—	Local web inspector — npx @monlite/studio app.db

Two engines, one API

monlite has a swappable engine behind a single collection API:

• SQLite (@monlite/core) — local-first, zero-dependency, one file. Perfect for CLIs, desktop apps, edge, AI agents, and embedding in another product.
• Postgres (@monlite/postgres) — a networked, multi-writer backend for when you scale. Documents become JSONB; everything else is identical, down to findSimilar() and search().

import { createDb } from "@monlite/core";        const db = createDb("app.db");      // local
import { createDb } from "@monlite/postgres";     const db = createDb("postgres://…"); // server

You develop against a file and deploy to Postgres without rewriting a line — see the Postgres engine guide.

Why monlite

• One file. Documents, search, vectors, cache, queue, cron — all in a single SQLite file. Backup = copy the file.
• Zero-dependency core. @monlite/core uses Node's built-in node:sqlite (Node ≥ 22.5) with no native build, or better-sqlite3 when you install it.
• The local backend for AI agents. Documents + vectors + cache + queue + cron is the complete local stack a coding agent or RAG app needs — see the AI-agent backend guide.
• Production-hardened. Atomic async transactions, cross-process compare-and-swap, crash-tested durability, observability, and cross-platform CI. See the production guide.
• Scales when you need it. Start on a file; move to Postgres with the same code, or sync the file to a cloud database — without rewriting your app.

Next: Getting started →