Getting started

go get gosqlite.org

No CGo, no C toolchain, no apk add. It builds in golang:alpine and distroless images out of the box, and cross-compiles like any pure-Go module.

package main

import (
  "database/sql"
  "log"

  _ "gosqlite.org" // registers the "sqlite" and "sqlite3" drivers
)

func main() {
  db, err := sql.Open("sqlite", "file:app.db")
  if err != nil {
    log.Fatal(err)
  }
  defer db.Close()

  if _, err := db.Exec(`CREATE TABLE t (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT)`); err != nil {
    log.Fatal(err)
  }
  // ... db.Query / db.Exec / db.BeginTx as usual.
}

db is a standard *sql.DB; everything in database/sql works. The runnable version is examples/getting-started/database-sql/.

The package registers under two names, same singleton driver:

• "sqlite" — modernc-compatible. Use it for new code.
• "sqlite3" — mattn-compatible. Use it when migrating mattn code so the rest stays unchanged.

See Driver names for the full story and Migrating for per-package recipes.

import sqlite "gosqlite.org"

db, _ := sqlite.OpenWAL("app.db") // WAL + busy_timeout=5s + foreign_keys=on
defer db.Close()
// db embeds *sql.DB — every database/sql method works.

The four open shortcuts (OpenInMemory / OpenWAL / OpenReadOnly / OpenShared), the typed sqlite.Config, and typed pragma enums are covered in Configuration.

Because it transpiles SQLite to Go (via modernc.org/sqlite) instead of binding the C library, you get static, dependency-free binaries; trivial cross-compilation (GOOS=… GOARCH=… go build); reproducible builds with no system SQLite version skew; and no CGo build flags, C compiler, or musl/glibc juggling. The trade-off is on hot UDF callback paths — see Performance.

• Configuration — structured setup the modern way.
• Migrating — coming from another package.
• The docs home lists every guide, the extension catalog, and the reference pages.