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HeliosDB-Lite Documentation

High-performance embedded database with vector search, time-travel queries, and Git-like branching

Version Rust License

What is HeliosDB-Lite?

HeliosDB-Lite is a lightweight, embeddable database engine written in Rust that combines the simplicity of SQLite with advanced features typically found in enterprise databases:

  • PostgreSQL-Compatible SQL - Standard SQL syntax with 95%+ PostgreSQL compatibility
  • Vector Search - Built-in HNSW indexing for similarity search and AI/ML applications
  • Database Branching - Git-like branching for development, testing, and experimentation
  • Time-Travel Queries - Query historical data at any point in time
  • Materialized Views - Automatic and incremental view refresh
  • Multi-Tenancy - Row-level security and tenant isolation

Quick Start

Installation

cargo add heliosdb-lite

pip install heliosdb-lite

npm install heliosdb-lite

Basic Usage

use heliosdb_lite::EmbeddedDatabase;

// Create or open database
let db = EmbeddedDatabase::new("./mydb")?;

// Create table
db.execute("CREATE TABLE users (id INT PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT)")?;

// Insert data
db.execute("INSERT INTO users VALUES (1, 'Alice')")?;

// Query
let results = db.query("SELECT * FROM users")?;

Try the REPL

# Start interactive shell
heliosdb-lite --repl ./mydb

# Or in-memory mode
heliosdb-lite --repl :memory:

Key Features

Deployment Options

Mode Description Best For
Embedded In-process library Applications, edge devices, testing
Server PostgreSQL-compatible server Multi-client access, production
In-Memory RAM-only storage Testing, caching, ephemeral data

Documentation Sections

Version History

Version Highlights
v3.4 Multi-tenancy, Row-Level Security, CDC, enhanced SMFI
v3.3 Self-Maintaining Filter Index (SMFI), speculative filters
v3.0 Database branching, time-travel, materialized views
v2.0 Vector search, HNSW indexing, product quantization

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