SnkvDB
Single-header ACID KV store using SQLite's B-Tree engine
Details
- External ID
- 47034662
- Source
- HN
- Company
- —
- Product
- SnkvDB
- Website domain
- github.com
- Launched
- Feb. 16, 2026
- Cohort
- —
- Upvotes
- 5
- Upvotes percentile
- 0.10512129380053908
- Tags
- —
- Fetched at
- Sept. 7, 2026, 9:25 p.m.
- Updated at
- Sept. 7, 2026, 9:25 p.m.
Description
I built *snkvDB* — a single-header, ACID-compliant key-value store with zero setup.https://github.com/hash-anu/snkv### Why I built thisI wanted something as simple as a hashmap, but:* persistent * crash-safe * no external dependencies * easy to drop into any C/C++ projectMost KV stores are either:* too heavy (servers, background processes), or * too low-level (you manage everything)snkvDB tries to sit in between.---### What it is* Single-header KV store (just include and use) * ACID compliant (thanks to SQLite) * No server, no config, no build system required * Works like a simple embedded database---### Under the hoodsnkvDB is built on SQLite’s storage engine (B-Tree backend), so you get:* durability * transactions * mature, battle-tested storageBut the API is simplified to a minimal KV interface.---### When to use it* Embedding storage in CLI tools or small apps * Replacing ad-hoc file storage * Lightweight persistence without running a DB server---### BenchmarksI’ve compared it with RocksDB and LMDB here: https://github.com/hash-anu/snkvTL;DR:* Faster than RocksDB for small/medium workloads * Easier to use than LMDB * Balanced read/write performance---### Trade-offs* Not for write-heavy, high-throughput workloads (RocksDB is better there) * LMDB can be faster for pure reads * This prioritizes simplicity + safety over raw performance---Would love feedback, especially on:* API design * performance * real-world use cases
Enrichment
- Theme
- database infrastructure and developer tools
- Vertical
- Horizontal
- Function
- Data infrastructure
- Audience
- Developer
- AI stance
- Not AI
- Project type
- Hobby / open-source project
- Normalized one-liner
- single-header key-value store with acid transactions
- Manually corrected
- False
Could you build this?
Partial While it wraps SQLite's existing B-Tree implementation into a single C header, doing so requires intimate familiarity with SQLite's internal source files, paging subsystems, and memory layouts.
What it would actually take: The project extracts SQLite's internal `btree.c`/`pager.c` layer and exposes a simplified key-value API in C. The hard part is uncoupling the SQLite B-tree/pager subsystems from the SQL parser/VDBE without breaking transactional consistency and recovery logic. It requires strong C systems engineering and deep knowledge of SQLite internals.
Discussion
1 comment analyzed.
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one — 110 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #103 of 111 (itself plus its competitors, highest first — normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 107 days after the earliest competitor.
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Other launches for this product
- No other launches for this product.
Same idea, different domain
Nobody's really built a data infrastructure tool for Media & entertainment yet.