use-sql-migrate-sqlite

name	use-sql-migrate-sqlite
description	SQLite migrations with sql-migrate and litemigrate. Use when setting up SQLite migrations, configuring foreign keys, or using modernc.org/sqlite driver.
depends	["use-sqlmigrate"]

CLI setup

sql-migrate -d ./sql/migrations/ init --sql-command sqlite

Environment

# .env
SQLITE_PATH='./app.db'

Go library

import (
    "database/sql"

    _ "modernc.org/sqlite"
    "github.com/therootcompany/golib/database/sqlmigrate"
    "github.com/therootcompany/golib/database/sqlmigrate/litemigrate"
)

// MUST: enable foreign keys via pragma
db, err := sql.Open("sqlite", dbPath+"?_pragma=foreign_keys(1)")
conn, err := db.Conn(ctx)
defer func() { _ = conn.Close() }()

runner := litemigrate.New(conn)
applied, err := sqlmigrate.Latest(ctx, runner, scripts)

MUST: The caller imports the SQLite driver (modernc.org/sqlite recommended — pure Go, no CGo).

SQL dialect notes

• datetime('now') instead of CURRENT_TIMESTAMP for default values in expressions
• TEXT for timestamp columns (SQLite has no native datetime type)
• INSERT OR IGNORE for idempotent seeds (not INSERT IGNORE)
• String concatenation: id || CHAR(9) || name (used by sync query)
• ALTER TABLE ... DROP COLUMN requires SQLite 3.35.0+ (2021-03-12)
• "no such table" error string used to detect missing _migrations table
• Default path: todos.db if no env var set

sqlc with SQLite

SQLite CHAR(n) columns map to interface{} in sqlc. Use column-level overrides:

# sqlc.yaml
sql:
  - schema: "sql/migrations/"
    queries: "sql/queries/"
    engine: "sqlite"
    gen:
      go:
        out: "internal/tododb"
        overrides:
          - column: "todos.id"
            go_type: "string"
          - column: "todos.status"
            go_type: "string"