// SQLite disaster recovery and streaming replication to cloud storage (S3, GCS, Azure, SFTP, NATS). Use this skill for configuring Litestream, deploying to cloud platforms, troubleshooting WAL replication issues, implementing point-in-time recovery, and setting up VFS read replicas.
| name | litestream |
| description | SQLite disaster recovery and streaming replication to cloud storage (S3, GCS, Azure, SFTP, NATS). Use this skill for configuring Litestream, deploying to cloud platforms, troubleshooting WAL replication issues, implementing point-in-time recovery, and setting up VFS read replicas. |
| version | 0.5.5 |
Litestream is a disaster recovery tool for SQLite that runs as a background process, continuously replicating database changes to cloud storage. It monitors the SQLite Write-Ahead Log (WAL), converts changes to immutable LTX files, and uploads them to your chosen storage backend.
# macOS
brew install litestream
# Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)
wget https://github.com/benbjohnson/litestream/releases/download/v0.5.5/litestream-v0.5.5-linux-amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i litestream-v0.5.5-linux-amd64.deb
# Docker
docker pull litestream/litestream:0.5
# Command line (single database)
litestream replicate /path/to/db.sqlite s3://bucket/db
# With config file
litestream replicate -config /etc/litestream.yml
# Restore latest backup
litestream restore -o /path/to/restored.db s3://bucket/db
# Point-in-time recovery
litestream restore -timestamp 2024-01-15T10:30:00Z -o /tmp/db s3://bucket/db
# Restore to specific transaction
litestream restore -txid 1000 -o /tmp/db s3://bucket/db
# View all databases and their replication status
litestream status
# List available LTX files
litestream ltx /path/to/db.sqlite
These rules are essential for correct Litestream operation:
Lock Page at 1GB: SQLite reserves the page at offset 0x40000000 (1GB). This page must always be skipped during replication and compaction. The page number varies by page size:
LTX Files are Immutable: Once created, LTX files are never modified. New changes create new files.
Single Replica per Database: Each database can only replicate to one destination. Use multiple Litestream instances for multiple destinations.
WAL Mode Required: SQLite must be in WAL mode (PRAGMA journal_mode=WAL;)
Use litestream ltx: The litestream wal command is deprecated.
| Backend | URL Scheme | Example |
|---|---|---|
| AWS S3 | s3:// | s3://bucket/path |
| S3-Compatible (R2, Tigris, MinIO) | s3:// | s3://bucket/path?endpoint=host:port |
| Google Cloud Storage | gs:// | gs://bucket/path |
| Azure Blob Storage | abs:// | abs://container@account/path |
| SFTP | sftp:// | sftp://user@host:22/path |
| NATS JetStream | nats:// | nats://host:4222/bucket |
| WebDAV | webdav:// | webdav://host/path |
| Alibaba OSS | oss:// | oss://bucket/path |
| Local File | (path) | /var/backups/db |
dbs:
- path: /data/app.db
replica:
url: s3://my-bucket/app-backup
access-key-id: ${AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID}
secret-access-key: ${AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}
region: us-east-1
sync-interval: 1s
Use Litestream skill when:
concepts/ - Architecture, replication mechanics, LTX format, SQLite WAL, VFS support, compactionconfiguration/ - Storage backend configurations (S3, GCS, Azure, SFTP, NATS, OSS, WebDAV, File)commands/ - CLI command reference (replicate, restore, status, ltx, databases)operations/ - Monitoring, troubleshooting, recovery, and heartbeat monitoringdeployment/ - Docker, Fly.io, Kubernetes, and systemd deployment guidesintegrations/ - MCP server integration for AI toolsscripts/ - Validation and diagnostic helper scriptslitestream statuslitestream ltx /path/to/db