SEsealeck·Sep 4, 2024Submission
Bedrock (Expensify's distributed database built on a custom fork of SQLite)
1 points · Open discussionExpensify
Bedrock
C2016–2024
Expensify / Bedrock
Bedrock
Rock solid distributed database specializing in active/active automatic failover and WAN replication
13Distinct people
15Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
1.3KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
Rock solid distributed database specializing in active/active automatic failover and WAN replication
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
- canonical/dqlite · linked in 2 of the same discussions
- rqlite/rqlite · linked in 2 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:03:16 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year15 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2016-10-04 20:28:35 UTC to 2024-09-04 22:07:39 UTC.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
What Hacker News says
15 sourcesI've had success in a production capacity with using rqlite before. There are also a bunch of other alternatives that still seem to be actively maintained, although I've only used rqlite myself before:
- https://github.com/canonical/dqlite
- https://github.com/rqlite/rqlite
- https://github.com/Expensify/Bedrock
In I'm all-in on server-side SQLite (2022)This is not SQLite though, also the test is trivial compared to TPC-C: https://github.com/Expensify/Bedrock/blob/dbarrett_perftest/...
Only read all in memory lol.
In One million queries per second with MySQLHappy to see some (more sane looking) implementations of distributed SQLite. For a completely different set of thinking on the problem check out BedrockDB (https://github.com/expensify/bedrock ; warning.... contains blockchain :D )
In Verneuil: S3-backed asynchronous replication for SQLiteThere already exists some distributed SQLite:
https://github.com/canonical/dqlite
https://github.com/rqlite/rqlite
https://github.com/Expensify/Bedrock
https://datacadamia.com/dit/kafka/connector/sqlite_distribut...
In Durable Objects now Generally AvailableLibstuff: All the stuff you need to build a C++ application
1 points · Open discussionI wonder why there aren't more DB like bedrock which builds on top of SQLite.
https://github.com/Expensify/Bedrock
In Sqlite – Most Deployed Database in the WorldThere's a few things that stood out to me that seem like "bad practices":
> we don’t use DNS internally — just configuration-managed /etc/hosts files
This seems very odd and redundant. Does someone manually edit all servers when a new server comes online?
> Make RANDOM() deterministic
Why would you use random if you want determinism? That sounds like the opposite of random to me.
> David Barrett, Founder of Expensify
Was this blog post really written by the founder!?!
The perftest[0] code is in a branch named "dbarrett_perftest" but that still surprises me.
[0]: https://github.com/Expensify/Bedrock/tree/dbarrett_perftest/...
In Scaling SQLite to 4M QPS on a Single Server (EC2 vs. Bare Metal)Some of these FIXME's in Bedrock's er... Paxos implementation look like they could be important:
https://github.com/Expensify/Bedrock/blob/ecda922dc279e06fda...
In Bedrock – Rock-solid distributed dataWe're using GitHub Issues: https://github.com/Expensify/Bedrock/issues However, honestly those specific issues aren't on the list. In general we focus less on what could happen, and more on what actually does happen. Those specific issues haven't ever occurred, and thus never got "fixed" because they never became real problems. But PRs welcome!!
In Bedrock – Rock-solid distributed dataWith these: https://github.com/Expensify/Bedrock/blob/ecda922dc279e06fda...
Do you use the Issue Tracker to keep on top of things like that, and/or prioritise?
In Bedrock – Rock-solid distributed dataIt's not called out specifically (actually, when writing it I didn't even know what Paxos was, and only realized I had implemented it years later). However, the logic is here: https://github.com/Expensify/Bedrock/blob/master/sqliteclust...
In Bedrock – Rock-solid distributed dataYou'd have to be nuts to depend on something backed by Expensify. They'll probably fire the maintainers.
Edit: Turns out it's authored by the CEO! So you'd have to be nuts to use it, period. But, um, poke the source if you're curious. This is a good intro https://github.com/Expensify/Bedrock/tree/master/libstuff#li... I can't imagine a more ironic and hilarious backdrop for the "We Fire People" campaign. Must be tough finding people who can keep up with a brain that big.
In Bedrock – Rock-solid distributed dataExpensify: new standard for modern application design ... or you're fired?
1 points · Open discussion