# NodeDB
**Seven database engines in a single Rust binary. One SQL dialect. Zero network hops between engines.**
NodeDB replaces the combination of PostgreSQL + pgvector + Redis + Neo4j + ClickHouse + Elasticsearch with a single process. Vector search, graph traversal, document storage, columnar analytics, timeseries, key-value, and full-text search share the same storage, memory, and query planner.
## Why NodeDB
- **One binary, not seven services.** No inter-service networking, no schema drift between systems, no data synchronization pipelines. A graph query that feeds a vector search that filters by full-text relevance executes in one process.
- **PostgreSQL wire protocol.** Connect with `psql` or any PostgreSQL client library. Standard SQL with engine-specific extensions where SQL can't express the operation.
- **Edge to cloud.** The same engines run embedded on phones and browsers (NodeDB-Lite, 4.5 MB WASM) with CRDT-based offline-first sync to the server.
- **Serious about performance.** Thread-per-Core data plane with io_uring, SIMD-accelerated distance functions, zero-copy MessagePack transport, per-column compression (ALP, FastLanes, FSST, Gorilla). See benchmarks below.
## Performance
**Timeseries ingest + query benchmark** — 10M rows, high-cardinality DNS telemetry (50K+ unique domain names). Single node, NVMe storage.
### Ingest
| **NodeDB** | **93,450/s** | 107s | **120 MB** | 2,217 MB |
| TimescaleDB | 56,615/s | 177s | 963 MB | 2,802 MB |
| ClickHouse | 53,905/s | 186s | 1,035 MB | **1,647 MB** |
| InfluxDB | 22,715/s | 88s (2M cap) | 1,656 MB | 982 MB |
### Queries (ms, best of 3)
| `COUNT(*)` | **<1** | 1 | 423 | 13,110 |
| `WHERE qtype=A COUNT` | 47 | **6** | 347 | 5,297 |
| `WHERE rcode=SERVFAIL` | 41 | **6** | 334 | 1,048 |
| `GROUP BY qtype` | 56 | **15** | 597 | 12,426 |
| `GROUP BY rcode` | 52 | **16** | 604 | 13,183 |
| `GROUP BY cached+AVG` | 120 | **33** | 677 | 13,652 |
| `GROUP BY client_ip (10K)` | **141** | 157 | 660 | 14,301 |
| `GROUP BY qname (50K+)` | 2,665 | **288** | 3,644 | 16,720 |
| `time_bucket 1h` | 101 | **30** | 603 | -- |
| `time_bucket 5m+qtype` | 138 | **99** | 711 | -- |
NodeDB is not a specialized timeseries database, yet it ingests 1.65x faster than TimescaleDB and 1.73x faster than ClickHouse with 8x less memory. Query latency is competitive with ClickHouse on low-cardinality aggregations and within 3-5x on high-cardinality GROUP BY. This is the tradeoff of a general-purpose engine: you get one system instead of five, with performance that stays in the same ballpark as specialized tools.
## Engines
| [Vector](docs/vectors.md) | pgvector, Pinecone, Weaviate | HNSW with SQ8/PQ quantization, adaptive bitmap pre-filtering |
| [Graph](docs/graph.md) | Neo4j, Amazon Neptune | CSR adjacency, 13 algorithms, Cypher-subset MATCH, GraphRAG |
| [Document](docs/documents.md) | MongoDB, CouchDB | Schemaless (MessagePack + CRDT) or Strict (Binary Tuples, O(1) field access). Typeguards for gradual schema enforcement |
| [Columnar](docs/columnar.md) | ClickHouse, DuckDB | Per-column codecs (ALP, FastLanes, FSST), predicate pushdown, HTAP bridge |
| [Timeseries](docs/timeseries.md) | TimescaleDB, InfluxDB | ILP ingest, continuous aggregation, PromQL, approximate aggregation |
| [Spatial](docs/spatial.md) | PostGIS | R\*-tree, geohash, H3, OGC predicates, hybrid spatial-vector |
| [Key-Value](docs/kv.md) | Redis, DynamoDB | O(1) lookups, TTL, sorted indexes, rate limiting, SQL-queryable |
| [Full-Text Search](docs/full-text-search.md) | Elasticsearch | BMW BM25, 27-language support, CJK bigrams, fuzzy, hybrid vector fusion |
## Install
```bash
# Docker
docker run -d \
-p 6432:6432 -p 6433:6433 -p 6480:6480 \
-v nodedb-data:/var/lib/nodedb \
farhansyah/nodedb:latest
# Cargo
cargo install nodedb
```
Requires Linux kernel >= 5.1 (io_uring). Connect:
```bash
ndb # native CLI (connects to localhost:6433)
psql -h localhost -p 6432 # or any PostgreSQL client
```
```sql
CREATE COLLECTION users;
-- Standard SQL
INSERT INTO users (name, email, age) VALUES ('Alice', 'alice@example.com', 30);
-- Object literal syntax (same result)
INSERT INTO users { name: 'Bob', email: 'bob@example.com', age: 25 };
-- Batch insert
INSERT INTO users [
{ name: 'Charlie', email: 'charlie@example.com', age: 35 },
{ name: 'Dana', email: 'dana@example.com', age: 28 }
];
SELECT * FROM users WHERE age > 25;
```
See [Getting Started](docs/getting-started.md) for build-from-source and configuration.
## Deployment Modes
| **Origin (server)** | Full distributed database. Multi-Raft, io_uring, pgwire. Horizontal scaling. |
| **Origin (local)** | Same binary, single-node. No cluster overhead. |
| **NodeDB-Lite** | Embedded library for phones, browsers, desktops. CRDT sync to Origin. |
## NodeDB-Lite
All seven engines as an embedded library. Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, iOS, and browser (WASM, ~4.5 MB).
- **Lite only** -- local-first apps that don't need a server. Vector search, graph, FTS, documents, all in-process with sub-ms reads.
- **Lite + Origin** -- offline-first with CRDT sync. Writes happen locally, deltas merge to Origin when online. Multiple devices converge regardless of order.
- **Same API** -- the `NodeDb` trait is identical across Lite and Origin. Switch between embedded and server without changing application code.
See [NodeDB-Lite](https://github.com/NodeDB-Lab/nodedb-lite) for platform details and sync configuration.
## Key Features
**Write-time validation** -- Typeguards enforce types, required fields, CHECK constraints, and DEFAULT/VALUE expressions on schemaless collections. Graduate to strict schema with `CONVERT COLLECTION x TO strict`.
**Real-time** -- CDC change streams with consumer groups (~1-5ms latency). Streaming materialized views. Durable topics. Cron scheduler. LISTEN/NOTIFY. All powered by the Event Plane.
**Programmability** -- Stored procedures with `IF/FOR/WHILE/LOOP`. User-defined functions. Triggers (async, sync, deferred). `SECURITY DEFINER`.
**Security** -- RBAC with GRANT/REVOKE. Row-level security with `$auth.*` context across all engines. Hash-chained audit log. Multi-tenancy with per-tenant encryption. JWKS, mTLS, API keys.
**Six wire protocols** -- pgwire (PostgreSQL), HTTP/REST, WebSocket, RESP (Redis), ILP (InfluxDB line protocol), native MessagePack.
## Tools
- **[`ndb`](https://github.com/NodeDB-Lab/nodedb-cli)** -- Native CLI with TUI, syntax highlighting, and tab completion. Alternative to `psql`.
- **[NodeDB Studio](https://github.com/NodeDB-Lab/nodedb-studio)** -- GUI client for managing collections, browsing data, and monitoring. _(coming soon)_
- **[nodedb-bench](https://github.com/NodeDB-Lab/nodedb-bench)** -- Performance benchmarks against competing databases.
## Documentation
- [Getting Started](docs/getting-started.md) -- Build, run, connect
- [Architecture](docs/architecture.md) -- Three-plane execution model
- [Engine Guides](docs/README.md) -- Deep dives into each engine
- [Security](docs/security/README.md) -- Auth, RBAC, RLS, audit, multi-tenancy
- [Real-Time](docs/real-time.md) -- CDC, pub/sub, LIVE SELECT
- [NodeDB-Lite](https://github.com/NodeDB-Lab/nodedb-lite) -- Embedded edge database
- [AI Patterns](docs/ai/README.md) -- RAG, GraphRAG, agent memory, feature store
## Building from Source
For development or contributing:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/NodeDB-Lab/nodedb.git
cd nodedb
cargo build --release
cargo install cargo-nextest --locked # one-time
cargo nextest run --all-features
```
## Status
Released and production-ready. All engines implemented and tested. Currently onboarding early adopters — full support provided.
## License
NodeDB is licensed under the [Business Source License 1.1](LICENSE.md). You can use NodeDB for any commercial purpose — SaaS products, AI platforms, internal tools, self-hosted deployments, anything. The only restriction is offering NodeDB itself as a hosted database service (DBaaS) or commercial database tooling; that requires a [commercial license](LICENSE.md). Converts to Apache 2.0 on 2030-01-01.