# tinykv
[](https://crates.io/crates/tinykv)
[](https://crates.io/crates/tinykv)
A minimal file-backed key-value store for Rust.
## Why I built this
I was working on **Tazı** (named after the Turkish sighthound), a JS/TS test runner and Jest alternative, when I needed simple persistent storage for test configurations and app settings.
I tried existing solutions:
- sled felt like overkill for storing simple config
- pickledb looked good but seemed unmaintained
- Rolling my own JSON persistence was getting repetitive
So I built tinykv - the simple KV store I wish existed. Turns out other Rust developers had the same problem.
## Features
- JSON file storage (human-readable, git-friendly)
- Optional TTL (expiration) per key
- Auto-save and backup options
- Atomic writes (no corruption)
- Simple serde integration
## Feature Flags
- **default**: Uses `serde` for maximum compatibility
- **nanoserde**: Uses `nanoserde` for smaller binaries and faster compilation
## Usage
```toml
# Default (serde)
tinykv = "0.2"
# Minimal (nanoserde)
tinykv = { version = "0.2", default-features = false, features = ["nanoserde"] }
```
```rust
use tinykv::TinyKV;
fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
let mut kv = TinyKV::open("settings.json")?
.with_auto_save();
kv.set("theme", "dark")?;
kv.set_with_ttl("session", "abc123", 3600)?; // 1 hour
let theme: String = kv.get("theme")?.unwrap_or("light".to_string());
println!("Using {} theme", theme);
Ok(())
}
```
The file looks like this:
```json
{
"theme": {
"value": "dark",
"expires_at": null
},
"session": {
"value": "abc123",
"expires_at": 1721234567
}
}
```
## When to use tinykv
**Good for:**
- CLI tool configuration
- Game save files
- Application settings
- Test data that needs persistence
- Prototyping without database setup
**Not for:**
- High-performance applications
- Complex queries or relationships
- Multi-user concurrent access
- Large datasets
## Comparison
| Setup complexity | Zero | Low | Zero |
| File format | Human-readable JSON | Binary | JSON |
| TTL support | Yes | No | No |
| Maintenance | Active | Stalled | Unmaintained |
| Learning curve | Minutes | Hours | Minutes |
## API Documentation
https://docs.rs/tinykv
## License
MIT License - see the full text in the repository.