SQLite Cloud

SQLite-Sync Getting Started

Quick Start

1. Create a table and enable sync

CREATE TABLE tasks (
    id TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
    title TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
    done INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0
);

-- Enable CRDT sync on the table
SELECT cloudsync_init('tasks');

2. Use your database normally

INSERT INTO tasks (id, title) VALUES (cloudsync_uuid(), 'Buy groceries');
INSERT INTO tasks (id, title) VALUES (cloudsync_uuid(), 'Review PR #42');

UPDATE tasks SET done = 1 WHERE title = 'Buy groceries';

SELECT * FROM tasks;

3. Sync with the cloud

-- Connect to your SQLite Cloud managed database
-- (get the managed database ID from the CloudSync page on the SQLite Cloud dashboard)
SELECT cloudsync_network_init('your-managed-database-id');
SELECT cloudsync_network_set_apikey('your-api-key');

-- Send local changes and receive remote changes
SELECT cloudsync_network_sync();
-- Returns JSON: {"send":{"status":"synced","localVersion":3,"serverVersion":3},"receive":{"rows":0,"tables":[]}}

-- Call periodically to stay in sync
SELECT cloudsync_network_sync();

-- Before closing the connection
SELECT cloudsync_terminate();

4. Sync from another device

On a second device (or a second database for testing), repeat the same setup:

-- Device B: create the same table and init sync
CREATE TABLE tasks (
    id TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
    title TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
    done INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0
);

SELECT cloudsync_init('tasks');

-- Connect to the same cloud database
SELECT cloudsync_network_init('your-managed-database-id');
SELECT cloudsync_network_set_apikey('your-api-key');

-- Pull changes from Device A
SELECT cloudsync_network_sync();
-- Call again: the first call triggers package preparation, the second downloads it
SELECT cloudsync_network_sync();

-- Device A's tasks are now here
SELECT * FROM tasks;

-- Add data from this device
INSERT INTO tasks (id, title) VALUES (cloudsync_uuid(), 'Call the dentist');

-- Send this device's changes to the cloud
SELECT cloudsync_network_sync();

-- Before closing the connection
SELECT cloudsync_terminate();

Back on Device A, calling cloudsync_network_sync() will pull Device B’s changes. The CRDT engine ensures all devices converge to the same data, automatically, with no conflicts.

Note: every device participating in the same sync must create the same set of tables with the same structure and initialize each one with cloudsync_init(). sqlite-sync derives a schema hash from the synced tables, and the server rejects payloads whose hash it does not recognize. For multi-tenant setups where each client should see only a subset of rows, use a shared schema with a tenant/scope column and enforce isolation with Row-Level Security — do not give each client a different table.

SQLite Cloud Setup

  1. Sign up at SQLite Cloud and create a project.
  2. Create a database and your tables in the dashboard.
  3. Enable synchronization: click “CloudSync” for your database and select the tables to sync.
  4. Copy the managed database ID and API key from the dashboard.
  5. Use cloudsync_network_init() and cloudsync_network_set_apikey() locally, then call cloudsync_network_sync().

For token-based authentication (required for RLS), use cloudsync_network_set_token() instead of cloudsync_network_set_apikey().