Why I Reach for SQLite First

There's a persistent myth that SQLite is "just for development" or "only for small apps." Let me challenge that.

The Numbers

SQLite can handle 700% more reads than a typical client-server database on the same hardware. It supports WAL mode for concurrent reads, and with tools like Litestream, you get streaming replication to S3 for pennies.

When to Reach for Postgres

I'm not saying never use Postgres. Use it when you need: concurrent writes from multiple servers, row-level security, or advanced types like JSONB with indexing. For everything else? SQLite is a file. No server, no connection pool, no config.

-- My typical setup
PRAGMA journal_mode=WAL;
PRAGMA busy_timeout=5000;
PRAGMA foreign_keys=ON;