Rails on SQLite: exciting new ways to cause outages

Between Litestack and the Rails 8 trifecta of Solid Cable, Solid Cache, and Solid Queue, it's easier than ever to spin up a Rails app that doesn't need a database service or a redis service or a storage service. Just as easy are several new ways to break your app or lose your data, especially on containerized hosting services. Learn how to simplify your stack while avoiding new ways things break.

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1. André Arko / Friendly.rb / September 10, 2025 Rails on SQLite exciting new ways to cause outages
2. Litestack litedb litecache litejob litecable litesearch litemetric Rails 8 sqlite3 solidcache solidqueue solidcable - -
3. Litestack litedb litecache litejob litecable litesearch litemetric Rails 8 sqlite3 solidcache solidqueue solidcable - -
4. who?
5. who? @indirect andre@arko.net
6. bundler.io @indirect andre@arko.net
7. bundler.io spinel.coop @indirect andre@arko.net
8. bundler.io spinel.coop feedyour.email @indirect andre@arko.net
9. feedyour.email
10. feedyour.email
11. feedyour.email
12. it’s “lite” by not having a process
13. instead it’s just a fi le
14. persist that fi le
15. one fi le is easy
16. too easy?
17. multi-process or multi-thread
18. now you scale vertically
19. high scale now means 🔒 lots of locks 🔒
20. WALs consolidate writers, allow many readers
21. but WALs mean extra fi les to track and back up
22. and/or: give each library its own database
23. db/production.sqlite3 db/production-cache.sqlite3 db/production-queue.sqlite3
24. db/production/user-1.sqlite3 db/production/user-2.sqlite3 db/production/user-3.sqlite3
25. there’s still just one server
26. deploys might create downtime
27. debugging is more localized
28. networking is simpler
29. migrate in or out with sequel
30. you’re also stuck in one spot now
31. CDNs are still helpful, though
32. backup & replication
33. litestream
34. litestream
35. liteFS
36. liteFS CAP + FUSE, oh boy
37. thanks, sqlite. theqlite.