doltlite (Python)

A Python loader for doltlite — Dolt's version control through SQLite's drop-in API.

import doltlite          # one-time bootstrap
import sqlite3

conn = sqlite3.connect("repo.db")
conn.execute("CREATE TABLE t(x INT)")
conn.execute("INSERT INTO t VALUES (1)")
conn.execute("SELECT dolt_commit('-A', '-m', 'init')")

import doltlite makes libdoltlite the active SQLite engine for the current interpreter, so anything that uses the standard sqlite3 module — including SQLAlchemy with sqlite:///... URLs — transparently gains dolt_commit, dolt_branch, dolt_merge, dolt_log, dolt_diff_<table>, and the other Dolt SQL functions and virtual tables.

Install

pip install doltlite

Wheels bundle a precompiled libdoltlite for macOS (arm64) and Linux (x86_64, aarch64). No system-level setup required.

Intel Mac wheels aren't shipped in v0.11.x — GitHub's free-tier macos-13 runners queue for hours and block releases. Intel Mac users should build libdoltlite locally and use the DOLTLITE_LIB path below.

For development against a local checkout of doltlite, point DOLTLITE_LIB at your built library instead:

DOLTLITE_LIB=/path/to/libdoltlite.dylib python3 your_script.py

Requirements

The package piggybacks on Python's stdlib sqlite3, which must load SQLite as a shared extension at runtime. The following Pythons work:

  • Distro / system Python (Linux)
  • Homebrew Python (macOS, Linux)
  • pyenv-built Python
  • Conda Python

These do not work because their _sqlite3 is statically linked into the interpreter:

  • python-build-standalone interpreters — the default for uv python install, mise, and Rye

If you use uv, target one of the supported Pythons explicitly:

uv venv --python /opt/homebrew/bin/python3   # or /usr/bin/python3

How the bootstrap works

Doltlite is a SQLite drop-in: it implements the same sqlite3_* C API and adds Dolt-specific functions and virtual tables on top. To use it from Python, libdoltlite has to be loaded ahead of the system libsqlite3 so its symbols win during the dynamic-link symbol-resolution pass that Python's _sqlite3 module triggers when it's first imported.

The mechanics differ by platform:

Linux

ELF flat-namespace symbol resolution: if libdoltlite is loaded into the process with RTLD_GLOBAL before _sqlite3 is loaded, its sqlite3_* symbols enter the global namespace and the later libsqlite3.so lookup finds them first.

import doltlite does ctypes.CDLL(libdoltlite_path, mode=ctypes.RTLD_GLOBAL) in this case — no re-exec required.

If sqlite3 was already imported before doltlite, that boat has sailed: we fall back to re-execing the interpreter with LD_PRELOAD set, so libdoltlite is loaded at process start.

macOS

macOS uses a two-level namespace: _sqlite3.so has an LC_LOAD_DYLIB command bound to a specific libsqlite3.dylib path (e.g. /opt/homebrew/opt/sqlite/lib/libsqlite3.dylib). Plain dlopen / ctypes.CDLL does not redirect that resolution, and DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES alone doesn't either — the inserted library has to have an install_name (LC_ID_DYLIB) that matches the path _sqlite3.so was linked against.

import doltlite does:

  1. Detect that path via otool -L $(python3 -c 'import _sqlite3; print(_sqlite3.__file__)').
  2. Copy libdoltlite to $TMPDIR/.../libsqlite3.dylib (cached per (lib, mtime, install_name)).
  3. Rewrite the shim's install_name with install_name_tool -id <path>.
  4. Re-exec the interpreter with DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES=<shim>.

The two-level lookup then accepts the shim because the install_name matches.

This requires otool and install_name_tool — install Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install) if missing.

Re-exec caveats

When a re-exec is required (macOS, or Linux-after-sqlite3-loaded), the bootstrap calls os.execvpe with sys.argv. That means the invocation must name a script file we can replay:

  • ✅ python3 my_script.py
  • ✅ python3 -m my_package
  • ❌ python3 -c "import doltlite; ..." — code string isn't in argv
  • ❌ Interactive REPL / Jupyter — there's no script to re-exec

In the unsupported cases the bootstrap raises DoltliteLoadError with a clear workaround: set DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES (macOS) or LD_PRELOAD (Linux) yourself before starting Python.

API

import doltlite

# Side-effect import does the bootstrap automatically. Subsequent
# imports are no-ops thanks to a process-env marker.

# If you want to bootstrap explicitly (e.g. inside a function):
doltlite.bootstrap()

# Find where the loaded libdoltlite came from:
doltlite.libdoltlite_path()  # absolute path

See also

License

Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE.

Project links

Data verified by PyPI on Sep 1, 2026
Data provided by the project maintainers, verified at the time the release was uploaded to PyPI.

Key dates

PyPI data
Data sourced directly from PyPI's database.
  • Released:
Newer release available (0.50.4)

1 maintainer

PyPI data
Data sourced directly from PyPI's database.
Avatar for timsehn from gravatar.com timsehn

Credits

Author: DoltHub

GitHub Statistics

Data verified by PyPI on Sep 1, 2026
The GitHub source repository was provided by the project maintainers and verified by PyPI at the time of upload. Stars, forks, and open issues/PRs are derived from that repository and have not been independently verified.

License

Apache Software License (Apache-2.0)

Requires

Python >=3.9

Tags

dolt doltlite sqlite version-control database

Classifiers

Report project as malware

Download files

Download the file for your platform. If you're not sure which to choose, learn more about installing packages.

Source Distribution

doltlite-0.50.2.tar.gz (13.1 kB view details)

Uploaded Source

Built Distributions

If you're not sure about the file name format, learn more about wheel file names.

doltlite-0.50.2-py3-none-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl (8.5 MB view details)

Uploaded Python 3manylinux: glibc 2.17+ x86-64

doltlite-0.50.2-py3-none-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl (7.9 MB view details)

Uploaded Python 3manylinux: glibc 2.17+ ARM64

doltlite-0.50.2-py3-none-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl (1.7 MB view details)

Uploaded Python 3macOS 11.0+ ARM64

File details

Details for the file doltlite-0.50.2.tar.gz.

File metadata

  • Download URL: doltlite-0.50.2.tar.gz
  • Upload date:
  • Size: 13.1 kB
  • Tags: Source
  • Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? Yes
  • Uploaded via: twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.13.14

File hashes

Hashes for doltlite-0.50.2.tar.gz
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 862cdee7076902e929a1349a78fb2d34d808d74e8c67308aba110db19ca6fd92
MD5 f3997f92b95c6a8c5026675a6b003192
BLAKE2b-256 f7127478da5d0af429ef8927accce336a325da9a5e21607e6b52238911b83753

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for doltlite-0.50.2.tar.gz:

Publisher: wheels.yml on dolthub/doltlite-python

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

File details

Details for the file doltlite-0.50.2-py3-none-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl.

File metadata

File hashes

Hashes for doltlite-0.50.2-py3-none-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 7827b256862e791bbbffe84d83604a4346f11c7c06c2e19b13bf5c2b2eedde0b
MD5 f6f353f245c3653216ad2de307f9c94f
BLAKE2b-256 0cdde6fd3d0caf35e275f359484f2877405d6bf4d8e941ab07ba57d47b20fd55

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for doltlite-0.50.2-py3-none-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl:

Publisher: wheels.yml on dolthub/doltlite-python

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

File details

Details for the file doltlite-0.50.2-py3-none-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl.

File metadata

File hashes

Hashes for doltlite-0.50.2-py3-none-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 ed1fad8ad89af9d971cb68312284911c16b05c7dcda6e5bc164ada9544587311
MD5 d646396313df6162dd418c22504150b7
BLAKE2b-256 91d66057e3c781d814b8bfb8fac8f11b438ffc387a10f5e825015f17961d82da

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for doltlite-0.50.2-py3-none-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl:

Publisher: wheels.yml on dolthub/doltlite-python

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

File details

Details for the file doltlite-0.50.2-py3-none-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl.

File metadata

File hashes

Hashes for doltlite-0.50.2-py3-none-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 44f204c86d0ec814ac9e5040db6108a4a696988d4d5ba31b6690d72f76dd144d
MD5 a5cefdddf58d3281ed4fa9d602ebdc72
BLAKE2b-256 0f327b51f281fc97cc49fe013e979684a323e59bb0c5d35401aaa1930c20bf2f

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for doltlite-0.50.2-py3-none-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl:

Publisher: wheels.yml on dolthub/doltlite-python

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

Release history Release notifications | RSS feed

0.50.4

4 files

0.50.3

4 files

This release

0.50.2 This release

4 files

0.50.1

4 files

0.50.0

4 files

0.11.57

4 files

0.11.56

4 files

0.11.55

4 files

0.11.54

4 files

0.11.53

4 files

0.11.52

4 files

0.11.51

4 files

0.11.50

4 files

0.11.49

4 files

0.11.48

4 files

0.11.47

4 files

0.11.46

4 files

0.11.45

4 files

0.11.44

4 files

0.11.43

4 files

0.11.42

4 files

0.11.41

4 files

0.11.40

4 files

0.11.39

4 files

0.11.38

4 files

0.11.37

4 files

0.11.36

4 files

0.11.35

4 files

0.11.34

4 files

0.11.33

4 files

0.11.32

4 files

0.11.31

4 files

0.11.30

4 files

0.11.29

4 files

0.11.28

4 files

0.11.27

4 files

0.11.26

4 files

0.11.25

4 files

0.11.24

4 files

0.11.23

4 files

0.11.22

4 files

0.11.21

4 files

0.11.20

4 files

0.11.19

4 files

0.11.18

4 files

0.11.17

4 files

0.11.16

4 files

0.11.15

4 files

0.11.14

4 files

0.11.13

4 files

0.11.8

4 files

0.11.2

4 files

Anthropic, PBC Visionary sponsor Bloomberg Visionary sponsor Hudson River Trading Visionary sponsor Meta Visionary sponsor NVIDIA Visionary sponsor Microsoft Sustainability sponsor Depot Continuous Integration AWS Cloud computing and Security Sponsor Datadog Monitoring Fastly CDN Google Download Analytics Sentry Error logging StatusPage Status page