NeoSQLite - NoSQL for SQLite with PyMongo-like API

NeoSQLite (new + nosqlite) is a pure Python library that provides a schemaless, PyMongo-like wrapper for interacting with SQLite databases. The API is designed to be familiar to those who have worked with PyMongo, providing a simple and intuitive way to work with document-based data in a relational database.

Keywords: NoSQL, NoSQLite, SQLite NoSQL, PyMongo alternative, SQLite document database, Python NoSQL, schemaless SQLite, MongoDB-like SQLite

Features

PyMongo-like API: A familiar interface for developers experienced with MongoDB.
NX-27017: MongoDB Wire Protocol Server — Use PyMongo with SQLite backend
Schemaless Documents: Store flexible JSON-like documents.
Lazy Cursor: find() returns a memory-efficient cursor for iterating over results.
Raw Batch Support: find_raw_batches() returns raw JSON data in batches for efficient processing.
Advanced Indexing: Single-key, compound-key, nested-key indexes, and FTS5 text search.
TTL Indexes: expireAfterSeconds expiry with lazy auto-purge and an opt-in background sweeper.
ACID Transactions: Full ClientSession API with PyMongo 4.x parity using SQLite SAVEPOINTs.
Change Streams: Native SQLite triggers for watch() — no replica set required.
Advanced Aggregation: $setWindowFields, $graphLookup, $fill, streaming $facet, and more.
Tier-1 SQL Optimization: Dozens of operators translated to native SQL for 10-100x speedup.
Native $jsonSchema: Query filtering and write-time validation via SQLite CHECK constraints.
Window Functions: Complete MongoDB 5.0+ suite ($rank, $top, $bottom, math operators).
MongoDB-compatible ObjectId: Full 12-byte specification with automatic generation.
Full GridFS Support: Modern GridFSBucket API plus legacy GridFS compatibility.
Binary Data: PyMongo-compatible Binary class with UUID support.
AutoVacuum & compact: Reclaim disk space with incremental or full VACUUM.
dbStats Command: MongoDB-compatible statistics with accurate index sizes.
SQL Translation Caching: 10-30% faster for repeated aggregation pipelines and $expr queries.
Configurable Journal Mode: WAL (default), DELETE, MEMORY, and more.
Security Hardening: Built-in SQL injection protection via centralized identifier quoting.

See Release Notes for the full history.

Latest Release: v1.16.0

NeoSQLite v1.16.0 is a feature release delivering PyMongo modern API parity, TTL index expiry, and change-stream hardening for SQLite-backed job queues. All additions are backward compatible.

Key Highlights:

PyMongo Modern Parity — find() accepts limit/skip/sort kwargs; create_index() accepts expireAfterSeconds and other options; new get_database()/drop_database() helpers.
TTL Index Expiry — expireAfterSeconds declaration with purge_expired(), lazy auto-purge on reads, and an opt-in background sweeper.
Change-Stream Hardening — resume_after/start_after tokens, library-side $match filtering, and a documented drain-then-tail job-queue recipe.
48 New Tests — Full suite green (2,919 passed) with the force-fallback kill switch both on and off.

For full details, see documents/releases/v1.16.0.md. Previous release highlights are in documents/releases/v1.15.2.md.

Installation

pip install neosqlite

Optional Extras

# Enhanced JSON/JSONB support (only needed if your SQLite lacks JSON functions)
pip install neosqlite[jsonb]

# Memory-constrained processing for large result sets
pip install neosqlite[memory-constrained]

# NX-27017 MongoDB Wire Protocol Server
pip install "neosqlite[nx27017]"          # Core
pip install "neosqlite[nx27017-speed]"    # With uvloop (Linux/macOS)

Quickstart

import neosqlite

with neosqlite.Connection(':memory:') as conn:
    users = conn.users

    # Insert
    users.insert_one({'name': 'Alice', 'age': 30})
    users.insert_many([
        {'name': 'Bob', 'age': 25},
        {'name': 'Charlie', 'age': 35}
    ])

    # Find
    alice = users.find_one({'name': 'Alice'})
    for user in users.find():
        print(user)

    # Update
    users.update_one({'name': 'Alice'}, {'$set': {'age': 31}})

    # Delete & Count
    result = users.delete_many({'age': {'$gt': 30}})
    print(f"Remaining: {users.count_documents({})}")

Drop-in Replacement for PyMongo

1. Direct API (No MongoDB)

import neosqlite
client = neosqlite.Connection('mydatabase.db')
collection = client.mycollection
collection.insert_one({"name": "test"})

2. Wire Protocol (NX-27017) — Zero Code Changes

# Start server
nx-27017 --db ./myapp.db

# Then use PyMongo normally — no code changes!
from pymongo import MongoClient
client = MongoClient('mongodb://localhost:27017/')
collection = client.mydatabase.mycollection
collection.insert_one({"name": "test"})  # Works!

PyMongo Compatibility

Metric	Result
Total Tests	381
Passed	363
Skipped	18 (architectural differences)
Failed	0
Compatibility	100%

Skipped tests are due to MongoDB requiring a replica set (change streams, transactions) or NeoSQLite extensions ($log2, $contains). All comparable APIs pass. Tested against MongoDB 8.x (mongo:8.2.12 pinned container image).

Run the comparison yourself: ./scripts/run-api-comparison.sh

`_id` Field Behavior

NeoSQLite uses a strict MongoDB-compatible _id column:

Integer _id values are stored and queried in the dedicated _id column — not redirected to the auto-increment id rowid.
String _id values are kept verbatim (e.g., "5" is a string, not converted to integer 5).
Auto-generated _id produces MongoDB-compatible 12-byte ObjectIds stored in the _id column.
Legacy collections (created before the _id column existed) fall back to the id column via an automatic resolver.
Range queries ($gt, $lt, etc.) on _id use Python evaluation to preserve correct cross-type comparison semantics (MongoDB BSON ordering).

Key APIs

Indexes

# Single-key, compound, nested
users.create_index('age')
users.create_index([('name', neosqlite.ASCENDING), ('age', neosqlite.DESCENDING)])
users.create_index('profile.followers')

# FTS5 text search
users.create_search_index('bio')

Query Operators

$eq, $gt, $gte, $lt, $lte, $ne, $in, $nin, $and, $or, $not, $nor, $exists, $type, $regex, $elemMatch, $size, $mod, $bitsAllSet, $bitsAllClear, $bitsAnySet, $bitsAnyClear, $text (FTS5), $jsonSchema, and more.

Aggregation Stages

$match, $project, $group, $sort, $skip, $limit, $unwind, $lookup, $facet, $bucket, $bucketAuto, $sample, $merge, $setWindowFields, $graphLookup, $fill, $densify, $unionWith, $replaceRoot, $replaceWith, $unset, $count, $redact, $addFields, $switch.

Transactions

with client.start_session() as session:
    with session.start_transaction():
        users.insert_one({"name": "Alice"}, session=session)
        orders.insert_one({"user": "Alice"}, session=session)
    # Commits on success, rolls back on exception

Change Streams

# Native SQLite triggers — no replica set needed
stream = collection.watch()
for change in stream:
    print(change)

Journal Mode

from neosqlite import Connection, JournalMode

db = Connection("app.db", journal_mode=JournalMode.WAL)  # Default

Mode	Use Case
WAL	Best concurrency (default)
DELETE	Single-file distribution
MEMORY	Maximum speed, no crash recovery

Documentation

Topic	Link
Knowledge Base / Docs	documents/
Release Notes	documents/releases/
GridFS	documents/gridfs.md
Text Search	documents/text-search.md
Aggregation Optimization	documents/aggregation-pipeline-optimization.md
NX-27017 Server	packages/nx_27017/README.md
API Comparison	examples/api_comparison/README.md

Contributing

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/cwt/neosqlite.git
cd neosqlite

Create and activate a virtual environment:

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

Then run the test script, which installs all required dependencies automatically:

./scripts/runtest.sh

Shell Script Compatibility

All shell scripts in this project target bash 3.2+ for compatibility with macOS, which still ships with bash 3.2.x. Please ensure any contributions to shell scripts remain compatible.

Contribution and License

This project was originally developed as shaunduncan/nosqlite and was later forked as plutec/nosqlite before becoming NeoSQLite. It is now maintained by Chaiwat Suttipongsakul and is licensed under the MIT license.

Contributions are highly encouraged. If you find a bug, have an enhancement in mind, or want to suggest a new feature, please feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.

Metadata

Release files for neosqlite 1.16.0

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Source distribution for neosqlite 1.16.0
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