---
title: SQLite Store
description: Lightweight SQLite store for development, testing, and single-node deployments.
---

The `store/sqlite` package implements Sentinel's `store.Store` interface using the grove ORM with the SQLite driver. It requires no external database process, making it ideal for development, integration tests, and single-node deployments.

## Usage

```go
import (
    "github.com/xraph/grove"
    "github.com/xraph/grove/drivers/sqlitedriver"
    "github.com/xraph/sentinel/store/sqlite"
)

db, err := grove.Open(sqlitedriver.Open("sentinel.db"))
if err != nil {
    log.Fatal(err)
}

s := sqlite.New(db)
if err := s.Migrate(ctx); err != nil {
    log.Fatal(err)
}

eng, err := engine.New(
    engine.WithStore(s),
)
```

Pass `":memory:"` for a fully in-process, zero-persistence store useful in tests:

```go
db, err := grove.Open(sqlitedriver.Open(":memory:"))
```

## Tables

The SQLite store creates the same tables as the PostgreSQL store, with SQLite-appropriate types:

| Table | Entity | Key columns |
|-------|--------|-------------|
| `sentinel_suites` | Suites | `id`, `app_id`, `name`, `system_prompt`, `model`, `persona_ref`, `metadata` (TEXT/JSON) |
| `sentinel_cases` | Cases | `id`, `suite_id`, `name`, `input`, `expected`, `scenario_type`, `scorers` (TEXT/JSON), `tags` (TEXT/JSON) |
| `sentinel_runs` | Runs | `id`, `suite_id`, `app_id`, `model`, `state`, `pass_rate`, `avg_score`, `dimension_scores` (TEXT/JSON) |
| `sentinel_results` | Results | `id`, `run_id`, `case_id`, `status`, `score`, `output`, `scorer_results` (TEXT/JSON), `run_trace` (TEXT/JSON) |
| `sentinel_baselines` | Baselines | `id`, `suite_id`, `run_id`, `name`, `results` (TEXT/JSON), `dimension_scores` (TEXT/JSON), `is_current` |
| `sentinel_prompt_versions` | Prompt versions | `id`, `suite_id`, `version`, `system_prompt`, `changelog`, `is_current` |

## Internals

| Aspect | Detail |
|--------|--------|
| Driver | grove ORM + sqlitedriver |
| Migrations | grove orchestrator with programmatic migrations |
| Transactions | SQLite-level transactions |
| Concurrency | Multiple readers, single writer (WAL mode) |
| JSON columns | Stored as TEXT with JSON serialization/deserialization |

## When to use

- Development and local testing without external dependencies.
- Single-process or embedded deployments.
- CI pipelines where spinning up PostgreSQL is impractical.
- Quick prototyping and evaluation experiments on a single machine.