SkeinDB documentation¶
Welcome to the SkeinDB documentation. SkeinDB is a single-binary database engine with cell-interned MVCC storage, a native typed RPC (SkeinQL), a MySQL-compatible wire protocol, a partial PostgreSQL wire protocol, and a full web admin console — all in one executable.
This site is organised into six sections:
Quickstart
Install, start the server, and run your first query in under 5 minutes.
User Guide
Day-to-day usage: SkeinQL, MySQL/Postgres compatibility, query features, offline writes.
Admin Guide
Configuration, clustering, observability, audit WAL, and the web admin console.
Developer / API
SkeinIR internals, research extensions, Wasm UDFs, CRDT merges, CDC, ETags.
Internals
On-disk format, delta chains, column snapshots, convergent encryption, QUIC.
Research
The 20-track research agenda, project backlog, and authoritative status matrix.
New here? Start with these five¶
- Quickstart — 5 minutes — install, run, connect.
- Your first query (SkeinQL) — create a table and query it using the native RPC.
- MySQL in 5 minutes — if you already speak MySQL, connect with
mysqland go. - Admin console tour — a guided walkthrough of the 26-panel web admin.
- Setting up a 3-node cluster — tokens, topology, promotion.
More guided walkthroughs¶
PostgreSQL in 5 minutes
Bring up the PG listener, connect with psql, and try the current compatibility surface.
Monitoring and metrics
Use /health, /metrics, stats.snapshot, and SkeinAdmin to watch a live server.
Vector RAG retrieval
Run a credential-free sample app that seeds embeddings, calls vector.search, and builds grounded context.
CDC with SSE
Create a table subscription, stream changes over SSE, ack offsets, and reconnect safely.
Encryption and key rotation
Register keys, switch modes, inspect status, and rotate the active database key.
RBAC and access control
Turn on RBAC, mint read-only and database-scoped tokens, and create per-database users with grants.
Replay bundles and integrity
Export a deterministic replay bundle, import it into a workspace, and verify checksums.
Advanced & research features¶
Privacy & Differential Privacy
R04/R05: DP aggregates with Laplace noise, oblivious execution for access-pattern protection, budgets, audit, and privacy ETags.
Incremental Views & Pipelines
R08: Dependency-graph materialized view maintenance, refresh modes, evaluate, explain_deps, and tight integration with CDC/ETags.
Forensic Audit & Tamper-Evident WAL
R06: Hash-chained WAL, forensic queries, Merkle proofs, and exportable proof bundles for compliance or incident response.
Delta-chained Values + ETags
Core MVCC storage efficiencies, traffic reduction, cache-coherent reads via ETags, and causal consistency.
Full Research Tracks (R01–R20)
Learned indexes, delta chains, vectors, Wasm operators, schema evolution, energy-aware compaction, and more. See the True Status Matrix for hardened vs. prototype.
Suggested paths¶
- Application developer: Quickstart → Your first query (SkeinQL) → Vector RAG retrieval → MySQL in 5 minutes or PostgreSQL in 5 minutes → CDC with SSE.
- Operator / admin: Admin console tour → Monitoring and metrics → RBAC and access control → Setting up a 3-node cluster → Encryption and key rotation → Replay bundles and integrity.
Reference¶
- SkeinQL reference — every RPC method, families, and payloads.
- MySQL compatibility — supported statements and known deviations.
- PostgreSQL compatibility — partial v3 wire protocol status.
- Configuration — every key in
skeindb-config.json. - Observability — Prometheus metrics, tracing, logs.
Status¶
The True Status Matrix is the short authority for current compatibility claims, partial core phases, and research maturity. Use it to see what is shipped, what remains partial, and what should not be overclaimed.
Looking to edit something? Each page has an "Edit this page on GitHub" link at the bottom.