Repository navigation
Sunshine: use sqlite db for persistent data #87
Description
Is there an existing issue for this item?
- I have searched the existing issues
Repositories
LizardByte/Sunshine
Languages/Skills/Technologies
C++, SQL
Description
I believe it's a better practice to store data in a proper database instead of random json files.
Pros
- All data in one location
- Apps can have an actual ID (auto incrementing)
- No more boost json
- Can use db fixtures for unit testing different scenarios
- Can use proper migrations when the db structure changes, storing the db version in migration table... with up and down migrations. For down migrations Sunshine could download the downgrade SQL file from the git repo since it wouldn't be available in the previous versions of Sunshine.
Cons
- All data in one location
- SQL
Estimated Effort
effort:Large
Priority
priority:Medium
Target Milestone
6+ months
Dependencies
No response
Activity
jorys-paulin commentedon Aug 11, 2026
Honestly for a project like Sunshine I don't think you need to bother. SQL is very powerful, especially at scale, but it also comes with a lot of overhead. Just making all the data structures fit in columns can be additional work, like prep commands would need their own table in addition to the applications table, and of course a third table to link the other two.
I think you can still get away with regular config/data files, that's what most of the self-hosted apps I know use as well. You can use version fields for breaking changes if need be, and for testing you can have "golden" files for reference.
It is a shame that not everything is stored in the one file, but I feel like it's too late to change this now, the opportunity for it was about five years ago now.