After rewriting SQLite in Rust, Turso turns its sights on Postgres
Turso, the cloud database company that rewrote SQLite from scratch in Rust, has begun a new project to build a Postgres-compatible database on the same technical foundation. The move builds on the virtual machine architecture underpinning Turso's SQLite reimplementation, which the company believes can be extended beyond one database format to serve as a shared core for multiple SQL and NoSQL frontends, including potentially MySQL and Redis.
Turso originated as ChiselStrike, a startup founded by former ScyllaDB engineers Glauber Costa and Pekka Enberg, who first forked SQLite as libSQL before undertaking a full rewrite, initially codenamed Limbo. The rewrite centres on a bytecode-based Virtual Database Engine (VDBE) that compiles SQL queries, which the founders argue is expressive enough to replicate any database system, not just SQLite; they previously demonstrated this by running the video game DOOM through the engine. Costa has described the ambition as making Turso "the LLVM of databases", with one core engine supporting many database frontends, while stressing that the Postgres effort is not a criticism of Postgres itself but an attempt to adapt it for cloud-native use.
- Turso is building a Postgres-compatible database atop its Rust-based SQLite rewrite
- Shared virtual machine core could eventually support MySQL, Redis and other frontends
- Founders liken the approach to "the LLVM of databases"
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Turso is a cloud database company that completely rewrote SQLite, a widely used database system that powers countless applications, entirely in Rust, a modern programming language. The company is now undertaking a similar project with Postgres, another popular database system, aiming to build a version that works with Postgres but is optimised for cloud computing. The broader goal is to create a unified foundation that can support multiple different database formats.
Turso's approach uses a specialised virtual machine that translates database queries (the commands used to retrieve and store information) into compact instructions that run efficiently. The company argues that this approach is flexible enough to work for any type of database system, not just SQLite or Postgres. They have demonstrated this by successfully running the classic video game DOOM through their engine, showcasing how broadly applicable their technology can be.
The company was founded by engineers who previously worked at another database company, and their ultimate vision is to create a single universal core engine that could power many different database types, potentially including MySQL and Redis. Rather than positioning this as a criticism of Postgres, they present it as an opportunity to redesign databases for cloud computing, where the ability to support multiple database types efficiently through one unified system could offer practical advantages.