SQLite is a small, zero-configuration, custom-tailored, embeddable, threadsafe, easily maintainable, transactionoriented, SQL-based, relational database management system. There is no separate install or setup procedure to initialize SQLite before using it. There is no configuration file.

SQLite is open source, and is available in the public domain (for more information on open source, visit http:// opensource.org). You can download SQLite source code from its homepage http://www.sqlite.org, compile it using your favorite C compiler, and start using the compiled library. SQLite runs on Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, and a few other operating systems. It has been widely used in low-to-medium tier database applications.

This Short Cut discusses design principles, engineering trade-offs, implementation issues, and operations of SQLite. It presents a comprehensive description of all important components of the SQLite engine.