typicode/lowdb — 22.6k★ on GitHub (JavaScript). Simple and fast JSON database
Snapshot summary built from the project's own GitHub metadata — there's no written TopGit review yet. The page will update automatically when a full review is published.
WHY NO REVIEW YET
TopGit writes full reviews for the most-starred, most-requested repositories. This page is a snapshot until then — see the READ ME tab for the original README in full.
If you know JavaScript, you know how to use lowdb.
Read or create db.json
const db = await JSONFilePreset('db.json', { posts: [] })
Use plain JavaScript to change data
const post = { id: 1, title: 'lowdb is awesome', views: 100 }
// In two steps
db.data.posts.push(post)
await db.write()
// Or in one
await db.update(({ posts }) => posts.push(post))
In the same spirit, query using native Array functions:
const { posts } = db.data
posts.at(0) // First post
posts.filter((post) => post.title.includes('lowdb')) // Filter by title
posts.find((post) => post.id === 1) // Find by id
posts.toSorted((a, b) => a.views - b.views) // Sort by views
It's that simple. db.data is just a JavaScript object, no magic.
Sponsors
Become a sponsor and have your company logo here 👉 GitHub Sponsors
Features
Lightweight
Minimalist
TypeScript
Plain JavaScript
Safe atomic writes
Hackable:
Change storage, file format (JSON, YAML, ...) or add encryption via adapters
Extend it with lodash, ramda, ... for super powers!
Automatically switches to fast in-memory mode during tests
Install
npm install lowdb
Usage
Lowdb is a pure ESM package. If you're having trouble using it in your project, please read this.
import { JSONFilePreset } from 'lowdb/node'
// Read or create db.json
const defaultData = { posts: [] }
const db = await JSONFilePreset('db.json', defaultData)
// Update db.json
await db.update(({ posts }) => posts.push('hello world'))
// Alternatively you can call db.write() explicitely later
// to write to db.json
db.data.posts.push('hello world')
await db.write()
// db.json
{
"posts": [ "hello world" ]
}
TypeScript
You can use TypeScript to check your data types.
type Data = {
messages: string[]
}
const defaultData: Data = { messages: [] }
const db = await JSONPreset<Data>('db.json', defaultData)
db.data.messages.push('foo') // ✅ Success
db.data.messages.push(1) // ❌ TypeScript error
Lodash
You can extend lowdb with Lodash (or other libraries). To be able to extend it, we're not using JSONPreset here. Instead, we're using lower components.
import { Low } from 'lowdb'
import { JSONFile } from 'lowdb/node'
import lodash from 'lodash'
type Post = {
id: number
title: string
}
type Data = {
posts: Post[]
}
// Extend Low class with a new `chain` field
class LowWithLodash<T> extends Low<T> {
chain: lodash.ExpChain<this['data']> = lodash.chain(this).get('data')
}
const defaultData: Data = {
posts: [],
}
const adapter = new JSONFile<Data>('db.json')
const db = new LowWithLodash(adapter, defaultData)
await db.read()
// Instead of db.data use db.chain to access lodash API
const post = db.chain.get('posts').find({ id: 1 }).value() // Important: value() must be called to execute chain
CLI, Server, Browser and in tests usage
See src/examples/ directory.
API
Presets
Lowdb provides four presets for common cases.
JSONFilePreset(filename, defaultData)
JSONFileSyncPreset(filename, defaultData)
LocalStoragePreset(name, defaultData)
SessionStoragePreset(name, defaultData)
See src/examples/ directory for usage.
Lowdb is extremely flexible, if you need to extend it or modify its behavior, use the classes and adapters below instead of the presets.
Classes
Lowdb has two classes (for asynchronous and synchronous adapters).
new Low(adapter, defaultData)
import { Low } from 'lowdb'
import { JSONFile } from 'lowdb/node'
const db = new Low(new JSONFile('file.json'), {})
await db.read()
await db.write()
new LowSync(adapterSync, defaultData)
import { LowSync } from 'lowdb'
import { JSONFileSync } from 'lowdb/node'
const db = new LowSync(new JSONFileSync('file.json'), {})
db.read()
db.write()
Methods
db.read()
Calls adapter.read() and sets db.data.
Note:JSONFile and JSONFileSync adapters will set db.data to null if file doesn't exist.
db.data // === null
db.read()
db.data // !== null
db.write()
Calls adapter.write(db.data).
db.data = { posts: [] }
db.write() // file.json will be { posts: [] }
db.data = {}
db.write() // file.json will be {}
db.update(fn)
Calls fn() then db.write().
db.update((data) => {
// make changes to data
// ...
})
// files.json will be updated
Properties
db.data
Holds your db content. If you're using the adapters coming with lowdb, it can be any type supported by JSON.stringify.
import { JSONFile, JSONFileSync } from 'lowdb/node'
new Low(new JSONFile(filename), {})
new LowSync(new JSONFileSync(filename), {})
MemoryMemorySync
In-memory adapters. Useful for speeding up unit tests. See src/examples/ directory.
import { Memory, MemorySync } from 'lowdb'
new Low(new Memory(), {})
new LowSync(new MemorySync(), {})
LocalStorageSessionStorage
Synchronous adapter for window.localStorage and window.sessionStorage.
import { LocalStorage, SessionStorage } from 'lowdb/browser'
new LowSync(new LocalStorage(name), {})
new LowSync(new SessionStorage(name), {})
Utility adapters
TextFileTextFileSync
Adapters for reading and writing text. Useful for creating custom adapters.
DataFileDataFileSync
Adapters for easily supporting other data formats or adding behaviors (encrypt, compress...).
import { DataFile } from 'lowdb/node'
new DataFile(filename, {
parse: YAML.parse,
stringify: YAML.stringify
})
new DataFile(filename, {
parse: (data) => { decypt(JSON.parse(data)) },
stringify: (str) => { encrypt(JSON.stringify(str)) }
})
Third-party adapters
If you've published an adapter for lowdb, feel free to create a PR to add it here.
Writing your own adapter
You may want to create an adapter to write db.data to YAML, XML, encrypt data, a remote storage, ...
An adapter is a simple class that just needs to expose two methods:
class AsyncAdapter {
read() {
/* ... */
} // should return Promise<data>
write(data) {
/* ... */
} // should return Promise<void>
}
class SyncAdapter {
read() {
/* ... */
} // should return data
write(data) {
/* ... */
} // should return nothing
}
For example, let's say you have some async storage and want to create an adapter for it:
import { Low } from 'lowdb'
import { api } from './AsyncStorage'
class CustomAsyncAdapter {
// Optional: your adapter can take arguments
constructor(args) {
// ...
}
async read() {
const data = await api.read()
return data
}
async write(data) {
await api.write(data)
}
}
const adapter = new CustomAsyncAdapter()
const db = new Low(adapter, {})
See src/adapters/ for more examples.
Custom serialization
To create an adapter for another format than JSON, you can use TextFile or TextFileSync.
For example:
import { Adapter, Low } from 'lowdb'
import { TextFile } from 'lowdb/node'
import YAML from 'yaml'
class YAMLFile {
constructor(filename) {
this.adapter = new TextFile(filename)
}
async read() {
const data = await this.adapter.read()
if (data === null) {
return null
} else {
return YAML.parse(data)
}
}
write(obj) {
return this.adapter.write(YAML.stringify(obj))
}
}
const adapter = new YAMLFile('file.yaml')
const db = new Low(adapter, {})
Limits
Lowdb doesn't support Node's cluster module.
If you have large JavaScript objects (~10-100MB) you may hit some performance issues. This is because whenever you call db.write, the whole db.data is serialized using JSON.stringify and written to storage.
Depending on your use case, this can be fine or not. It can be mitigated by doing batch operations and calling db.write only when you need it.
If you plan to scale, it's highly recommended to use databases like PostgreSQL or MongoDB instead.
No homepage URL was recorded for typicode/lowdb in TopGit's last sync. The README tab above frequently contains screenshots and demo links, or check the repository description on GitHub.
How does typicode/lowdb compare to other Data projects?
typicode/lowdb is tracked by TopGit in the Data category, with 22.6k GitHub stars and written in JavaScript. Browse the Data topic page on TopGit to compare it against similar projects by stars and activity.
How many stars does typicode/lowdb have?
typicode/lowdb has 22.6k GitHub stars — refresh the page for the live number, or check github.com/typicode/lowdb. TopGit mirrors GitHub's count but does not claim minute-by-minute accuracy.
Is typicode/lowdb open source?
Yes — typicode/lowdb ships under the MIT license, which makes its source code freely readable (and, depending on license terms, forkable and reusable). Source: github.com/typicode/lowdb.
What else is in the Data space?
typicode/lowdb is tracked by TopGit under the Data category, alongside 10 GitHub-tagged topics. Trending and Topics pages list peer repositories of comparable stars and language.
What is typicode/lowdb?
typicode/lowdb (typicode/lowdb) is a JavaScript project on GitHub. From the project's own README: Simple and fast JSON database
Where do I read more about typicode/lowdb?
This TopGit page is a snapshot — the READ ME tab shows the project's own README content (links stripped, images preserved). The GitHub repository at github.com/typicode/lowdb is the definitive source.
Read full README in the tab above.
Want a second opinion on lowdb?
Ask an AI that can read this page — one click and you get its take on lowdb.