Limitations¶

MiniSQL is a research and learning project, not yet production-ready. This page lists known limitations and workarounds.

SQL features not yet implemented¶

Feature	Notes
Recursive CTEs (`WITH RECURSIVE`)	Non-recursive CTEs are fully supported
Savepoints (`SAVEPOINT`, `RELEASE`, `ROLLBACK TO`)	Full transaction rollback is supported
`CREATE TABLE AS SELECT`	Use a regular `CREATE TABLE` followed by `INSERT INTO … SELECT`
`MERGE` / `UPSERT` by conflict target	`ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING / DO UPDATE` is supported but without explicit conflict-column targeting
`CROSS JOIN`	Not supported
Lateral joins	Not supported

Limitation	Workaround
`FROM table alias` (bare alias)	Use `FROM table AS alias`

Limitation	Notes
Maximum 64 columns per table	Enforced by the 64-bit NULL bitmask per row
No `INTERVAL` column type	`INTERVAL` literals are supported in arithmetic expressions only
No `DECIMAL` / `NUMERIC` types	Use `INT8` for fixed-precision integers or `DOUBLE` for approximation
`TEXT` columns cannot be primary keys or unique-index keys	Use `VARCHAR(n)` for indexed string columns

Limitation	Notes
Single connection recommended	MiniSQL's OCC write lock and shared pager are not safe with multiple concurrent connections from different `sql.DB` pools. Set `MaxOpenConns(1)`.
No WAL group commit	Each write transaction flushes to the WAL individually
Checkpoint blocked by active readers	`PRAGMA wal_checkpoint` waits until all snapshot readers finish

Limitation	Notes
No connection pooling	`db.SetMaxOpenConns(1)` is required
No online backup API	Use `VACUUM` to compact; copy the file while no writes are active
Removing encryption has no SQL equivalent	Use `PRAGMA rekey = '<hex>'` to rotate or add a key; to remove encryption entirely use `db.ReKey(ctx, nil)` via the Go API
`VACUUM` requires exclusive access	Blocks all other connections for its duration

Metrics / observability API (db.Stats() equivalent beyond the standard database/sql pool stats)
CREATE VIEW
CREATE TRIGGER
ALTER TABLE … MODIFY COLUMN (type changes)
ALTER TABLE … ADD CONSTRAINT after table creation

If you encounter a bug or unexpected behaviour, please open an issue at github.com/RichardKnop/minisql.