Let's Build a Simple Database
A step-by-step tutorial for writing a small SQLite-like database in C.cstack/db_tutorial
- Stars
- 10.5k
- Forks
- 1k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- C
- Last update
- 2.7 years ago
- Type
- Learning resource
No commits in over a year — check for forks or alternatives before adopting.
What it is
This is a written tutorial that walks through building a simple database from scratch in C, modeled loosely on SQLite. The README is short and points to a rendered website where the full tutorial lives. It is useful for understanding how a database stores and retrieves data at a basic level.
- Follow the tutorial to build a basic database program in C
- Learn how data is laid out in memory and on disk at a conceptual level
- Use it as a reference when studying SQLite's design
Great for
- Students who want to see how a simple database works internally
- Developers who already know some C and want a hands-on project
- Readers who learn best by building something step by step
Not ideal for
- People who need a production database; this is a teaching project, and the README does not claim it is suitable for real workloads
- Readers with no C experience, since the tutorial is written in C
- People looking for installable software; the README describes a tutorial, not a packaged tool
How to get it
- 1
Read it online
You'll need: C compiler · Ruby and Bundler (only if you want to run the tutorial site locally)
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/cstack/db_tutorial - 2
Run it
- Open the rendered tutorial at https://cstack.github.io/db_tutorial/
- Read the first chapter and follow its instructions
- Build the code as the tutorial describes
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Read the rendered site for the full context the README omits
- Work through the chapters in order, since each builds on the last
- Run the site locally with bundle exec jekyll serve if you want to read offline
Downloads
Strengths
- Free and open source under the MIT license
- Hands-on, incremental approach that builds one piece at a time
- Widely starred and well known in the developer community
Trade-offs
- The README provided is truncated and says little beyond a pointer to the website
- Its last push was in March 2024, so it may not reflect newer tooling
- It is a learning project rather than a full SQLite replacement
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| db_tutorial (this) | 10.5k | Learning resource | intermediate | 2.7 years ago | Students who want to see how a simple database works internally |
| awesome-cheatsheets | 46.6k | Learning resource | beginner | 20 days ago | Developers brushing up on a language or tool they use only occasionally |
| tech-interview-for-developer | 17.7k | Learning resource | beginner | 1.4 years ago | Korean-speaking junior developers preparing for technical interviews |
| awesome-bigdata | 14.7k | Curated list | beginner | 7 days ago | Developers looking for an overview of big data tools to evaluate |
| go-clean-arch | 10.2k | Learning resource | intermediate | 2.5 years ago | Go developers who want to see a concrete example of Clean Architecture |
| duckdb | 42.7k | Library | beginner | 4 days ago | Analysts who want to run SQL directly on CSV, Parquet, or JSON files |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.