Turso Has a Free Edge Database API Built on libSQL

#turso #sqlite #database #api

Turso gives you SQLite at the edge with an HTTP API and native client libraries. Your data replicates globally with single-digit millisecond reads from any region.

Getting Started

npm install @libsql/client

import { createClient } from '@libsql/client';

const db = createClient({
  url: 'libsql://your-db-name-org.turso.io',
  authToken: 'your-token'
});

// Create table
await db.execute(`
  CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS users (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
    name TEXT NOT NULL,
    email TEXT UNIQUE
  )
`);

// Insert
await db.execute({
  sql: 'INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES (?, ?)',
  args: ['Alice', 'alice@example.com']
});

// Query
const result = await db.execute('SELECT * FROM users');
console.log(result.rows);

HTTP API

No SDK needed — just curl:

curl -X POST https://your-db-org.turso.io/v2/pipeline \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TURSO_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"requests":[{"type":"execute","stmt":{"sql":"SELECT * FROM users"}}]}'

Embedded Replicas

Run a local SQLite replica that syncs with the edge:

const db = createClient({
  url: 'file:local.db',
  syncUrl: 'libsql://your-db-org.turso.io',
  authToken: 'your-token'
});

await db.sync(); // Pull latest from edge
const result = await db.execute('SELECT * FROM users');

Batch Transactions

await db.batch([
  { sql: 'INSERT INTO orders (user_id, total) VALUES (?, ?)', args: [1, 99.99] },
  { sql: 'UPDATE users SET order_count = order_count + 1 WHERE id = ?', args: [1] }
], 'write');

Why This Matters

Edge-first: Data in 30+ regions with <10ms reads
SQLite compatibility: Use existing tools and knowledge
Embedded replicas: Zero-latency reads for server apps
Free tier: 9GB storage, 500M rows read/month

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