ThimbleDBv2.1.0
Search/

Repository-backed documentation

Build from the model, not from a guess.

Start with workload fit, then move through architecture, security, deployment, and operations. Every page is generated from the public GitHub repository.

01Build a local exampleOne command, a local authority, typed notes, and indexed queries.02Review the architectureTrust boundaries, storage model, cache, and scopes.03Check the rejection criteriaKnow when another database is the better choice.

Start here

7 guides

Quickstart

Install ThimbleDB, choose an authority, connect external identity, and create the browser client.

Local development

Scaffold a local app, use the safe development identity, and move to production OIDC.

Should you use ThimbleDB?

Use an exact fit check to decide whether a vibe-coded or AI-assisted small app matches ThimbleDB.

Use cases

Check whether a small web application fits ThimbleDB before choosing a storage model.

Tradeoffs

Review verified behaviour, open questions, introduced costs, and workloads that need another database.

Implementation prompts

Copy practical integration, deployment, migration, and security-review prompts into a coding tool.

Starter examples

Use maintained Node and Cloudflare repository templates or run the checked-in package examples.

Use cases

6 guides

Per-user workspace and drafts

Model settings, drafts, and user-owned records with stable identity scopes and bounded collections.

Multi-tenant operations portal

Separate tenant and user records for a read-heavy internal operations application.

Field guide and inspections

Keep reference material available from browser cache while submitting connected inspection records.

Catalogue or reference library

Serve a small bounded catalogue with snapshot reads and measured growth thresholds.

Progress or activity journal

Store user-owned entries, summaries, and profile data without a separate database engine.

Structured AI application context

Keep bounded preferences and task context separate from model prompts and provider tokens.

Compare

6 guides

Database comparisons

Compare ThimbleDB with D1, SQLite, Firestore, lowdb, and direct object storage by workload.

ThimbleDB and Cloudflare D1

Choose between an object-storage protocol and Cloudflare's managed SQLite-compatible database.

ThimbleDB and SQLite

Compare browser-cached object storage with a mature embedded transactional SQL engine.

ThimbleDB and Firestore

Compare application-owned object storage with managed document queries, listeners, and offline writes.

ThimbleDB and lowdb

Compare a hosted browser-and-authority protocol with a lightweight local JSON database.

ThimbleDB and direct object storage

Decide whether direct JSON objects are enough or a versioned storage protocol is justified.

Understand

10 guides

Architecture

Understand the browser cache, authority boundary, object storage source of truth, and scope model.

System diagrams

Review trust boundaries, query and index flows, key rotation, service access, migration, and provider topology.

Storage providers

Compare Cloudflare R2, local files, Azure Blob Storage, Amazon S3, and S3-compatible systems.

Authentication and identity

Use external OIDC identities, stable internal user IDs, revocable sessions, and explicit scope grants.

Machine and service access

Generate Entra roles, authenticate service principals, and keep live viewers within explicit scope grants.

Security model

Review trust boundaries, encryption, key handling, revocation limits, browser risks, and threat assumptions.

Object protocol

Inspect the TDB1 envelope, authenticated object keys, trie and snapshot layouts, and conditional writes.

Adaptive collection layouts

Choose snapshots or tries from measured collection size, access patterns, and write concurrency.

Queries and secondary indexes

Define typed collections, bounded predicates, deterministic query plans, and explicit immutable indexes.

Deletion and retention

Understand tombstones, restore windows, purge grace, scope erasure, and quiescent physical collection.

Deploy and operate

5 guides

Deploy to Cloudflare

Deploy the reference Worker authority with private R2 buckets and an external OIDC application.

Deploy to Azure

Run the Node authority in Azure Container Apps with separate private Blob containers.

Deploy to AWS

Run the Lambda container authority with private S3 data and authentication buckets.

Operations

Plan keys, backups, monitoring, incidents, retention maintenance, and provider lifecycle rules.

Logical migration

Move data through checksummed NDJSON archives and JSON, CSV, lowdb, SQLite, PostgreSQL, or Firestore adapters.

Reference

5 guides

Public package API

Use stable root, authentication, authority, and provider package exports.

Versioning and compatibility

Understand package semver, TDB1 protocol compatibility, key versions, and provider adapter changes.

Evaluation harness

Run the sample store, local provider, browser harness, and reproducible workload measurements.

R2 browser benchmarks

Read multi-region browser results, raw evidence references, limitations, and layout findings.

Changelog

Review package releases and user-visible changes across the ThimbleDB project.