dotfiles/claude/skills/sqlite/SKILL.md

name	description
sqlite	Recommended SQLite defaults (PRAGMAs and STRICT tables). Use when setting up a new project that uses SQLite, or when adding new SQLite tables to an existing project.

Apply these when starting a new SQLite project or adding tables. They are the sane defaults SQLite ships without.

Connection PRAGMAs

Run these on every new connection (except journal_mode, see below). They are per-connection state, not stored in the DB file. If your library has a "connection init" hook, put them there.

PRAGMA journal_mode = WAL;      -- set once, persists in the DB file
PRAGMA busy_timeout = 5000;     -- wait 5s on a locked DB instead of erroring
PRAGMA synchronous = NORMAL;    -- safe to lower from FULL only under WAL
PRAGMA foreign_keys = ON;       -- SQLite ignores FK constraints unless you enable this

Tables

Create tables as STRICT so column types are enforced:

CREATE TABLE user (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT NOT NULL) STRICT;

Gotchas

• foreign_keys, busy_timeout, synchronous reset per connection. Missing them on any connection silently drops the behavior (e.g. FK constraints stop being enforced). Set them on connection open.
• journal_mode = WAL is different: it persists in the DB file, so set it once. WAL needs the DB on local disk (breaks on network filesystems) and adds -wal and -shm sidecar files next to the DB.
• synchronous = NORMAL durability: an OS crash or power loss can lose the last few committed transactions. The DB stays consistent (no corruption) — only the tail is lost. NORMAL is almost always the right choice; FULL is rarely needed. If you genuinely cannot afford to lose any committed write, you shouldn't be on SQLite at all — use a DB replicated across regions.
• STRICT allows only INT, INTEGER, REAL, TEXT, BLOB, ANY. No VARCHAR, DATETIME, BOOLEAN, etc. Use ANY for a column that needs to hold mixed types.