# Gauntlet

> Gauntlet is a distributed SQL database whose only durable store is one S3-compatible bucket. Transactions are strictly serializable, including across shards. SQL is the SQLite family (Turso engine); clients connect over the PostgreSQL wire protocol or an HTTP JSON API.

Gauntlet is pre-beta software with no public download. Pages marked "Coming" describe planned work that is not available; do not call an API described only on such a page. PostgreSQL wire is a transport, not PostgreSQL SQL. There is no SDK, MCP server or installer yet.

## Get started

- [Gauntlet documentation](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/index.md): Pre-beta. Gauntlet is a distributed SQL database whose only durable store is one object-store bucket. These pages cover what works today, what is refused, and what is coming.
- [Quickstart](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/quickstart.md): Available. Run one node on your own machine, then three nodes on one bucket with TLS, and connect a client.
- [Connect an agent](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/agents.md): Available. Give a coding agent an accurate prompt, a database-scoped token and nothing else.

## Concepts

- [The bucket is the database](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/concepts/architecture.md): Available. One object-store bucket holds everything durable. Nodes are disposable compute that recover from it.
- [Transactions](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/concepts/transactions.md): Available. Every transaction is strictly serializable, including across shards. Clients must retry conflicts and look up unknown outcomes.
- [Scale to zero](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/concepts/scale-to-zero.md): Available. A database that is not in use is released. While released it makes no bucket requests; its next query activates it.
- [Databases, identity and tokens](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/concepts/databases.md): Available. A database has a name, an immutable ID and one token. The database is the unit of isolation.
- [Branches and point-in-time recovery](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/concepts/branches-and-recovery.md): Coming. Copy-on-write branches and restore to an exact transaction are planned. Neither is available today.

## SQL

- [SQL compatibility](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/sql/compatibility.md): Partial. Gauntlet speaks the SQLite dialect over the PostgreSQL wire protocol. Those are two separate promises.
- [Error codes](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/sql/errors.md): Available. Errors use PostgreSQL SQLSTATE codes on both protocols. Four of them need handling in every client.

## Clients

- [PostgreSQL wire](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/clients/pgwire.md): Available. Connect with psql, psycopg, node-postgres or pgjdbc. The wire protocol is PostgreSQL's; the SQL is not.
- [HTTP JSON API](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/clients/http.md): Available. Run a statement, an atomic batch or an interactive session over HTTPS with a bearer token.
- [libSQL clients and ORMs](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/clients/libsql.md): Coming. A libSQL-compatible HTTP endpoint, and the ORMs that come with it, are planned for v1. They are not available today.

## Operations

- [Deploy and qualify a bucket](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/operations/deploy.md): Available. What a deployment is, what the bucket must guarantee, and how nodes are secured.
- [Backups and restore](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/operations/backups.md): Available. A backup is one complete, consistent image of one database. A restore creates a new database.
- [Node failure and recovery](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/operations/failover.md): Available. Nodes are disposable. This page says what each failure does and what clients see.
- [Metrics, memory and connections](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/operations/observability.md): Available. What to scrape, how the memory budget works and how to size connections.
- [Upgrades](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/operations/upgrades.md): Available. Beta builds carry no upgrade promise. An upgrade is a coordinated stop, or a new deployment and a restore.

## Reference

- [Limits and known gaps](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/limits.md): Available. What pre-beta Gauntlet does not do. Read this before you rely on it.
- [Roadmap](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/roadmap.md): Pre-beta. What is true today, what is planned for v1 and what comes after. Planned work is worth nothing until it is built.
- [Licence](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/docs/licence.md): Available. The server is source-available under FSL-1.1-ALv2 and converts to Apache 2.0 two years after each release. Clients are Apache-2.0.

## Optional

- [Full documentation in one file](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/llms-full.txt)
- [Comparison with other databases](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/compare)
- [Pricing model](https://gauntlet-db.stavros.xyz/pricing)