DATABASE COMPONENT
Sykes DB
Sykes DB is the C-based, special-purpose database direction for CRDT operation storage. Its goal is to preserve source history as immutable, replayable edit operations instead of treating a repository only as commits and file snapshots.
A database built specifically for CRDT history
Sykes DB is a specialized database for storing CRDT operation data. It is a focused component of the Sykes architecture and may also become useful independently once the core design proves itself.
- Stores compressed and uncompressed CRDT operations.
- Uses the shared LSM component direction for write-heavy storage.
- Adapts reliability ideas from TigerBeetle and TigerStyle to CRDT constraints.
Keystroke-scale history needs a different foundation
A CRDT-based version-control system produces far more granular data than Git. Inserts, deletes, undo, redo, and agent edits can all become durable history, so storage must be designed around a large operation stream.
- Git does not natively store or merge CRDT operation streams.
- Human and agent edits can happen before a commit or push exists.
- Throughput, durability, and recovery are core database concerns.
Store, order, compact, and replay
The Sykes VCS Engine produces typed CRDT operations. Sykes DB stores those operations durably, orders them deterministically, compacts them where useful, and provides the data that the Application or DB Inspector can replay and examine.
- Operations are immutable once written.
- Ordering data makes replay deterministic.
- Grouping data can connect fine-grained operations into meaningful changes.
Durability and recovery are product requirements
Source control cannot lose history. Sykes DB is being designed so durable writes, crash recovery, replicated state, checksums, and immutable operation streams are central concerns rather than optional features.
- Replicas and offline work are part of the design direction.
- Checksums and validation support reliable recovery.
- The DB Inspector provides a dedicated way to examine database behavior.
Early-stage storage development
Sykes DB is still in very early development. The LSM direction, data representation, compression, replication, and recovery model remain active engineering work.
- The final storage shape is not settled.
- Performance work must balance speed, durability, and storage size.
- Correctness and reliability take priority over fast time to market.
NEXT STEP
Sykes DB is the durable operation store
The Engine defines the edit operations, Sykes DB preserves them, and the DB Inspector makes the resulting state and storage behavior visible during development and debugging.