Building SQLite with a small swarm
kiankyars.github.io
February 16, 2026
4 min read
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51/100
Summary
Claude, Codex, and Gemini built a SQLite-like engine in Rust, comprising approximately 19,000 lines of code. The implementation includes a parser, planner, volcano executor, pager, B-trees, write-ahead logging, recovery, joins, aggregates, indexing, transaction semantics, grouped aggregates, and statistics-aware planning, with 282 passing unit tests.
Key Takeaways
- A SQLite-like engine was built in Rust with approximately 19,000 lines of code, implementing various components such as a parser, planner, and transaction semantics.
- The project utilized six parallel agents (two each of Claude, Codex, and Gemini) to execute tasks, with 282 unit tests all passing.
- Coordination challenges were significant, with 54.5% of commits related to lock management and stale-lock cleanup.
- Effective parallelism requires strict task boundaries, shared state documentation, and a narrow interface for agents to enhance throughput.
Community Sentiment
Positives
- SQLite's extensive test coverage demonstrates a high standard of quality, which sets a benchmark for any new implementations attempting to replicate its functionality.
Concerns
- The new codebase lacks the quality and performance of SQLite, with many basic elements missing or poorly implemented, raising concerns about its viability.
- The approach of brute-forcing a version of SQLite through knowledge compression seems inefficient and unlikely to yield a functional product.
- Prioritizing speed over correctness in parallel code execution could lead to significant errors, undermining the reliability of the database transactions.
