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This SDK is currently in alpha, intended for external testing and public feedback. Expect breaking changes and instability as development continues.
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PowerSync SDK on crates.io

The SDK is distributed via crates.io

Source Code

Refer to the powersync-native repo on GitHub

API Reference

Full API reference for the SDK

Example Projects

Gallery of example projects/demo apps built with Rust and PowerSync

Changelog

Changelog for the SDK

SDK Features

  • Real-time streaming of database changes: Changes made by one user are instantly streamed to all other users with access to that data. This keeps clients automatically in sync without manual polling or refresh logic.
  • Direct access to a local SQLite database: Data is stored locally, so apps can read and write instantly without network calls. This enables offline support and faster user interactions.
  • Asynchronous background execution: The SDK performs database operations in the background to avoid blocking the application’s main thread. This means that apps stay responsive, even during heavy data activity.
  • Query subscriptions for live updates: The SDK supports query subscriptions that automatically push real-time updates to client applications as data changes, keeping your UI reactive and up to date.
  • Automatic schema management: PowerSync syncs schemaless data and applies a client-defined schema using SQLite views. This architecture means that PowerSync SDKs handle schema changes without explicit migrations on the client side.

Installation

Add the PowerSync SDK to your project by adding the following to your Cargo.toml file:

Getting Started

Prerequisites: Before you start, connect your source database to the PowerSync Service and deploy Sync Streams. These are steps 1-4 in the Setup Guide.

1. Define the Client-Side Schema

The client-side schema defines the tables and columns of the SQLite database that the PowerSync client SDK manages and that your app reads from and writes to. It is usually derived from your backend database schema and your Sync Streams, and it can also include local-only tables. You apply the schema when you instantiate the database in the next step. Schema migrations are not required. The SDK syncs schemaless data and applies the schema to that data with SQLite views. The exception is raw tables, which you create and migrate yourself.
Generate schema automaticallyIn the PowerSync Dashboard, select your project and instance and click the Connect button in the top bar to generate the client-side schema in your preferred language. The schema is generated from your Sync Streams. The CLI offers the same function.The generated schema does not include an id column. The client SDK creates an id column of type text automatically, so you do not need to declare it. See Client ID for details.
The available column types are text, integer, and real. These should match the values produced by your Sync Streams. If a value does not match, it is cast automatically. For details on how source database types map to SQLite types, see Types. Example:
src/schema.rs
You do not need to declare an id column. PowerSync creates it automatically.

2. Instantiate the PowerSync Database

Next, instantiate the PowerSync database. PowerSync streams changes from your backend source database into the client-side SQLite database, based on your Sync Streams. Your app reads from and writes to this local database whether the user is online or offline.

Process Setup

The SDK statically links the PowerSync SQLite core extension. You must register the extension for the process before you use the SDK. We recommend calling the registration utility early in main():
lib/main.rs

Database Setup

You can configure the Rust SDK with different asynchronous runtimes and HTTP clients to connect to the PowerSync Service. These dependencies can be configured through the PowerSyncEnvironment struct, which wraps:
  1. An HTTP client (implement the powersync::http::HttpClient trait). When enabling the reqwest feature on the powersync crate, that trait is implemented for reqwest::Client.
  2. An asynchronous pool giving out leases to SQLite connections.
  3. A timer implementation allowing the sync client to implement delayed retries on connection errors. This is typically provided by async runtimes like Tokio.
To configure PowerSync, begin by configuring a connection pool:
Use ConnectionPool::open to open a database file with multiple connections configured with WAL mode:
Next, create a database and start asynchronous tasks used by the sync client when connecting. To be compatible with different executors, the SDK uses a model based on long-lived actors instead of spawning tasks dynamically. All asynchronous processes are exposed through PowerSyncDatabase::async_tasks(). Spawn these tasks before connecting.
Ensure you depend on powersync with the tokio feature enabled.
Finally, instruct PowerSync to sync data from your backend:
This section assumes that you use PowerSync to sync your backend source database with SQLite in your app. To manage a local SQLite database without sync, instantiate the PowerSync database without calling connect() and see the Local-Only guide.

3. Integrate with Your Backend

The backend connector connects the PowerSync client SDK to your application backend. The SDK uses it to:
  1. Get an auth token to connect to the PowerSync instance.
  2. Upload client-side writes to your backend API. The SDK places every write to the SQLite database in an upload queue and uploads the queue to your backend when the user is connected. Your backend then applies the changes to the source database.
The connector must implement two methods:
  1. fetch_credentials - The SDK calls this method to get authentication credentials. It caches the credentials and calls the method again only when needed, for example on the first connection or when the token is near expiry. See When fetchCredentials() is Called for details and Authentication Setup for how to generate credentials.
  2. upload_data - The SDK calls this method whenever it has client-side writes to upload to your backend API. Implement how those writes are processed and uploaded. See When uploadData() is Called for triggers, throttling, and retry behavior, and Writing Client Changes for the app backend implementation.
Example:

4. Subscribe to Sync Streams

Streams defined with auto_subscribe: true start syncing as soon as the client connects. For all other streams, your app must subscribe before their data downloads. The basic pattern is: subscribe to a stream, wait for its data to sync, then unsubscribe when the data is no longer needed.
After you unsubscribe, the synced data stays in the local database for the stream’s time-to-live (TTL), which is 24 hours by default. If the app subscribes again within that time, the data is already available. See Client-Side Usage for framework hooks, per-subscription sync status, custom TTLs, priority overrides, and connection parameters.

Using PowerSync: CRUD Functions

Once the PowerSync database is connected and your streams have synced, the data is in the local SQLite database. The most commonly used CRUD functions to interact with your SQLite data are:
  • reader - run statements that read from the database.
  • watch_statement - execute a read query every time a dependent table changes.
  • writer - write to the database.

Reads

To obtain a connection suitable for reads, call and await PowerSyncDatabase::reader(). The returned lease can be used as a rusqlite::Connection to run queries.

Watching Queries

The watch_statement method executes a read query whenever a change to a dependent table is made.

Mutations

Triggers capture local writes automatically. To obtain a connection suitable for writes, call and await PowerSyncDatabase::writer(). Then call execute on the writer to run INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statements:
For transactions, use the transaction method from rusqlite on the writer.

Configure Logging

The Rust SDK uses the log crate internally, so you can configure it with any backend, for example env_logger:

Additional Usage Examples

For more usage examples including accessing connection status, monitoring sync progress, and waiting for initial sync, see the Usage Examples page.

ORM / SQL Library Support

The Rust SDK does not currently support any higher-level SQL libraries, but we’re investigating support for Diesel and sqlx. Contact us if you are interested in these or other integrations.

Troubleshooting

See Troubleshooting for pointers to debug common issues.

Supported Platforms

See Supported Platforms -> Rust SDK.

Upgrading the SDK

To update the PowerSync SDK, run cargo update powersync or manually update to the latest version.