NextSQL
NextSQL is a high-performance, encrypted-by-default multimodel database written in Go. Relational SQL, binary JSON, vector search (HNSW), full-text search (BM25), and geospatial types share one ACID engine, one write-ahead log, and one cost-based query optimizer.
It is a new database — not a wrapper, fork, or compatibility layer for PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, or Elasticsearch. It has its own 16 KiB page storage engine, SQL dialect, binary wire protocol (NSQL v1), and first-party drivers.
The current release is 0.0.7 (preview). Linux packages are on GitHub Releases. On Windows, run them inside WSL 2.
Multimodel in a Single Query
All data models live in the same table, share the same transaction, and execute within a single physical plan:
CREATE TABLE products (
id UUID PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT UUID(),
name STRING NOT NULL,
description TEXT,
price DECIMAL(12,2),
metadata JSON,
embedding VECTOR<F32,1536>,
location POINT,
created_at TIMESTAMPTZ DEFAULT NOW()
);
CREATE FULLTEXT INDEX ix_desc ON products (description);
CREATE VECTOR INDEX ix_emb ON products (embedding) USING HNSW;
-- One plan: relational filter + JSON path + full-text BM25 + vector ANN
SELECT id, name, price
FROM products
WHERE metadata.category = 'headphones'
AND price <= 150.00
SEARCH description FOR 'wireless noise cancelling'
NEAREST embedding TO $query
LIMIT 20;
Highlights
- One engine for every model. Relational columns, JSON (
NSJB), vectors (HNSW), full-text (BM25), and geo (WGS84) share a single ACID transaction and cost model.
- Encrypted by default. AES-256-GCM envelope encryption on data pages, WAL, undo, indexes, and backups. The root unlock key stays off the data volume.
- Durable commits. Group-commit WAL and
fsync before a commit is acknowledged. MVCC with snapshot and serializable isolation.
- Built-in HA. Optional Raft cluster (three voting nodes minimum). Writes wait for a quorum. No external coordinator.
- Official drivers. Go, Node.js, Bun, Python, PHP, and Ruby speak NSQL v1. Passwords and keys never go in a connection URL.
Quick Start
1. Install
go install github.com/bzync/nextsql/cmd/nextsql@latest
go install github.com/bzync/nextsql/cmd/nextsqld@latest
Pre-built Linux installers (.deb, .tar.gz, .run) are on the v0.0.7 release. For containers and multi-service orchestration, see the Docker and Docker Compose guides. Native Windows is not supported; on Windows, run NextSQL inside WSL 2.
2. Initialize and Run
# Initialize encrypted data directory with a root key
nextsql init --data-dir /var/lib/nextsql --key-file /etc/nextsql/root.key --user app --password-file /tmp/nextsql.pw --database app
# Start the daemon
nextsqld --data-dir /var/lib/nextsql --key-file /etc/nextsql/root.key --listen 127.0.0.1:7210 --user app --password-file /tmp/nextsql.pw
# Execute a query
nextsql exec --addr 127.0.0.1:7210 --user app --password-file /tmp/nextsql.pw --insecure -c "SELECT 'Hello, NextSQL!';"
Note: Non-loopback network connections require TLS 1.3.
Documentation
License
MIT (LICENSE)
