https://github.com/fricker-studios/stele-db
Append-only, bitemporal, audit-native analytical database engine — time-travel, provenance, and auditability as first-class. Rust, Postgres-wire compatible.
https://github.com/fricker-studios/stele-db
analytics append-only audit bitemporal columnar database olap postgresql provenance rust temporal-database time-travel
Last synced: 5 days ago
JSON representation
Append-only, bitemporal, audit-native analytical database engine — time-travel, provenance, and auditability as first-class. Rust, Postgres-wire compatible.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/fricker-studios/stele-db
- Owner: fricker-studios
- License: other
- Created: 2026-06-03T23:35:33.000Z (23 days ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-06-20T01:58:35.000Z (7 days ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-06-20T02:08:55.137Z (7 days ago)
- Topics: analytics, append-only, audit, bitemporal, columnar, database, olap, postgresql, provenance, rust, temporal-database, time-travel
- Language: Rust
- Homepage: https://steledb.com
- Size: 3.03 MB
- Stars: 1
- Watchers: 0
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- Contributing: .github/CONTRIBUTING.md
- License: LICENSE
- Code of conduct: .github/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
- Codeowners: .github/CODEOWNERS
- Security: .github/SECURITY.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# Stele
[](https://github.com/fricker-studios/stele-db/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
[](https://github.com/fricker-studios/stele-db/actions/workflows/nightly.yml)
[](https://github.com/fricker-studios/stele-db/releases)
[](https://hub.docker.com/r/frickerstudios/stele)
[](rust-toolchain.toml)
[](docs/07-licensing-and-oss.md)
**A from-scratch, append-only, bitemporal, audit-native analytical database engine.**
> A *stele* is an inscribed stone slab that preserves a record permanently — and, in botany, the central column of a plant. Both meanings are the design: **a permanent, append-only record built around a columnar core.**
Stele treats history as the primary key of reality. Every fact is stored with *when it was true in the world* (valid time) and *when the system learned it* (system time), and nothing is ever destructively overwritten. On that foundation, "what did this table look like last Tuesday, as we understood it at month-end close?" is a first-class query — not an archaeology project.
It competes on **correctness, time-travel, and auditability** for analytical and temporal/audit workloads.
## The thesis in four SQL statements
```sql
CREATE TABLE account (id INT PRIMARY KEY, balance INT) WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING;
INSERT INTO account VALUES (1, 100);
UPDATE account SET balance = 250 WHERE id = 1;
SELECT balance FROM account FOR SYSTEM_TIME AS OF (now() - interval '1 second') WHERE id = 1;
-- → 100 (time-travel: the value *before* the update — history is never destroyed)
```
## Try it
```bash
docker run --rm -p 5454:5454 frickerstudios/stele:latest --dev # or ghcr.io/fricker-studios/stele
psql -h localhost -p 5454 -d stele
```
Then paste the four statements above — give the engine a beat between the `UPDATE` and the time-travel `SELECT`, so there is a second of history to travel back to. Prebuilt binaries (Linux/macOS/Windows) are on the [releases page](https://github.com/fricker-studios/stele-db/releases), every artifact cosign-signed with SLSA provenance; to build from source, `just build` ([05 — Dev Environment](docs/05-dev-environment.md)).
## Status
> ⚠️ **Pre-1.0 · working engine · API stabilizing · holds no production data.**
> Stele is a deliberately long-horizon, no-deadline craft project. Correctness and auditability come before speed, and before any real data — see the [trust gate](docs/06-testing-strategy.md#9-what-tested-enough-to-hold-real-data-means-the-trust-gate-operationalized). v0.1.0 and v0.2.0 have shipped: `stele-server` speaking the PostgreSQL wire protocol, the `stele` CLI/REPL, bitemporal `AS OF` on both time axes, multi-statement transactions with snapshot isolation, joins and aggregates, and signed multi-arch Docker images — see the [CHANGELOG](CHANGELOG.md) and [releases](https://github.com/fricker-studios/stele-db/releases).
## At a glance
| | |
|---|---|
| **Language** | Rust (edition 2024) |
| **Wire protocol** | PostgreSQL-compatible (default port **5454**) — bring your existing drivers/ORMs/BI tools |
| **Storage** | Append-only columnar segments · object-storage tiering · system-time-driven archival |
| **Differentiators** | Bitemporality · as-of/time-travel · lineage & provenance · tamper-evident audit · hash-keyed MERGE |
| **Security** | A [first-class pillar](docs/10-security-and-compliance.md): encryption + KMS/BYOK, RBAC/RLS/CLS, crypto-shredding erasure |
| **License** | [BSL 1.1 → Apache-2.0](docs/07-licensing-and-oss.md) (rolling 4-year), source-available |
## Documentation
The complete vision, architecture, and plan live in [`/docs`](docs/README.md) — **start with the [Charter](docs/00-charter.md).**
- [00 — Charter](docs/00-charter.md) — vision, scope, non-goals, principles
- [01 — Feature Plan](docs/01-feature-plan.md) · [02 — Architecture](docs/02-architecture.md) · [03 — Roadmap](docs/03-roadmap.md)
- [04 — CI/CD](docs/04-cicd.md) · [05 — Dev Environment](docs/05-dev-environment.md) · [06 — Testing Strategy](docs/06-testing-strategy.md)
- [07 — Licensing & OSS](docs/07-licensing-and-oss.md) · [08 — Packaging & Distribution](docs/08-packaging-distribution-and-releases.md) · [09 — Ecosystem & Products](docs/09-ecosystem-and-products.md)
- [10 — Security & Compliance](docs/10-security-and-compliance.md) · [11 — Operations & Runbooks](docs/11-operations-and-runbooks.md) · [12 — Data Migration & Interop](docs/12-data-migration-and-interop.md)
- [13 — Glossary](docs/13-glossary.md) · [14 — Performance & Benchmarking](docs/14-performance-and-benchmarking.md) · [15 — Commercialization & Sustainability](docs/15-commercialization-and-sustainability.md)
- [Architecture Decision Records](docs/adr/README.md) · [Assumptions log](docs/assumptions.md)
## License
Business Source License 1.1, converting to Apache License 2.0 four years after each release. Source-available and self-hostable; see [07 — Licensing & OSS](docs/07-licensing-and-oss.md). Stele is **source-available**, not OSI open-source — we say so plainly.