¶Installation

SQL Anywhere can be used two ways. Pick the one that matches your goal:

• Embedded — link the sqlanywhere Rust crate into your application for an in-process database (optionally an embedded replica of a remote primary).
• Server (sqld) — run a standalone server that exposes SQLite over HTTP and WebSockets so remote clients can connect.

Both ship from the same project and stay byte-compatible with stock SQLite.

¶Embedded (Rust crate)

Add the crate to your project:

cargo add sqlanywhere

The default features include core, replication, remote, sync, and tls. Building requires the Rust toolchain pinned in rust-toolchain.toml (currently 1.85.0); the encryption feature additionally needs cmake.

Open an in-memory (or on-disk) database:

use sqlanywhere::Builder;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() {
    let db = Builder::new_local(":memory:").build().await.unwrap();
    let conn = db.connect().unwrap();

    conn.execute("CREATE TABLE users (email TEXT)", ()).await.unwrap();
    conn.execute("INSERT INTO users (email) VALUES ('alice@example.org')", ())
        .await
        .unwrap();

    let mut rows = conn.query("SELECT email FROM users", ()).await.unwrap();
    while let Some(row) = rows.next().await.unwrap() {
        println!("{}", row.get_str(0).unwrap());
    }
}

Point the same API at a remote primary to get an embedded replica that syncs in the background:

let db = Builder::new_local_replica("/tmp/local.db").build().await.unwrap();
db.sync().await.unwrap();         // pull the latest frames
let conn = db.connect().unwrap(); // reads are served locally

¶Server — prebuilt binary

The fastest way to run the sqld server is a prebuilt release binary. Download the archive for your platform from the releases page (or use the download cards on the SQL Anywhere page):

Extract the archive and move the sqld binary onto your PATH:

# Example: macOS on Apple Silicon
curl -LO https://github.com/kwhorne/sql-anywhere/releases/latest/download/sqld-v0.2.0-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
tar -xzf sqld-v0.2.0-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
sudo mv sqld /usr/local/bin/

Run a standalone instance — by default sqld listens on 127.0.0.1:8080:

sqld

Then query it over HTTP:

curl -d '{"statements": ["SELECT 1"]}' http://127.0.0.1:8080

On macOS the binary is unsigned; if Gatekeeper blocks it, allow it under System Settings → Privacy & Security, or run xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ./sqld before moving it.

¶Server — Docker

Prefer containers? Build the image and run it as described in the Docker guide. There is no published image to pull — you build your own from source.

¶Build from source

To compile the embedded library, the C library, or the sqld server yourself, follow the Build & run guide. In short:

git clone https://github.com/kwhorne/sql-anywhere
cd sql-anywhere
cargo build --release        # Rust workspace
cargo xtask build            # SQLite-compatible C library and CLI tools

¶Verify

Check the interactive shell reports the expected version:

$ ./sqlanywhere
SQL Anywhere version 0.2.0 (based on SQLite version 3.43.0)
Enter ".help" for usage hints.

¶Next steps

• User guide — running primaries, replicas, and authentication
• HTTP API — talk to sqld over HTTP
• Build & run — every way to build and run the server