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This page describes the PowerSync client SDK for Node.js. If you’re interested in using PowerSync for your Node.js backend, no special package is required. Instead, follow our guides on app backend setup.
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PowerSync SDK on NPM

This SDK is distributed via NPM

Source Code

Refer to packages/node in the powersync-js repo on GitHub

API Reference

Full API reference for the SDK

Example Projects

Gallery of example projects/demo apps built with Node.js 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.

Quickstart

Add the PowerSync Node NPM package to your project:
Install Peer Dependencies The PowerSync SDK for Node.js supports multiple drivers. More details are available under Encryption and Custom SQLite Drivers. We currently recommend the better-sqlite3 package for most users:
Previous versions of the PowerSync SDK for Node.js used the @powersync/better-sqlite3 fork as a required peer dependency. This is no longer recommended. After upgrading to @powersync/node version 0.12.0 or later, ensure the old package is no longer installed by running npm uninstall @powersync/better-sqlite3
Common Installation Issues The better-sqlite3 package requires native compilation, which depends on certain system tools. Prebuilt assets are available and used by default, but a custom compilation may be started depending on the Node.js or Electron version used. This compilation process is handled by node-gyp and may fail if required dependencies are missing or misconfigured. Refer to the PowerSync Node package README for more details. 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. You can use this example as a reference when defining your schema.
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.
In the Dashboard, select JavaScript and replace the suggested import with @powersync/node. 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.

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. Example:

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. PowerSyncBackendConnector.fetchCredentials - 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. PowerSyncBackendConnector.uploadData - 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:
With your database instantiated and your connector ready, call connect() to start syncing data with 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.

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.

Usage

Once the PowerSync database is connected and your streams have synced, the data is in the local SQLite database. The API to run queries and updates is identical to the JavaScript Web SDK:

Confirming Mutation Success with RETURNING

When using the default client-side JSON-based view system, writes are applied to a view, with triggers writing to the underlying table. Because of this, result.rowsAffected from db.execute() can be 0 even when an UPDATE or DELETE succeeds.When you need to confirm whether a mutation changed any rows, add a RETURNING clause and check the returned rows:
If you need direct table writes, use raw tables.

Watch Queries

The db.watch() method executes a read query whenever a change to a dependent table is made.
For advanced watch query features such as incremental updates and differential results, see Live Queries / Watch Queries. PowerSync runs queries asynchronously on a background pool of workers. It configures SQLite write-ahead logging (WAL) so that one writer and multiple readers can operate in parallel.

Configure Logging

Enable verbose output in the developer tools for detailed logs.

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 Support

See JavaScript ORM Support for details.

Troubleshooting

See Troubleshooting for pointers to debug common issues.

Supported Platforms

See Supported Platforms -> Node.js SDK.

Upgrading the SDK

Run the following command in your project folder:

Encryption and Custom SQLite Drivers

The SDK has an optional dependency on better-sqlite3 which is used as the default SQLite driver for that package. Because that dependency is optional, it can be replaced or removed to customize how SQLite gets loaded. This section lists common options.

Encryption

To encrypt databases managed by the PowerSync SDK for Node.js, replace the better-sqlite3 dependency with the better-sqlite3-multiple-ciphers fork. That package has the same API as better-sqlite3 while bundling SQLite3MultipleCiphers instead of upstream SQLite.
The node example in the PowerSync repository can use both better-sqlite3 and better-sqlite3-multiple-ciphers and may be a useful example here.
Because PowerSync attempts to dynamically load better-sqlite3 at runtime, using a different package requires patching the database worker. To do that, create a file (say database.worker.js) with the following contents:
When opening the database, instruct PowerSync to use the custom worker. Also use the initializeConnection option to install an encryption key:
If you’re using a custom compilation toolchain, for instance because you’re compiling from TypeScript or are applying a bundler to your project, loading workers may require additional configuration on that toolchain.

node:sqlite

Recent versions of Node.js contain an experimental SQLite API. Using the built-in SQLite API can reduce code size and external native dependencies. To enable it, remove your dependency on better-sqlite3 and configure PowerSync to use the built-in API:
PowerSync has stability issues with this API. Use it for testing only.