Hey HN,
I've been working on a multi-model database called NodeDB.
Originally, i've found out the idea of SurrealDB quite good. However, it doesn't have some graph and vector features that I need. And since it is just a KV wrapper, instead of purpose-built engine, the performance will never be close to the specialized databases (like Neo4j, Pinecone, Clickhouse, etc).
And i've asked myself, what if, there is a database that have the same idea, but built differently? Instead of just treating it as KV database, we build specialized engines for the data.
Besides that, I want it to be able to support my IOT/edge project, where i need offline sync capabilities (Currentyl still in progress).
Will it work?
I put it into test. I've been experimenting and researching for a year, creating multiple versions, and then I created NodeDB.
Disclaimer: It is still in public beta (as of May 2026), but it really excites me if I can make this db work. And I use AI as assistant for coding and planning. It is nearly impossible to do as a solo developer without any AI assistance.
Would love feedback from HN:
- Are there specific features or improvements that would make it more useful?
If you're interested in experimenting or contributing, the repo is here: GitHub Repo: https://github.com/nodedb-lab/nodedb
Looking forward to your thoughts!
Very promising interesting work. The multi-model has high appeal. Your NodeDB architecture is nicely stated as a three part system. Love the focus on io_uring support.
I'd love to see a more clear story around building reactive systems. How can I get a log of what's changed, how can I stream updates via durable streams or some kind of hook? There's endless ways to dice this, but, how can I make sure clients or materialized view/sync engines are getting the current data is the big question. If this is postgres compatible, can I set up a postgres logical replication sync?