OBJECT STORAGE

Storage that scales with you

Run SurrealDB embedded over a local engine, or separate compute from storage for a fault-tolerant, horizontally scalable cluster. Manage files as first-class citizens with buckets over in-memory, file-system, or object-storage backends - all through the same SurrealQL.

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01 |STORAGE ENGINES

One interface, pluggable backends

Point the same database at an in-memory engine for a throwaway test, a local file for a single node, or a distributed backend for production - and manage files without leaving SurrealQL.

PLUGGABLE ENGINES

Start anywhere, move without rewrites

The storage engine is chosen at startup. The query language, schema, and application code are identical across all of them.

# In-memory: fast, ephemeral, ideal for tests
surreal start memory

# SurrealKV: embedded, versioned, single node
surreal start surrealkv://production.db

# RocksDB: embedded, high-throughput
surreal start rocksdb://production.db

FILE BUCKETS

Files, defined and queried like data

DEFINE BUCKET registers a file store - in-memory, on disk, or an object-storage backend - and file operations become SurrealQL you can permission and transact.

DEFINE BUCKET uploads BACKEND "memory";

f"uploads:/readme.txt".put("SurrealDB");
f"uploads:/readme.txt".get();
f"uploads:/readme.txt".copy("uploads:/readme.backup.txt");

From a single binary to a distributed cluster

The same engine runs embedded in your application or spread across a fault-tolerant cluster with compute and storage scaling independently.

Embedded engines

Run SurrealDB in-process over SurrealKV or RocksDB - no server to operate for local and edge workloads.

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Compute-storage separation

Scale query nodes and storage independently, so heavy read or write load never forces you to over-provision the other.

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Object-storage backends

Separate compute from storage over S3-compatible object storage, and define file buckets over in-memory or file-system backends - with cloud bucket backends landing in the 3.3 beta.

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Built-in durability

Replication and object-storage durability keep data safe through node loss, with recovery handled by the engine.

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File buckets

Manage uploads as first-class records - put, get, copy, and delete - permissioned and transactional in SurrealQL.

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Versioned reads

MVCC storage keeps history, so time-travel VERSION queries read the database as it was at a point in time.

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02 |ONE ENGINE

Files and data in one system

Keeping documents in one store, blobs in another, and the metadata that ties them together in a third means three systems to secure, back up, and keep consistent. SurrealDB holds them together.