Migrate PostgreSQL to SQLite
Beta — live-tested pathMigrating from PostgreSQL (the most advanced open-source relational database) to SQLite (the embedded database that ships inside everything) means every table, column type, key, index and row has to survive two engines' different opinions about data. This is a cross-model migration — rows and relations are preserved as structured documents — and the conversion rules are explicit, not guessed. DBShifts converts the schema with deterministic rules, transfers data in parallel batches, and validates the result with per-table row counts and type-aware checksums.
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How the migration works
Connect
Point DBShifts at your source and target. Credentials stay encrypted; SSH tunnels supported for private databases.
Analyze
Automatic schema introspection produces a migration plan: what converts automatically, what migrates with warnings, what needs human review.
Migrate
Schema is created on the target, data transfers in parallel batches with constraints deferred, indexes rebuilt after load.
Validate
Per-table row counts, type-aware checksums on both sides, FK integrity — plus a fidelity report listing anything lossy.
What DBShifts handles for PostgreSQL → SQLite
Engine-specific rules baked into the conversion and transfer pipeline — verified by live certification of this exact pair.
- Arrays (integer[], text[]) are preserved natively on PostgreSQL targets and serialized to JSON elsewhere.
- JSONB, UUID, INET and other rich types fall back to portable representations with every downgrade recorded in the fidelity report.
- SERIAL/identity sequences are recreated and reseeded on the target.
- High-precision decimals land in TEXT columns on purpose — SQLite's NUMERIC affinity would silently convert them to lossy REAL.
- Unsigned BIGINT values beyond the signed 64-bit range are stored as exact text rather than corrupted floats.
- Dates and times are stored as ISO-8601 text, the SQLite convention.
Frequently asked questions
Is PostgreSQL to SQLite migration production-ready in DBShifts?
PostgreSQL to SQLite is a live-verified beta pair: it passed the same certification suite as every other pair — a real migration with edge-case data validated by row counts and checksums — and ships with a post-migration fidelity report you can audit before cutover.
How does DBShifts verify the PostgreSQL to SQLite migration was correct?
Three layers: per-table row counts on both sides, an order-independent type-aware checksum of row data (canonicalized so engine representation differences don't false-alarm), and FK integrity checks on the target. Rows that fail to insert are quarantined with the exact error — never silently dropped — and can be fixed and retried from the UI.
What happens to PostgreSQL types that SQLite doesn't have?
They convert by deterministic rules with a recorded decision: a native equivalent where one exists, a portable fallback (TEXT/JSON/DECIMAL) where one doesn't. Every lossy conversion appears in the migration plan before you run and in the fidelity report after. You can override any mapping per column.
Can I keep PostgreSQL and SQLite in sync after the initial migration?
Yes. DBShifts supports incremental sync (UPSERT-based delta transfers on a sync key) and, for supported sources, real-time change data capture so the target stays current until you cut over.
Do I need to write any SQL or scripts for PostgreSQL to SQLite?
No. Connect both databases, review the generated migration plan (what's automatic, what migrates with warnings, what needs manual review — typically triggers and stored procedures), and run. Procedural code is transpiled best-effort and queued for human review rather than auto-applied.
What's the hardest part of moving PostgreSQL to SQLite?
The data model itself differs (sql → embedded), so rows and relations are restructured into documents with explicit type rules. DBShifts surfaces every inference and lossy conversion in the migration plan before you run, so nothing is guessed silently.
Go deeper
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