Migrate SQLite to MySQL
Beta — live-tested pathMigrating from SQLite (the embedded database that ships inside everything) to MySQL (the world's most deployed open-source relational database) 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 SQLite → MySQL
Engine-specific rules baked into the conversion and transfer pipeline — verified by live certification of this exact pair.
- INTEGER columns are 64-bit — DBShifts maps them to BIGINT so large IDs don't overflow 32-bit INT targets.
- Typeless and mixed-affinity columns (SQLite's dynamic typing) are inferred, stringified safely, and flagged.
- NUMERIC affinity values are read exactly, not through float round-trips.
- AUTO_INCREMENT counters are reseeded to MAX(id)+1 after bulk load, so the first production insert doesn't collide.
- Oversized VARCHAR definitions from other engines are rewritten to TEXT/LONGTEXT to respect MySQL's row-size limits.
- Foreign keys are applied after data load with FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS deferred for speed and ordering safety.
Frequently asked questions
Is SQLite to MySQL migration production-ready in DBShifts?
SQLite to MySQL 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 SQLite to MySQL 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 SQLite types that MySQL 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 SQLite and MySQL in sync after the initial migration?
SQLite has no replication log, so continuous CDC isn't available from it — but incremental sync re-runs transfer only changed rows using a per-table sync key.
Do I need to write any SQL or scripts for SQLite to MySQL?
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 SQLite to MySQL?
The data model itself differs (embedded → sql), 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.
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