Migrate SQLite to PostgreSQL
Beta — live-tested pathMigrating from SQLite (the embedded database that ships inside everything) to PostgreSQL (the most advanced 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 → PostgreSQL
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.
- Bulk loads use sequence reseeding (setval to MAX) so SERIAL columns keep working after migration.
- ENUMs from MySQL become native CREATE TYPE … AS ENUM — validation semantics preserved.
- Foreign keys and indexes are applied after data load for dramatically faster transfers.
Frequently asked questions
Is SQLite to PostgreSQL migration production-ready in DBShifts?
SQLite to PostgreSQL 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 PostgreSQL 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 PostgreSQL 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 PostgreSQL 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 PostgreSQL?
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 PostgreSQL?
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.
Go deeper
Related migration paths
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