Get started with the SQLite integrations

⭐ Community Toolkit

SQLite is a lightweight, serverless, self-contained SQL database engine. It stores the entire database as a single file on disk — no separate server process to run or configure. The Aspire SQLite integration (from the .NET Aspire Community Toolkit) lets you model a SQLite database as a first-class resource in your AppHost, then hand the file-path connection information to any consuming app — regardless of language.

Why use SQLite with Aspire

Adding SQLite through Aspire — rather than hardcoding file paths and connection strings — gives you:

• Ideal for local development, unit tests, and desktop apps. No container to spin up, no server to configure — SQLite runs in-process directly from a single file on disk.
• Consistent connection info across languages. Once you reference the SQLite resource from a consuming app, Aspire injects the database file path as an environment variable in a predictable format that works from C#, TypeScript, Python, Go, or any other language.
• Optional browser-based UI. The WithSqliteWeb method adds a lightweight sqlite-web container alongside your database so you can inspect and query it during development.
• A first-class C# client integration. C# apps can use the CommunityToolkit.Aspire.Microsoft.Data.Sqlite package for dependency injection, health checks, and OpenTelemetry, all wired up from the same resource name.

How the pieces fit together

The SQLite integration has two sides: a hosting integration that you use in your AppHost to model the database resource, and a connection story for consuming apps that reference it.

architecture-beta

  group apphost(server)[AppHost]
  group consumer(server)[Consuming app]

  service hosting(server)[Hosting integration] in apphost
  service db(database)[SQLite file] in apphost

  service client(iconoir:server-connection)[Client integration] in consumer
  service app(server)[App] in consumer

  hosting:R --> L:db
  db:R --> L:client
  client:R --> L:app

The hosting integration lives in your AppHost project and models the SQLite database file as a resource. Because SQLite is an embedded, file-based database, there is no container to start — Aspire simply tracks the database file path and injects it into consuming apps as environment variables.

Note

The SQLite hosting integration is C#-only. The TypeScript AppHost does not have an addSqlite API. To reference a SQLite file from a TypeScript AppHost, use builder.addConnectionString(...) with a parameter instead.

Getting there is a two-step process: model the SQLite resource in your AppHost, then connect to the database from each app that needs it.

1. Model SQLite in your AppHost

   Add the SQLite hosting integration to your AppHost, then declare a SQLite database resource and reference it from the apps that need to use the database. The SQLite Hosting integration article walks through every capability — custom database file paths, the SQLiteWeb UI, SQLite extensions, and more.

   Set up SQLite in the AppHost

2. Connect from your consuming app

   When you reference a SQLite resource from a consuming app, Aspire injects its database file path as an environment variable. See Connect to SQLite for the connection properties reference and per-language examples for C#, Go, Python, and TypeScript — including the full C# client integration.

   Connect to SQLite