sqlite_plus_orm

Dart objects on sqlite_plus. You change a field. saveChanges writes one transaction and bumps the revision. You change the class. The migrator creates the table, or asks you for the SQL when a change would drop data.

dependencies:
  sqlite_plus_orm: ^0.1.12

Save two books, rename one

The generator writes BookMapping from this class. title and revision are mutable, so the same object receives the stored revision.

import 'package:sqlite_plus_orm/sqlite_plus_orm.dart';

part 'models.orm.g.dart';

@DbEntity(table: 'books')
class Book {
  Book({this.id, required this.title, this.revision = 0});

  final BigInt? id;
  String title;
  @DbVersion()
  int revision;
}

import 'package:sqlite_plus_orm/sqlite_plus_orm.dart';

final books = await DbSet.openDbFile(BookMapping.instance, 'books.db');
final book = books.add(Book(title: 'Kept Garden'));
books.add(Book(title: 'Other Atlas'));
await books.saveChanges(); // 2

book.title = 'Kept Garden Revised';
await books.saveChanges(); // 1
await books.saveChanges(); // 0

final stored = await books.query
    .filter((row) => row.title.equalTo('Kept Garden Revised'))
    .single();

stored.revision is 1. An idle save writes nothing. The other book stays at revision 0. Closing the set leaves books.db on disk, and the next openDbFile reads the revised title.

The next page of books

page uses the same filter as select. The primary key keeps two books with the same title apart. books.db stays the file from the example above.

final first = await books.query
    .orderByFields((row) => [row.title.ascending])
    .page(size: 20);
final following = await books.query
    .orderByFields((row) => [row.title.ascending])
    .page(size: 20, after: first.nextCursor);
final token = first.nextCursor?.encode();

first.items is the first shelf of books. following starts after that cursor. token is the text you can store and pass to PageCursor.parse on the next launch.

Rename every matching title

update writes now. It does not wait for saveChanges. A book that already has an unsaved edit in this context refuses the write.

final renamed = await books.query
    .filter((row) => row.title.equalTo('Kept Garden'))
    .update({BookColumns.title: 'Kept Garden Revised'});

renamed.affectedRows is how many titles changed. The revision column still increments. BookColumns is written next to BookMapping in the generated part.

A known key can insert the row or refresh its title:

await books.upsert(
  Book(id: BigInt.from(2), title: 'Other Atlas'),
  conflictOn: [BookColumns.id],
  update: [BookColumns.title],
);

conflictOn is the key that decides whether the row is new. update lists the columns replaced when that key is already stored.

Watch the shelf

watch emits the current rows, then emits again after a successful saveChanges. The objects in the snapshot are copies. Editing a copy does not save it.

final shelf = books.query
    .orderByFields((row) => [row.title.ascending])
    .watch()
    .listen((snapshot) {
  print(snapshot.items.map((book) => book.title));
});
await books.saveChanges();
await shelf.cancel();

watchFirst is one book or null. watchCount is a BigInt. watchAny is true when at least one row matches.

Create the table

ensureCreated is the first up. On an empty database it creates every mapped table.

await context.migrations.ensureCreated();

Up: add a column

Add a nullable field and generate again.

@DbEntity(table: 'books')
class Book {
  Book({this.id, required this.title, this.subtitle, this.revision = 0});

  final BigInt? id;
  String title;
  String? subtitle;
  @DbVersion()
  int revision;
}

final plan = await context.migrations.plan();
await context.migrations.applySafe(plan);

Stored rows stay. subtitle is null. A second plan() is empty.

applySafe accepts a new table, a new nullable column, and a new non-unique index. A required column, a unique index, a type change, or a new foreign key is not applied this way.

Up: rename the column

Renaming the Dart field and keeping @DbColumn(name: 'title') does not change the table. Changing the SQL name does. The migrator will not guess which old column matches the new one.

@DbEntity(table: 'books')
class Book {
  Book({this.id, required this.name, this.revision = 0});

  final BigInt? id;
  @DbColumn(name: 'name')
  String name;
  @DbVersion()
  int revision;
}

final reviewed = (await context.migrations.plan()).withOperations([
  MigrationOperation.sql(
    'ALTER TABLE books RENAME COLUMN title TO name',
    reason: 'Keep the stored titles',
  ),
]);
await context.migrations.apply(
  reviewed,
  approval: MigrationApproval.forPlan(reviewed),
);

MigrationApproval.forPlan binds that exact plan. A copied plan needs a new approval. If the statement fails, the transaction rolls back and the schema is unchanged.

Down

Point the model at the previous column, then supply the reverse statement. Nothing is reversed for you.

final down = (await context.migrations.plan()).withOperations([
  MigrationOperation.sql(
    'ALTER TABLE books RENAME COLUMN name TO title',
    reason: 'Restore the previous column',
  ),
]);
await context.migrations.apply(
  down,
  approval: MigrationApproval.forPlan(down),
);

Removing a class is the same shape. plan() stops until you retain the table or drop it.

final dropped = (await context.migrations.plan()).withOperations([
  MigrationOperation.sql(
    'DROP TABLE books',
    reason: 'The model no longer maps this table',
  ),
]);
await context.migrations.apply(
  dropped,
  approval: MigrationApproval.forPlan(dropped),
);

MigrationOperation.retainTable('books') keeps the table and its rows, and stops managing it. A type change is a rebuild you write: create the new table, INSERT SELECT with your cast, drop the old table, and rename.

Read it back

A JSON document is a path on the @DbJson field.

final notes = context.set(NoteMapping.instance);
final north = await notes.query
    .filter((row) => row.path(r'$.shelf').equalTo('north'))
    .toList();

@DbDocument() stores one object in that same kind of TEXT column. The class writes toJson and fromJson. The filter reads one value with path, and fromJson runs for the rows that come back.

@DbEntity(table: 'notes')
class Note {
  Note({this.id, required this.card, this.revision = 0});

  final BigInt? id;
  @DbDocument()
  Card card;
  @DbVersion()
  int revision;
}

class Card {
  Card({required this.title, required this.pages});
  final String title;
  final int pages;

  Map<String, Object?> toJson() => {'title': title, 'pages': pages};

  factory Card.fromJson(Map<String, Object?> json) => Card(
    title: json['title']! as String,
    pages: json['pages']! as int,
  );
}

final notes = context.set(NoteMapping.instance);
notes.add(Note(card: Card(title: 'Kept Garden', pages: 320)));
notes.add(Note(card: Card(title: 'Other Atlas', pages: 40)));
await context.saveChanges();
final kept = await notes.query
    .filter((row) => row.card.path(r'$.title').equalTo('Kept Garden'))
    .single();

kept.card.pages is 320. The SQL is json_extract("card", ?) = ?, with parameters $.title and Kept Garden. Other Atlas stays stored text.

kept.card = Card(title: 'Kept Garden', pages: 321);
await context.saveChanges();
final revised = await notes.query
    .filter((row) => row.card.path(r'$.title').equalTo('Kept Garden'))
    .single();

revised.card.pages is 321 and revised.revision is 1. The other note stays at revision 0. fromJson can take Map<String, dynamic>; the generator wraps that parameter. A String field still uses @DbJson.

A purchase points at its customer before the save. load returns the same instance the context already tracks.

final ada = customers.add(Customer(name: 'Ada'));
final order = purchases.add(Purchase(total: 12.5));
order.reference(PurchaseRelationships.customer).set(ada);
await context.saveChanges();
final buyer = await order.reference(PurchaseRelationships.customer).load();

With a generated mapping the filter is a closure. selectWhere is that same filter. where and andWhere take the predicate directly. select, get, findAll, and all read the rows. orderBy and sortBy take the ordering list. orderByFields takes the closure. offset and limit are skip and take. exists is any. first requires a row. singleOrNull is null when none match and fails when several do.

final expensive = await purchases.query
    .selectWhere((row) => row.total > 20.0)
    .orderByFields((row) => [row.total.ascending])
    .select();

Call a function on the row

twice reads revision. On a loaded book it returns the number. In the query it is the same method, and the comparison is SQL.

@DbEntity(table: 'books')
class Book {
  Book({this.id, required this.title, required this.revision});

  final BigInt? id;
  String title;
  BigInt revision;

  @DbScalar()
  BigInt? twice() => revision * BigInt.two;
}

final large = await books.query
    .selectWhere((row) => (row.twice() > 20) | row.title.upper().equalTo('WEST'))
    .orderByFields((row) => [row.title.length().ascending])
    .toList();

large keeps a book whose doubled revision is above 20, or whose title is WEST, and orders those rows by title length. Parenthesize a comparison before & or |.

You write	The engine runs
row.twice() > 20	books_twice("revision") > ?
row.revision.abs() > 3	abs("revision") > ?
row.title.upper().equalTo('WEST')	upper("title") = ?
row.title.trim().length()	length(trim("title"))
row.note.coalesce(row.title)	coalesce("note", "title")
row.title.substr(1, 4)	substr("title", ?, ?)
row.updated.date()	date("updated")
row.path(r'$.shelf').equalTo('north')	json_extract("body", ?) = ?

The method takes no parameters. A getter is the same shape. The body reads mapped fields and stays synchronous. DbContext registers books_twice on the connection. A null stored in a non-nullable field makes that call null. A thrown body fails the statement. abs, upper, lower, length, trim, substr, replace, round, coalesce, ifNull, concat, sign, floor, ceil, sqrt, date, time, dateTime, unixEpoch, and julianDay are the engine, called on the column or on another call.

Names you can write by hand

module, tokenizer, and metric are strings. The constants are the names this ORM already knows how to spell. DbModules.fts5 and 'fts5' are the same value. A tokenizer or a metric that is not in the list is still a string, so a package can add a name without an ORM release. A module outside fts5, rtree, and vec0 is rejected: the generator has to write CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE, and it only knows those three shapes.

Constant	Value	What a row does
DbModules.fts5	fts5	Full-text table. The key is rowid. Other columns are text. search('kept') returns alpha kept
DbModules.rtree	rtree	Rectangle table: integer key, then minX, maxX, minY, maxY. bounds.intersects returns the overlapping place
DbModules.vec0	vec0	One List<double> column. nearest returns the closest rows
DbTokenizers.unicode61	unicode61	FTS5 default when tokenizer is omitted. مرحبا stays one token and matches itself
DbTokenizers.porter	porter	English stemmer. A row running matches search('run')
DbTokenizers.trigram	trigram	Overlapping three-character tokens. abcdef matches bcd. A query shorter than three characters matches nothing
DbTokenizers.ascii	ascii	ASCII letters and digits. This is the FTS3 and FTS4 default
DbTokenizers.simple	simple	The FTS3 spelling of ascii. FTS5 answers no such tokenizer: simple
DbVectorMetrics.l2	l2	Euclidean distance. [0, 0] to [3, 4] is 5. This is the @DbVector default
DbVectorMetrics.cosine	cosine	One minus cosine similarity. Equal vectors are 0, orthogonal vectors are 1, opposite vectors are 2

DbVectorLimits.minimumDimensions is 1. DbVectorLimits.maximumDimensions and DbVectorLimits.maximumNeighbors are 4096. Each constant has a dartdoc comment on the declaration.

ForeignKeyAction, MigrationSafety, EntityState, and MigrationKind stay enums. Their sets are closed inside the ORM and a handwritten string would not select another behavior.

Search a word

@DbEntity(module: DbModules.fts5, tokenizer: DbTokenizers.porter)
class Article {
  Article({this.rowid, required this.body});
  @DbKey(generated: true)
  final BigInt? rowid;
  final String body;
}

ensureCreated writes CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE "Article" USING fts5("body", tokenize = 'porter'). rowid is the key and is omitted from the fts5(...) list.

final articles = context.set(ArticleMapping.instance);
articles.add(Article(body: 'running'));
articles.add(Article(body: 'other words'));
await context.saveChanges(); // 2
final hit = await articles.query.search('run').single();

hit.body is running. Porter did the stemming. The engine already contains this tokenizer, so no extra package is registered.

Arabic stemming is the string 'arabic'. sqlite_plus_arabic registers that name. The ORM only stores it.

import 'package:sqlite_plus_arabic/sqlite_plus_arabic.dart';

@DbEntity(module: DbModules.fts5, tokenizer: ArabicTokenizers.arabic)
class Note {
  Note({this.rowid, required this.body});
  @DbKey(generated: true)
  final BigInt? rowid;
  final String body;
}

tokenizer: 'arabic' is the same annotation. The created SQL contains tokenize = 'arabic'.

SqlitePlusArabic.register(connection.database);
await context.migrations.ensureCreated();
final notes = context.set(NoteMapping.instance);
notes.add(Note(body: 'في الحديقة'));
notes.add(Note(body: 'سيارة'));
await context.saveChanges(); // 2
final garden = await notes.query.search('الحديقة').single();
final missed = await notes.query.search('كتاب').toList();

garden.body is في الحديقة. الحديقة and حديقة share a token. missed is empty. Register before ensureCreated. Without that call the create fails with no such tokenizer: arabic. A later plan() is empty while the stored virtual SQL still matches. The Arabic package page lists the prefix and suffix rules, including why الله stays الله.

Find the nearest vector

import 'package:sqlite_plus_vec/sqlite_plus_vec.dart';

@DbEntity(module: DbModules.vec0)
class Point {
  Point({this.rowid, required this.embedding});
  @DbKey(generated: true)
  final BigInt? rowid;
  @DbVector(4, metric: DbVectorMetrics.cosine)
  final List<double> embedding;
}

@DbVector(4) without metric uses DbVectorMetrics.l2. The created SQL for the class above is CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE "Point" USING vec0("embedding" float[4] distance_metric=cosine). Codecs.vector(4) stores little-endian float32 and rejects a list of another length.

SqlitePlusVec.register(connection.database);
await context.migrations.ensureCreated();
final points = context.set(PointMapping.instance);
points.add(Point(embedding: const [1, 0, 0, 0]));
points.add(Point(embedding: const [0, 1, 0, 0]));
await context.saveChanges(); // 2
final nearest =
    await points.query.nearest(const [0.8, 0.2, 0, 0], k: 1).single();

nearest.embedding[0] is greater than 0.5. The query is "embedding" MATCH ? AND "k" = ?, ordered by distance. The scan reads both rows. sqlite_plus_vec owns the distance. This ORM writes the SQL and checks the list length. nearest(const [1, 0], k: 1) throws OrmCodecException. k: 0 throws RangeError. k above 4096 throws RangeError as well.

module: 'vec9' is rejected while the model is built. metric: 'hamming' is accepted as an identifier and vec0 rejects it at CREATE with vec0: unknown distance metric. A column named distance or k on a vec0 entity is rejected, because those names are the hidden query columns.

The other packages

sqlite_plus is the engine. The same connection answers SQL directly.

final rows = await connection.database.query(
  'SELECT title FROM books WHERE upper(title) = ?',
  ['WEST'],
);

sqlite_plus_arabic registers arabic and documents the stem of حديقة, كتابه, and الله. sqlite_plus_vec registers vec0, encodes float32, and answers MATCH with k. sqlite_plus_generator writes twice(), search, and nearest from the class. The generated part does not import the two extension packages. Call register on the connection yourself.

dart run sqlite_plus_generator

From the package root this writes a part for every public @DbEntity and writes lib/sqlite_plus_migrations.g.dart for ensureCreated. One library is still dart run sqlite_plus_generator --input lib/models.dart.

The engine underneath

1,000 rows on Linux, release build. The same SQL, and every checksum matched. In memory, a transaction of inserts was 263× and search was 107×. On a file, search was 142× and a point lookup was 104×.

Rules worth knowing

Change	What happens
First schema	ensureCreated
Nullable column, new table, non-unique index	plan then applySafe
Unique index	apply with approval. Duplicates roll the save back
Rename, drop, type change, required column	You write the SQL, then approve that plan
Down	The reverse statement, after the model points at the old shape
Second plan()	Empty when the stored schema matches, including FTS5, R-tree, and vec0

One object per key lives in the context. saveChanges freezes values before the first await and publishes generated keys after commit. A stale revision aborts the whole save. count returns BigInt.

The packages on pub.dev

Each package is a complete library. Import only what you call. The links below are the package pages.

Package	Version	Page
sqlite_plus	^0.1.13	pub.dev/packages/sqlite_plus
sqlite_plus_orm	^0.1.12	pub.dev/packages/sqlite_plus_orm
sqlite_plus_generator	^0.1.12	pub.dev/packages/sqlite_plus_generator
sqlite_plus_arabic	^0.1.6	pub.dev/packages/sqlite_plus_arabic
sqlite_plus_vec	^0.1.6	pub.dev/packages/sqlite_plus_vec
sqlite_plus_geo	^0.1.5	pub.dev/packages/sqlite_plus_geo

sqlite_plus

dependencies:
  sqlite_plus: ^0.1.13

import 'package:sqlite_plus/sqlite_plus_io.dart';

final db = await openDatabase('shelf.db');
await db.execute(
  'CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS note (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, title TEXT)',
);
await db.insert('note', {'title': 'Kept Garden'});
final rows = await db.query(
  'note',
  columns: ['title'],
  where: 'title LIKE ?',
  whereArgs: ['%Garden%'],
);

The title is Kept Garden. A missing shelf.db is created. The next launch opens the same file. Integers come back as BigInt. There is no FFI and no native SQLite in this engine.

sqlite_plus_orm

dependencies:
  sqlite_plus_orm: ^0.1.12

import 'package:sqlite_plus_orm/sqlite_plus_orm.dart';

@DbEntity()
class Note {
  Note({this.id, required this.title, this.revision = 0});
  final BigInt? id;
  String title;
  @DbVersion()
  int revision;
}

saveChanges writes one transaction and bumps revision. A table with no PRIMARY KEY still maps. Its key is the SQLite row id:

@DbKey(generated: true)
final BigInt? rowid;

plan() adopts that row id and does not rebuild the table.

sqlite_plus_generator

dev_dependencies:
  sqlite_plus_generator: ^0.1.12

dart run sqlite_plus_generator

From the package root, that command writes a part for every public @DbEntity under lib/, plus lib/sqlite_plus_migrations.g.dart.

sqlite_plus_arabic

dependencies:
  sqlite_plus_arabic: ^0.1.6

import 'package:sqlite_plus_arabic/sqlite_plus_arabic.dart';

SqlitePlusArabic.register(db);
await db.execute(
  "CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE passage USING fts5(body, tokenize = 'arabic')",
);

حديقة and الحديقة share one token. الله stays الله. This is not the SQLite ICU Arabic tokenizer. Register before CREATE, and again after the image is reopened.

sqlite_plus_vec

dependencies:
  sqlite_plus_vec: ^0.1.6

import 'package:sqlite_plus_vec/sqlite_plus_vec.dart';

SqlitePlusVec.register(db);
await db.execute(
  'CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE point USING vec0(embedding float[2] distance_metric=l2)',
);

MATCH with k scans every stored float32 vector. The file is not a sqlite-vec database.

sqlite_plus_geo

dependencies:
  sqlite_plus_geo: ^0.1.5

import 'package:sqlite_plus_geo/sqlite_plus_geo.dart';

final geo = GeoSession(db);
await geo.createSpatialTable(
  'facilities',
  geometryColumn: 'location',
  geometryType: GeoGeometryType.point,
  srid: 4326,
);

X is longitude and Y is latitude. ST_SetSRID only labels a geometry. ST_Transform moves a coordinate between EPSG:4326, EPSG:3857, and WGS84 UTM. A degree is not a metre. This is not an OGC, PostGIS, SpatiaLite, or GeoPackage certification.