Postgres WASM

A PostgreSQL server instance running in a virtual machine running in the browser
by Supabase & Snaplet

Demo   •   Discord   •   Snaplet   •   Supabase

The future is now

Since we worked on this project, awesome and more usable solutions exist:

• PGlite by ElectricSQL which is a native WASM build of Postgres
• pgmock by Stackframe which is using the same approach as this project, emulating the Postgres server in an x86 emulator

While postgres-wasm was more of a proof of concept, both the above solutions can be used to run PostgreSQL in the browser or getting in-memory PostgreSQL databases!

Quickstart

cd packages/runtime && npx serve

Go to http://localhost:3000 and have fun!

Packages

This repo is split into three packages that build up the environment for running PostgreSQL in the browser.

• runtime: The v86 emulator that starts the buildroot image
• Buildroot: Scripts to build the CPU and memory snapshot run by v86.
• Websockproxy: Networking

Acknowledgements

• v86 which is the emulator for running x86 operating systems in the browser, without it none of the following projects would be possible
• crunchydata playground for leading the way and showing the world that it was possible to run PostgreSQL in the browser
• browser-shell which was already way ahead of its time, especially on the filesystem part
• browser-linux for showing us how we can make the pieces fit together
• Websockets Proxy the ingenious workaround that opened up the world for v86 emulators everywhere