Integrated High-Performance Embedded Database in PHP Core (Beyond SQLite)

[gavriel-adi]

A major pain point for many PHP developers is the need to install and manage external database servers (like MySQL, MariaDB, or PostgreSQL) for dynamic sites and applications. While SQLite provides a simple, file-based database that is great for lightweight projects and prototyping, it is not ideal for high-traffic production websites due to its concurrency limitations and performance under heavy load.

Proposal:
Introduce an advanced, high-performance embedded database engine as part of PHP core — something that combines the ease-of-use of SQLite with the scalability and concurrency features of MySQL/PostgreSQL. This could be a new PHP-first database or a modern embedded engine (like DuckDB or BadgerDB) wrapped natively for PHP.

Features could include:

Full ACID compliance

Advanced indexing, full-text search, and JSON support

True concurrent writes and reads (better than SQLite)

Simple file-based or in-memory operation (no separate server process required)

Easy migration for projects currently using SQLite

Seamless integration with PDO

Benefits:

Simplifies deployment for PHP apps (especially on shared hosting and Docker)

Makes PHP more beginner-friendly and portable

Reduces operational overhead for small and medium websites

Enables high performance for content-rich, high-traffic PHP sites without external dependencies

Unlocks new use cases for edge computing and serverless PHP hosting

Why now?
With the rise of serverless and edge environments, it is time for PHP to include a first-class embedded database option that is both easy to use and ready for scale.

I would love to hear feedback on this idea, implementation challenges, or suggestions for possible database engines to adopt or wrap for PHP core.

[pronskiy]

Do you mean like core client extension for one of those? E.g. like sqlite3 extension

[gavriel-adi]

Yes