Database Setup

Vouch supports three database backends. Choose based on your deployment requirements.

SQLite (Default)

Best for single-node deployments and development. No external dependencies.

VOUCH_DATABASE_URL=sqlite:vouch.db?mode=rwc

The database file is created automatically on first startup. Migrations run automatically.

Recommendations:

• Store the database on a persistent volume
• Set restrictive file permissions: chmod 700 /data
• Back up the file regularly (it’s a single file)

# Create data directory
mkdir -p /data
chmod 700 /data

# Configure
export VOUCH_DATABASE_URL="sqlite:/data/vouch.db?mode=rwc"

PostgreSQL

Best for multi-node deployments, high availability, and production environments.

VOUCH_DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:password@db.example.com:5432/vouch

Setup:

1. Create a PostgreSQL database:

   CREATE DATABASE vouch;
   CREATE USER vouch WITH PASSWORD 'secure-password';
   GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE vouch TO vouch;
   

2. Configure the connection:

   export VOUCH_DATABASE_URL="postgres://vouch:secure-password@db.example.com:5432/vouch"
   

3. Migrations run automatically on server startup.

Recommendations:

• Use SSL for database connections in production
• Configure connection pooling at the database level
• Set up automated backups

Aurora DSQL

For AWS deployments requiring serverless, distributed SQL with strong consistency.

Aurora DSQL endpoints are auto-detected when the DATABASE_URL hostname contains .dsql. and ends with .on.aws. IAM authentication tokens are generated automatically.

VOUCH_DATABASE_URL=postgres://admin@abcdef123456.dsql.us-east-1.on.aws:5432/vouch

Multi-region configuration uses a dsql_endpoints map in the S3 configuration JSON, resolved via AWS_AZ or AWS_REGION environment variables.

Migrations

Database migrations are embedded in the server binary and run automatically on startup. There is no manual migration step required.

• SQLite migrations: crates/vouch-server/migrations/sqlite/
• PostgreSQL migrations: crates/vouch-server/migrations/postgres/

Backup

Always back up before upgrading the Vouch server, as migrations may modify the schema.