renzume.

Scalability

SQLite-on-the-Server Is Misunderstood: Better At Hyper-Scale Than Micro-Scale

SQLite's strengths shine particularly well at scale, offering advantages like dynamic scaling, infinite cheap databases, and global distribution through platforms like Cloudflare Durable Objects and Turso. The SQLite-per-partition approach provides local ACID transactions and efficient I/O, making it a viable alternative to traditional partitioned databases for large-scale deployments.

When Imperfect Systems are Good, Actually: Bluesky’s Lossy Timelines

Bluesky implemented a 'Lossy Timelines' system to improve performance by intentionally dropping some timeline updates for users who follow many accounts. This solution reduced fanout latency by 96% and eliminated hot shard issues in their database clusters. The approach demonstrates how embracing imperfection in system design can lead to better scalability and performance.