Dexie.js is a wrapper library for indexedDB - the standard database in the browser. https://dexie.org.
IndexedDB is the portable database for all browser engines. Dexie.js makes it fun and easy to work with.
But also:
- Dexie.js is widely used by 100,000 of web sites, apps and other projects and supports all browsers, Electron for Desktop apps, Capacitor for iOS / Android apps and of course pure PWAs.
- Dexie.js works around bugs in the IndexedDB implementations, giving a more stable user experience.
- It's an easy step to make it sync.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/dexie/dist/dexie.js"></script>
<script>
//
// Declare Database
//
const db = new Dexie('FriendDatabase');
db.version(1).stores({
friends: '++id, age'
});
//
// Play with it
//
db.friends.add({ name: 'Alice', age: 21 }).then(() => {
return db.friends
.where('age')
.below(30)
.toArray();
}).then(youngFriends => {
alert (`My young friends: ${JSON.stringify(youngFriends)}`);
}).catch (e => {
alert(`Oops: ${e}`);
});
</script>
</head>
</html>
Yes, it's that simple. Read the docs to get into the details.
All modern browsers support ES modules and top-level awaits. No transipler needed. Here's the previous example in a modern flavour:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script type="module">
// Import Dexie
import { Dexie } from 'https://unpkg.com/dexie/dist/modern/dexie.mjs';
//
// Declare Database
//
const db = new Dexie('FriendDatabase');
db.version(1).stores({
friends: '++id, age'
});
//
// Play with it
//
try {
await db.friends.add({ name: 'Alice', age: 21 });
const youngFriends = await db.friends
.where('age')
.below(30)
.toArray();
alert(`My young friends: ${JSON.stringify(youngFriends)}`);
} catch (e) {
alert(`Oops: ${e}`);
}
</script>
</head>
</html>
Real-world apps are often built using components in various frameworks. Here's a version of Hello World written for React and Typescript. There are also links below this sample to more tutorials for different frameworks...
import React from 'react';
import { Dexie, type EntityTable } from 'dexie';
import { useLiveQuery } from 'dexie-react-hooks';
// Typing for your entities (hint is to move this to its own module)
export interface Friend {
id: number;
name: string;
age: number;
}
// Database declaration (move this to its own module also)
export const db = new Dexie('FriendDatabase') as Dexie & {
friends: EntityTable<Friend, 'id'>;
};
db.version(1).stores({
friends: '++id, age',
});
// Component:
export function MyDexieReactComponent() {
const youngFriends = useLiveQuery(() =>
db.friends
.where('age')
.below(30)
.toArray()
);
return (
<>
<h3>My young friends</h3>
<ul>
{youngFriends?.map((f) => (
<li key={f.id}>
Name: {f.name}, Age: {f.age}
</li>
))}
</ul>
<button
onClick={() => {
db.friends.add({ name: 'Alice', age: 21 });
}}
>
Add another friend
</button>
</>
);
}
Tutorials for React, Svelte, Vue, Angular and vanilla JS
Dexie has kick-ass performance. Its bulk methods take advantage of a lesser-known feature in IndexedDB that makes it possible to store stuff without listening to every onsuccess event. This speeds up the performance to a maximum.
above(key): Collection;
aboveOrEqual(key): Collection;
add(item, key?): Promise;
and(filter: (x) => boolean): Collection;
anyOf(keys[]): Collection;
anyOfIgnoreCase(keys: string[]): Collection;
below(key): Collection;
belowOrEqual(key): Collection;
between(lower, upper, includeLower?, includeUpper?): Collection;
bulkAdd(items: Array): Promise;
bulkDelete(keys: Array): Promise;
bulkPut(items: Array): Promise;
clear(): Promise;
count(): Promise;
delete(key): Promise;
distinct(): Collection;
each(callback: (obj) => any): Promise;
eachKey(callback: (key) => any): Promise;
eachPrimaryKey(callback: (key) => any): Promise;
eachUniqueKey(callback: (key) => any): Promise;
equals(key): Collection;
equalsIgnoreCase(key): Collection;
filter(fn: (obj) => boolean): Collection;
first(): Promise;
get(key): Promise;
inAnyRange(ranges): Collection;
keys(): Promise;
last(): Promise;
limit(n: number): Collection;
modify(changeCallback: (obj: T, ctx:{value: T}) => void): Promise;
modify(changes: { [keyPath: string]: any } ): Promise;
noneOf(keys: Array): Collection;
notEqual(key): Collection;
offset(n: number): Collection;
or(indexOrPrimayKey: string): WhereClause;
orderBy(index: string): Collection;
primaryKeys(): Promise;
put(item: T, key?: Key): Promise;
reverse(): Collection;
sortBy(keyPath: string): Promise;
startsWith(key: string): Collection;
startsWithAnyOf(prefixes: string[]): Collection;
startsWithAnyOfIgnoreCase(prefixes: string[]): Collection;
startsWithIgnoreCase(key: string): Collection;
toArray(): Promise;
toCollection(): Collection;
uniqueKeys(): Promise;
until(filter: (value) => boolean, includeStopEntry?: boolean): Collection;
update(key: Key, changes: { [keyPath: string]: any }): Promise;
This is a mix of methods from WhereClause, Table and Collection. Dive into the API reference to see the details.
Dexie Cloud is a commercial offering that can be used as an add-on to Dexie.js. It syncs a Dexie database with a server and enables developers to build apps without having to care about backend or database layer else than the frontend code with Dexie.js as the sole database layer.
Source for a sample Dexie Cloud app: Dexie Cloud To-do app
See the sample Dexie Cloud app in action: https://dexie.github.io/Dexie.js/dexie-cloud-todo-app/
https://dexie.org/docs/Samples
https://github.com/dexie/Dexie.js/tree/master/samples
https://dexie.org/docs/Questions-and-Answers
npm install dexie
For those who don't like package managers, here's the download links:
https://unpkg.com/dexie@latest/dist/dexie.min.js
https://unpkg.com/dexie@latest/dist/dexie.min.js.map
https://unpkg.com/dexie@latest/dist/modern/dexie.min.mjs
https://unpkg.com/dexie@latest/dist/modern/dexie.min.mjs.map
https://unpkg.com/dexie@latest/dist/dexie.d.ts
See CONTRIBUTING.md
pnpm install
pnpm run build
pnpm test
pnpm run watch