Does NestJS Work With Turso?
NestJS works seamlessly with Turso via the libSQL client library, enabling type-safe database operations in your enterprise Node.js applications.
Quick Facts
How NestJS Works With Turso
NestJS integrates with Turso through the `@libsql/client` npm package, which provides both HTTP and WebSocket connections to Turso's edge-hosted SQLite databases. You can set up a custom NestJS provider to inject the Turso client into your services, following NestJS's dependency injection pattern. The developer experience is straightforward: create a service that wraps the libSQL client, then use it in your repositories or directly in service methods. Turso's replication and edge caching work transparently—your NestJS app benefits from reduced latency without any special configuration. The main architectural consideration is that Turso uses HTTP for queries, so you'll want to handle connection pooling and rate limiting appropriately, especially in high-throughput scenarios. Type safety can be achieved by combining libSQL with a query builder like Drizzle ORM or by writing manual type definitions for your queries.
Best Use Cases
Quick Setup
npm install @libsql/client dotenvimport { Module } from '@nestjs/common';
import { createClient } from '@libsql/client';
const TURSO_CLIENT = 'TURSO_CLIENT';
@Module({
providers: [
{
provide: TURSO_CLIENT,
useValue: createClient({
url: process.env.TURSO_CONNECTION_URL,
authToken: process.env.TURSO_AUTH_TOKEN,
}),
},
],
exports: [TURSO_CLIENT],
})
export class DatabaseModule {}
// Usage in a service
import { Inject, Injectable } from '@nestjs/common';
import type { Client } from '@libsql/client';
@Injectable()
export class UsersService {
constructor(@Inject(TURSO_CLIENT) private db: Client) {}
async findAll() {
const result = await this.db.execute('SELECT * FROM users');
return result.rows;
}
}Known Issues & Gotchas
Connection pooling overhead with HTTP-based queries can add latency if not batched properly
Fix: Use prepared statements and batch multiple operations where possible. Consider Turso's WebSocket connections for persistent applications
Turso's eventual consistency model for replicas may not suit applications requiring immediate read-after-write guarantees
Fix: Route critical reads to the primary location or implement client-side consistency checks
SQLite's row-level locking can cause write contention under high concurrency
Fix: Design schemas to minimize write conflicts or implement application-level locking
Alternatives
- •PostgreSQL with Vercel Postgres + NestJS TypeORM (more traditional, better for complex queries)
- •MongoDB with NestJS Mongoose (document-based, different schema paradigm)
- •PlanetScale MySQL + NestJS Prisma (MySQL compatibility, also edge-ready)
Resources
Related Compatibility Guides
Explore more compatibility guides