AltSql Core and AltSql DB Are Now Open Source Under the Apache License 2.0
For now the project focuses on two products: the engine, AltSql Core, and the database, AltSql DB. Both are open source under the Apache License 2.0. The code is on GitHub. Premium add-ons may come later under different licenses.
AltSql keeps key-value and time-series records on the device and answers SQL on the gateway, with the same records on both, so nothing gets translated in between. The device keeps working and deciding when the link drops, and it sends less. The native hybrid post says why that matters.
The release is v0.2.0-alpha. AltSql DB in it is 0.2.0-alpha, and AltSql Core is still 0.1.0-alpha. The engine is one C99 file, and so is the database. With them come the tests and the logs behind the numbers on this site, the browser demo, the two shells, and Linux x86-64 binaries of both shells.
The repository’s top folders, and the last lines of its two test runs.
The Two Products
AltSql Core is the engine, in core/dist/altsql.h. On the device it keeps key-value and time-series records in flash. On the gateway it answers SQL over those same records. The source is in pieces under core/src, and make builds the one file from them.
AltSql DB is the database for a gateway that serves a whole fleet, in engines/db/altsql_db.h, which is 4,504 lines long. It keeps every device in one file. You read by key with no SQL step, or you ask in SQL. It’s built on AltSql Core.
How to Try It
You need Linux and gcc or clang. From the top folder of the repository, these two commands run the engine’s tests and then the database’s:
cd core && make test
cd engines/db && make test
Each folder’s README says what its tests check. Both runs end with a pass line, as in the picture above. The logs behind the numbers are in core/results/alpha/ and engines/db/results/.
The shells are the quick way to see it work. altsql is the engine’s shell. It works on a file laid out like flash, as a device does, and it writes the batches a device would send. altsql-db is the database’s shell. It plays the gateway: it applies those batches and answers SQL. The release has Linux x86-64 binaries of both. To build them yourself, run make test-shell in engines/db, which also runs their end-to-end test.
The browser demo is in demos/db. Open demos/db/app/index.html and it runs straight from the folder.
The License
Everything in the repository is under the Apache License 2.0 unless a file says otherwise. The notice reads Copyright 2026 AltSql.com, and the LICENSE and NOTICE files are in the top folder.
Where It Stands
This is an alpha. Everything runs on a PC in simulation, and nothing has run on a microcontroller or a gateway yet. File formats may change. It’s not for production.
What’s new in AltSql DB 0.2 is in its own post. The roadmap shows what comes next. The engine and database pages say how each part works.