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Dev tools · November 8, 2022

Cozo – new Graph DB with Datalog, embedded like SQLite

Hi HN, I have been making this Cozo database since half a year ago, and now it is ready for public release. My initial motivation is that I want a graph database. Lightweight and easy to use, like SQLite. Powerful and performant, like Postgres. I found none of the existing solutions good enough. Deciding to roll my own, I need to choose a query language. I am familiar with Cypher but consider it not much of an improvement over CTE in SQL (Cypher is sometimes notationally more convenient, but not more expressive). I like Gremlin but would prefer something more declarative. Experimentations…

Cozo – new Graph DB with Datalog, embedded like SQLite launched on November 8, 2022 with 425 votes, #33 of 3,471 launches that month and more than 99% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 3 years on.

Visit github.com ↗Alternativestop 1% of November 2022

In plain words

Cozo is an embedded graph database designed to be lightweight and accessible like SQLite while offering the power and performance of Postgres. It uses Datalog as its query language, which the creator found more expressive and declarative than alternatives like Cypher or Gremlin. The database targets developers seeking a practical graph database solution without the constraints of property graph models or performance limitations of triple stores.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

A transactional, relational-graph-vector database that uses Datalog for query. The hippocampus for AI! - cozodb/cozo

In the maker’s words, at launch

Hi HN, I have been making this Cozo database since half a year ago, and now it is ready for public release. My initial motivation is that I want a graph database. Lightweight and easy to use, like SQLite. Powerful and performant, like Postgres. I found none of the existing solutions good enough. Deciding to roll my…

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