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Dev tools · July 24, 2025

Zu – A minimalist key-value database engine for modern applications

A minimalist key-value database engine for modern applications - 539hex/zu

Zu – A minimalist key-value database engine for modern applications launched on July 24, 2025 with 7 votes, #3,844 of 9,223 launches that month and more than 75% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 1 year on.

What it does

This project is currently in alpha stage with ongoing development. It's suitable for experimentation, learning, and development environments. Contributions and feedback are welcome as we work toward a stable release. Zu is a minimalist, fast key-value database implemented in C that combines persistent disk storage with an in-memory hash table for caching. It automatically caches items on their first access, using the hash table to provide near-instantaneous O(1) lookups for cached data. All data is persistently stored in a local binary file, while frequently accessed items are kept in memory for faster retrieval. Zu also exposes a simple REST API for health checks, set , and get operations.…from github.com

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