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Document DB

A lightweight, database-agnostic document store for .NET that turns your database into a schema-free JSON document database with LINQ querying, spatial/geo queries, vector / ANN search, and full AOT/trimming support. Store entire object graphs — nested objects, child collections — as JSON documents. No CREATE TABLE, no ALTER TABLE, no JOINs, no migrations. One API, multiple database providers.

Frameworks

.NET

.NET MAUI

Blazor

ASP.NET

Operating Systems

Android

iOS

Windows


GitHub
Downloads
SQLite
SQLCipher
SQL Server
MySQL
PostgreSQL
LiteDB
CosmosDB
MongoDB
DuckDB
DI Extensions
IndexedDB
AI Tools

Features

Multi-provider — SQLite, SQLCipher (encrypted SQLite), LiteDB, CosmosDB, MongoDB, DuckDB, IndexedDB (Blazor WASM), SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL with a single API
Zero schema, zero migrations — store objects as JSON documents
Fluent query builder — store.Query<User>().Where(u => u.Age > 30).OrderBy(u => u.Name).Paginate(0, 20).ToList() with full LINQ expression support for nested properties, Any(), Count(), string methods, null checks, and captured variables
IAsyncEnumerable<T> streaming — yield results one-at-a-time with .ToAsyncEnumerable()
Expression-based JSON indexes — up to 30x faster queries on indexed properties
SQL-level projections — project into DTOs via .Select() at the database level
Aggregates — scalar .Max(), .Min(), .Sum(), .Average() as terminal methods; aggregate projections with automatic GROUP BY via Sql.* markers; collection-level Sum, Min, Max, Average on child collections
Ordering — .OrderBy(u => u.Age) and .OrderByDescending(u => u.Name) on the fluent query builder
Pagination — .Paginate(offset, take) translates to SQL LIMIT/OFFSET
Table-per-type mapping — MapTypeToTable<T>() gives a document type its own dedicated table. Unmapped types share a configurable default table
Custom Id properties — MapTypeToTable<T>("table", x => x.MyProp) to combine with a dedicated table, or MapIdProperty<T>(x => x.MyProp) to override the Id while keeping the type in the default shared table
Document diffing — GetDiff compares a modified object against the stored document and returns an RFC 6902 JsonPatchDocument<T> with deep nested-object diffing
Surgical field updates — SetProperty updates a single JSON field without deserialization. RemoveProperty strips a field. Both support nested paths
JSON Merge Patch (Upsert) — Upsert uses RFC 7396 json_patch to deep-merge a partial object into an existing document, preserving unset nullable fields. Inserts if the document doesn’t exist
Bulk operations — Query<T>().Where(...).ExecuteUpdate(x => x.Prop, value) and .ExecuteDelete() issue a single SQL statement against all matching documents — no deserialization, no client-side loop
Typed Id lookups — Get, Remove, SetProperty, and RemoveProperty accept the Id as object so you can pass a Guid, int, long, or string directly. Unsupported types throw ArgumentException
Full AOT/trimming support — all JsonTypeInfo<T> parameters are optional and auto-resolve from a configured JsonSerializerContext. Set UseReflectionFallback = false to catch missing registrations with clear exceptions
Optimistic concurrency — MapVersionProperty<T>(x => x.RowVersion) enables automatic version checking on update/upsert. Version is set to 1 on insert, checked and incremented on update. Throws ConcurrencyException on conflict. Works across all providers — stored in the JSON blob with zero schema changes
Transactions — RunInTransaction with automatic commit/rollback
Batch insert — BatchInsert inserts a collection in a single transaction with prepared command reuse, auto-generates IDs, and rolls back atomically on failure
Spatial / geo queries — WithinRadius, WithinBoundingBox, and NearestNeighbors with GeoPoint support. SQLite uses R*Tree; CosmosDB uses native ST_DISTANCE/ST_WITHIN. Learn more
Vector / ANN search — register an embedding property with MapVectorProperty<T>(d => d.Embedding, dimensions: 1536, metric: VectorDistance.Cosine, indexKind: VectorIndexKind.Hnsw) and query with Query<T>().Where(...).NearestVectors(query, k). Provider-native indexes: pgvector (PostgreSQL), VECTOR + DiskANN (SQL Server 2025), embedding policy (CosmosDB), $vectorSearch (MongoDB Atlas), vss extension (DuckDB), sqlite-vec (SQLite). Plus AutoEmbedOnInsert<T> to plug in Microsoft.Extensions.AI.IEmbeddingGenerator and embed text automatically on every write. Learn more
Composite JSON indexes — CreateIndexAsync(ctx.User, u => u.Country, u => u.Age) builds a single B-tree across multiple JSON paths on SQLite, SQLCipher, PostgreSQL, MySQL, DuckDB, and SQL Server. Learn more
Hot backup — Backup copies the database to a file. Available on SqliteDocumentStore, SqlCipherDocumentStore, and LiteDbDocumentStore
Clear all — SqliteDocumentStore.ClearAllAsync() deletes all documents across all tables including spatial sidecar data
SQLCipher encryption — separate Shiny.DocumentDb.Sqlite.SqlCipher package with AES-256 encryption, password-aware backup, and RekeyAsync to change the encryption key
Multi-tenancy — two isolation strategies: shared-table (single database with automatic TenantId column filtering) and tenant-per-database (separate database per tenant via lazy factory). Both resolve the current tenant via a user-implemented ITenantResolver. Consumer code is unchanged — tenant isolation is applied transparently
Change monitoring — consume an IAsyncEnumerable<DocumentChange<T>> of insert/update/remove/clear events with await foreach (var c in store.NotifyOnChange<User>(ct)). Filter to a single document with WhenDocumentChanged<T>(id) or to the result set of a fluent query with query.NotifyOnChange(). Buffered inside RunInTransaction and emitted on commit. Learn more
Native change feeds — IChangeFeedDocumentStore.SubscribeChanges<T> observes all writers via the database’s own mechanism: PostgreSQL LISTEN/NOTIFY triggers, SQL Server Change Tracking (optionally with SqlDependency query notifications), and Cosmos DB native Change Feed. Provisioning is automatic and idempotent
Global query filters — register an AddQueryFilter<T>(u => !u.IsDeleted) predicate that’s automatically AND-applied to every query of T, plus Get/Update/Remove/SetProperty/RemoveProperty/Clear/ExecuteUpdate/ExecuteDelete and per-query change monitoring. Mirrors Entity Framework Core’s HasQueryFilter, including named filters, IgnoreQueryFilters()/IgnoreQueryFilters("name"), and captured-variable semantics. Learn more
AI tool integration — Shiny.DocumentDb.Extensions.AI exposes document types as Microsoft.Extensions.AI tool functions for LLM agents. Per-type capability flags (ReadOnly, All), structured filter expressions, field visibility control, and page size caps. Learn more

Setup

Install the NuGet packages

Install the core package plus your provider:

dotnet add package Shiny.DocumentDb.Sqlite

dotnet add package Shiny.DocumentDb.Sqlite.SqlCipher

dotnet add package Shiny.DocumentDb.SqlServer

dotnet add package Shiny.DocumentDb.MySql

dotnet add package Shiny.DocumentDb.PostgreSql

dotnet add package Shiny.DocumentDb.MongoDb

dotnet add package Shiny.DocumentDb.DuckDb

dotnet add package Shiny.DocumentDb.IndexedDb

Each provider package includes the core Shiny.DocumentDb package automatically.

For dependency injection, also install the DI extensions package:

dotnet add package Shiny.DocumentDb.Extensions.DependencyInjection

using Shiny.DocumentDb;

services.AddDocumentStore(opts =>
{
    opts.DatabaseProvider = new SqliteDatabaseProvider("Data Source=mydata.db");
});

Just swap the provider for your database:

opts.DatabaseProvider = new SqliteDatabaseProvider("Data Source=mydata.db");

opts.DatabaseProvider = new SqlCipherDatabaseProvider("mydata.db", "mySecretKey");

opts.DatabaseProvider = new SqlServerDatabaseProvider("Server=localhost;Database=mydb;Trusted_Connection=true;");

opts.DatabaseProvider = new MySqlDatabaseProvider("Server=localhost;Database=mydb;User=root;Password=pass;");

opts.DatabaseProvider = new PostgreSqlDatabaseProvider("Host=localhost;Database=mydb;Username=postgres;Password=pass;");

opts.DatabaseProvider = new DuckDbDatabaseProvider("Data Source=mydata.duckdb");

MongoDB uses its own options class — register the store directly with the DI container:

builder.Services.AddSingleton(new MongoDbDocumentStoreOptions
{
    ConnectionString = "mongodb://localhost:27017",
    DatabaseName = "mydb"
});
builder.Services.AddSingleton<IDocumentStore, MongoDbDocumentStore>();

For multiple databases, register named stores using .NET keyed services:

services.AddDocumentStore("users", opts =>
{
    opts.DatabaseProvider = new SqliteDatabaseProvider("Data Source=users.db");
});
services.AddDocumentStore("analytics", opts =>
{
    opts.DatabaseProvider = new PostgreSqlDatabaseProvider("Host=...");
});

Inject via [FromKeyedServices("name")] or resolve dynamically with IDocumentStoreProvider:

public class MyService(
    [FromKeyedServices("users")] IDocumentStore userStore,
    [FromKeyedServices("analytics")] IDocumentStore analyticsStore) { }

// Or dynamically:
public class MyService(IDocumentStoreProvider stores)
{
    void DoWork() => stores.GetStore("users").Insert(...);
}

For multi-tenant applications, two isolation strategies are available:

// Shared-table: single database, automatic TenantId column filtering
services.AddSingleton<ITenantResolver, MyTenantResolver>();
services.AddDocumentStore(opts =>
{
    opts.DatabaseProvider = new PostgreSqlDatabaseProvider("Host=...");
}, multiTenant: true);

// Tenant-per-database: separate database per tenant (scoped IDocumentStore)
services.AddSingleton<ITenantResolver, MyTenantResolver>();
services.AddMultiTenantDocumentStore(tenantId => new DocumentStoreOptions
{
    DatabaseProvider = new SqliteDatabaseProvider($"Data Source={tenantId}.db")
});

Both require an ITenantResolver implementation:

public class MyTenantResolver(IHttpContextAccessor http) : ITenantResolver
{
    public string GetCurrentTenant()
        => http.HttpContext?.User.FindFirst("tenant_id")?.Value
           ?? throw new InvalidOperationException("No tenant context");
}

Or instantiate directly (no DI needed):

// Quick setup (SQLite convenience class)
var store = new SqliteDocumentStore("Data Source=mydata.db");

// Full options
var store = new SqliteDocumentStore(new DocumentStoreOptions
{
    DatabaseProvider = new SqliteDatabaseProvider("Data Source=mydata.db")
});

// Quick setup
var store = new SqlCipherDocumentStore("mydata.db", "mySecretKey");

// Full options
var store = new SqlCipherDocumentStore(new DocumentStoreOptions
{
    DatabaseProvider = new SqlCipherDatabaseProvider("mydata.db", "mySecretKey")
});

var store = new DocumentStore(new DocumentStoreOptions
{
    DatabaseProvider = new SqlServerDatabaseProvider("Server=localhost;Database=mydb;Trusted_Connection=true;")
});

var store = new DocumentStore(new DocumentStoreOptions
{
    DatabaseProvider = new MySqlDatabaseProvider("Server=localhost;Database=mydb;User=root;Password=pass;")
});

var store = new DocumentStore(new DocumentStoreOptions
{
    DatabaseProvider = new PostgreSqlDatabaseProvider("Host=localhost;Database=mydb;Username=postgres;Password=pass;")
});

var store = new DocumentStore(new DocumentStoreOptions
{
    DatabaseProvider = new DuckDbDatabaseProvider("Data Source=mydata.duckdb")
});

var store = new MongoDbDocumentStore(new MongoDbDocumentStoreOptions
{
    ConnectionString = "mongodb://localhost:27017",
    DatabaseName = "mydb"
});

Inject IDocumentStore and start using it:

public class MyService(IDocumentStore store)
{
    public async Task SaveUser(User user)
    {
        await store.Insert(user); // Id auto-generated for Guid/int/long; string Ids must be set
    }

    public async Task<User?> GetUser(string id)
    {
        return await store.Get<User>(id);
    }

    public async Task<IReadOnlyList<User>> GetActiveUsers()
    {
        return await store.Query<User>()
            .Where(u => u.IsActive)
            .OrderBy(u => u.Name)
            .ToList();
    }
}

Configuration Options

Property	Type	Default	Description
`DatabaseProvider`	`IDatabaseProvider` (required)	—	The database provider to use (e.g. `SqliteDatabaseProvider`, `SqlCipherDatabaseProvider`, `SqlServerDatabaseProvider`, `MySqlDatabaseProvider`, `PostgreSqlDatabaseProvider`, `DuckDbDatabaseProvider`). LiteDB, CosmosDB, MongoDB, and IndexedDB use their own options classes.
`TableName`	`string`	`"documents"`	Default table name for all document types not mapped via `MapTypeToTable`
`TypeNameResolution`	`TypeNameResolution`	`ShortName`	How type names are stored (`ShortName` or `FullName`)
`JsonSerializerOptions`	`JsonSerializerOptions?`	`null`	JSON serialization settings. When a `JsonSerializerContext` is attached as the `TypeInfoResolver`, all methods auto-resolve type info from the context
`UseReflectionFallback`	`bool`	`true`	When `false`, throws `InvalidOperationException` if a type can’t be resolved from the configured `TypeInfoResolver` instead of falling back to reflection. Recommended for AOT deployments
`Logging`	`Action<string>?`	`null`	Callback invoked with every SQL statement executed
`TenantIdAccessor`	`Func<string>?`	`null`	When set, enables shared-table multi-tenancy. All queries are filtered by TenantId and all inserts include the TenantId value. A dedicated TenantId column and index are created automatically

Table-Per-Type Mapping

By default all document types share a single table. Use MapTypeToTable to give a type its own dedicated table. Tables are lazily created on first use. Two types cannot map to the same custom table.

var store = new DocumentStore(new DocumentStoreOptions
{
    DatabaseProvider = new SqliteDatabaseProvider("Data Source=mydata.db"),
    TableName = "docs"                 // change the default table name (optional)
}
.MapTypeToTable<Order>("orders")       // explicit table name
.MapTypeToTable<AuditLog>()            // auto-derived table name "AuditLog"
// User stays in the default "docs" table
);

Custom Id property

By default every document type must have a property named Id. Override that with a custom property using either MapTypeToTable<T>(...) (combined with a dedicated table) or MapIdProperty<T>(...) (the type stays in the default shared table). The two are independent — use either, both, or neither.

var store = new DocumentStore(new DocumentStoreOptions
{
    DatabaseProvider = new SqliteDatabaseProvider("Data Source=mydata.db")
}
// Dedicated table + custom Id
.MapTypeToTable<Sensor>("sensors", s => s.DeviceKey)      // Guid DeviceKey as Id
.MapTypeToTable<Tenant>("tenants", t => t.TenantCode)     // string TenantCode as Id
// Default shared table + custom Id
.MapIdProperty<BlogPost>(p => p.Slug)                     // string Slug as Id
);

MapTypeToTable and MapIdProperty overloads

Overload	Description
`MapTypeToTable<T>()`	Auto-derive table name from type name
`MapTypeToTable<T>(string tableName)`	Explicit table name
`MapTypeToTable<T>(Expression<Func<T, object>> idProperty)`	Auto-derive table + custom Id
`MapTypeToTable<T>(string tableName, Expression<Func<T, object>> idProperty)`	Explicit table + custom Id
`MapIdProperty<T>(Expression<Func<T, object>> idProperty)`	Custom Id only — type stays in the default shared table
`MapIdProperty<T>(string propertyName)`	AOT-safe string overload

All overloads return DocumentStoreOptions for fluent chaining. Duplicate table names throw InvalidOperationException.

DI Registration with Table Mapping

services.AddDocumentStore(opts =>
{
    opts.DatabaseProvider = new SqliteDatabaseProvider("Data Source=mydata.db");
    opts.MapTypeToTable<User>();
    opts.MapTypeToTable<Order>("orders");
    opts.MapTypeToTable<Sensor>("sensors", s => s.DeviceKey);
});

AI Coding Assistant

Step 1 — Add the marketplace:

claude plugin marketplace add shinyorg/skills

Step 2 — Install the plugin:

claude plugin install shiny-data@shiny

Step 1 — Add the marketplace:

copilot plugin marketplace add https://github.com/shinyorg/skills

Step 2 — Install the plugin:

copilot plugin install shiny-data@shiny

View shiny-data Plugin