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Database

Hermeum supports two database backends: SQLite (the default, for single-instance deployments) and Postgres (for scaling to multiple replicas). The only hard-required env var is HERMEUM_DATABASE_URL.

SQLite (default)​

SQLite needs no external database server. Hermeum writes to a file on a persistent volume.

HERMEUM_DATABASE_URL=file:/var/lib/hermeum/db.sqlite

Because the PVC is ReadWriteOnce, replicaCount must stay at 1 — you cannot scale horizontally with SQLite.

Postgres​

Postgres lets you run multiple replicas and keeps the database outside the cluster if you prefer. Set HERMEUM_DATABASE_DIALECT=postgres and point HERMEUM_DATABASE_URL at your Postgres connection URL:

HERMEUM_DATABASE_DIALECT=postgres
HERMEUM_DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:pass@db.example.com:5432/hermeum

Migrations​

Hermeum ships per-dialect migration SQL under apps/app/src/server/migrations/{sqlite,postgres} and applies them with the bundled drizzle-kit. To run them yourself — for example from CI, a one-off Job, or before pointing an existing database at a new Hermeum release — set HERMEUM_DATABASE_DIALECT (so drizzle-kit picks the right config file) and HERMEUM_DATABASE_URL (the connection it migrates against), then invoke the Hermeum's drizzle:migrate script:

HERMEUM_DATABASE_DIALECT=postgres \
HERMEUM_DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:pass@db.example.com:5432/hermeum \
pnpm --filter @hermeum/app drizzle:migrate

The script resolves to drizzle-kit migrate --config drizzle.config.${HERMEUM_DATABASE_DIALECT:-sqlite}.ts, so HERMEUM_DATABASE_DIALECT selects sqlite or postgres and HERMEUM_DATABASE_URL supplies the target. Migrations are idempotent, so re-running against an already-current database is safe.

note

By default the Helm chart runs this same drizzle-kit migrate command as an initContainer before Hermeum starts (migrations.enabled, default true), so a standard helm install/helm upgrade needs no manual step. If you run migrations out-of-band via the command above — or through a separate Job or CI pipeline — disable the initContainer with migrations.enabled=false so the two don't race.