How to Connect to SQLite from Rust

Add the diesel crate with the sqlite and libsqlite3-sys/bundled features to your Cargo.toml to compile SQLite directly into your binary.

[dependencies]
diesel = { version = "2.2", features = ["sqlite", "libsqlite3-sys/bundled"] }

In your Rust code, import the connection type and establish a connection to your database file:

use diesel::prelude::*;
use diesel::SqliteConnection;

fn main() {
    let mut connection = SqliteConnection::establish("file:my_database.sqlite?mode=ro").unwrap();
    println!("Connected to SQLite");
}

Connecting to SQLite from Rust involves adding a library that lets your code talk to a SQLite database file. By enabling the 'bundled' feature, the database engine is built directly into your application, so you don't need to install anything else on the computer running your code. Think of it like packing a specific tool into your toolbox so you can use it anywhere without needing to find one at the job site.