sqlcipher3

library0.6.2pypypi✓ verified 34d ago

sqlcipher3 provides a DB-API 2.0 compatible interface for SQLCipher 4.x, allowing encrypted SQLite databases. It wraps SQLCipher's C library and supports transparent 256-bit AES encryption of database files. Current version 0.6.2, requires Python >=3.9. Pre-built wheels available for many platforms; on some systems you may need to compile from source.

database auth-security

github ↗package ↗

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v0.6.2 · pip install

no network on importno background threads

Install × environment matrix

Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux

musl

glibc

py 3.10

1/2 runs

✓ 1.7s

py 3.11

1/2 runs

✓ 1.95s

py 3.12

1/2 runs

✓ 1.7s

py 3.13

1/2 runs

✓ 1.7s

py 3.9

1/2 runs

✓ 3.2s

36MB installed

● package 36MB

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

Old pattern for pysqlcipher3, not compatible with sqlcipher3

from sqlcipher3 import connect

Incorrect: sqlcipher3 itself is not a module with connect; use dbapi2 submodule

from sqlcipher3 import dbapi2

Create an in-memory encrypted database. PRAGMA key must be set before any other operations.

import os from sqlcipher3 import dbapi2 as sqlite conn = sqlite.connect(':memory:') conn.execute("PRAGMA key='secret'") conn.execute('CREATE TABLE test (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, value TEXT)') conn.execute('INSERT INTO test VALUES (1, "hello")') print(conn.execute('SELECT * FROM test').fetchone()) conn.close()

Debug

Known footguns

breakingsqlcipher3 is NOT compatible with sqlcipher (version 2.x) or pysqlcipher3. It only works with SQLCipher 4.x. If you have SQLCipher 3.x, you need a different library (e.g., `pysqlcipher3`).

gotchaOpening a database without setting the key will fail with 'DatabaseError: file is not a database' if the file exists and is encrypted, or create an unencrypted database if new. Always set PRAGMA key immediately after connect.

gotchaPRAGMA key and PRAGMA cipher_* settings must be executed on the same connection before any other queries. Changing these after data has been written can corrupt the database.

Upgrade

Version history

Breaking-change detection hasn't run for this library yet.

Audit

Security & dependencies

CVE tracking and dependency tree are planned for a later release.

Agent activity

13 hits · last 30 days

gptbot

ahrefsbot

claudebot

script

mj12bot

bytedance

Resources

githubhttps://github.com/coleifer/sqlcipher3 ↗

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/sqlcipher3/ ↗