Claude-skill-registry litestream-coder

This skill guides configuring Litestream for continuous SQLite backup in Rails 8+ apps. Use when setting up production backups for SQLite databases (Solid Queue, Solid Cache, Solid Cable).

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/data/litestream-coder" ~/.claude/skills/majiayu000-claude-skill-registry-litestream-coder && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: skills/data/litestream-coder/SKILL.md

Litestream Coder

Overview

Litestream provides continuous streaming backup for SQLite databases to S3-compatible storage. Essential for Rails 8+ apps using SQLite in production with Solid Queue, Solid Cache, and Solid Cable.

Configuration File

Create

config/litestream.yml

dbs:
  - path: /rails/storage/production.sqlite3
    replicas:
      - type: s3
        bucket: ${BUCKET_NAME}
        path: sqlite/production
        endpoint: ${S3_ENDPOINT}
        region: ${S3_REGION}
        access-key-id: ${LITESTREAM_ACCESS_KEY_ID}
        secret-access-key: ${LITESTREAM_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}
        force-path-style: true       # Required for S3-compatible storage
        sync-interval: 5s            # How often to sync WAL
        snapshot-interval: 1h        # Full snapshot frequency
        retention: 168h              # 7 days
        retention-check-interval: 1h
        validation-interval: 12h

Retention Strategies by Database Type

Primary database (production.sqlite3):

```
sync-interval: 5s
```
- Frequent syncing for data durability
```
snapshot-interval: 1h
```
- Hourly snapshots
```
retention: 720h
```
- 30 days for recovery

Cache database (production_cache.sqlite3):

```
sync-interval: 10s
```
- Less critical, reduce load
```
snapshot-interval: 6h
```
- Less frequent
```
retention: 24h
```
- 1 day sufficient

Queue database (production_queue.sqlite3):

```
sync-interval: 5s
```
- Important for job durability
```
snapshot-interval: 1h
```
- Hourly
```
retention: 72h
```
- 3 days for debugging

Cable database (production_cable.sqlite3):

```
sync-interval: 10s
```
- Ephemeral data
```
snapshot-interval: 6h
```
- Infrequent
```
retention: 24h
```
- 1 day

Complete Configuration Example

dbs:
  - path: /rails/storage/production.sqlite3
    replicas:
      - type: s3
        bucket: myapp-backups
        path: sqlite/production
        endpoint: https://fsn1.your-objectstorage.com
        region: fsn1
        access-key-id: ${LITESTREAM_ACCESS_KEY_ID}
        secret-access-key: ${LITESTREAM_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}
        force-path-style: true
        sync-interval: 5s
        snapshot-interval: 1h
        retention: 720h
        retention-check-interval: 1h
        validation-interval: 12h

  - path: /rails/storage/production_cache.sqlite3
    replicas:
      - type: s3
        bucket: myapp-backups
        path: sqlite/cache
        endpoint: https://fsn1.your-objectstorage.com
        region: fsn1
        access-key-id: ${LITESTREAM_ACCESS_KEY_ID}
        secret-access-key: ${LITESTREAM_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}
        force-path-style: true
        sync-interval: 10s
        snapshot-interval: 6h
        retention: 24h

  - path: /rails/storage/production_queue.sqlite3
    replicas:
      - type: s3
        bucket: myapp-backups
        path: sqlite/queue
        endpoint: https://fsn1.your-objectstorage.com
        region: fsn1
        access-key-id: ${LITESTREAM_ACCESS_KEY_ID}
        secret-access-key: ${LITESTREAM_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}
        force-path-style: true
        sync-interval: 5s
        snapshot-interval: 1h
        retention: 72h

  - path: /rails/storage/production_cable.sqlite3
    replicas:
      - type: s3
        bucket: myapp-backups
        path: sqlite/cable
        endpoint: https://fsn1.your-objectstorage.com
        region: fsn1
        access-key-id: ${LITESTREAM_ACCESS_KEY_ID}
        secret-access-key: ${LITESTREAM_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}
        force-path-style: true
        sync-interval: 10s
        snapshot-interval: 6h
        retention: 24h

Kamal 2 Deployment

Add Litestream as an accessory in

config/deploy.yml

accessories:
  litestream:
    image: litestream/litestream:0.3
    host: <SERVER_IP>
    cmd: replicate
    volumes:
      - "myapp_storage:/rails/storage:ro"  # Read-only access
    files:
      - config/litestream.yml:/etc/litestream.yml
    env:
      secret:
        - LITESTREAM_ACCESS_KEY_ID
        - LITESTREAM_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
    options:
      health-cmd: "litestream databases || exit 1"
      health-interval: 30s
      health-timeout: 5s
      health-retries: 3

Key points:

Mount storage as read-only (
```
:ro
```
) - Litestream only reads WAL files
Use same volume name as main app
Health check verifies Litestream can see databases

Secrets Configuration

.kamal/secrets

LITESTREAM_ACCESS_KEY_ID=$(op read "op://myproject/production-s3/access_key_id")
LITESTREAM_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=$(op read "op://myproject/production-s3/secret_access_key")

Disaster Recovery

Restore Database

# Stop application first
kamal app stop

# Restore from latest backup
docker run --rm \
  -v myapp_storage:/rails/storage \
  -e LITESTREAM_ACCESS_KEY_ID="$(op read 'op://myproject/production-s3/access_key_id')" \
  -e LITESTREAM_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="$(op read 'op://myproject/production-s3/secret_access_key')" \
  litestream/litestream:0.3 restore \
  -config /etc/litestream.yml \
  /rails/storage/production.sqlite3

# Restart application
kamal app start

Point-in-Time Recovery

docker run --rm \
  -v myapp_storage:/rails/storage \
  -e LITESTREAM_ACCESS_KEY_ID="..." \
  -e LITESTREAM_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="..." \
  litestream/litestream:0.3 restore \
  -config /etc/litestream.yml \
  -timestamp "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z" \
  /rails/storage/production.sqlite3

Monitoring

Check backup status:

# Via Kamal
kamal accessory exec litestream -- litestream databases

# Direct on server
docker exec myapp-litestream litestream databases

S3-Compatible Storage

Litestream works with any S3-compatible storage:

Provider	Endpoint Example
Hetzner Object Storage	`https://fsn1.your-objectstorage.com`
Backblaze B2	`https://s3.us-west-002.backblazeb2.com`
DigitalOcean Spaces	`https://nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com`
AWS S3	(omit endpoint, use region)

Critical: Always set

force-path-style: true

for non-AWS S3-compatible storage.

Best Practices

Separate databases by retention needs - Main DB needs longer retention than cache
Monitor backup lag -
```
litestream databases
```
shows replication status
Test restores regularly - Don't wait for a disaster to verify backups work
Use read-only mount - Litestream only reads WAL files,
```
:ro
```
prevents accidents