What is cravendb?#

At its core, cravendb is described as a “document database written in Clojure”. Document databases, unlike traditional relational databases, store data in flexible, semi-structured formats (often JSON, BSON, or XML), making them well-suited for applications where data schemas evolve rapidly or are highly variable.

Building a database is a significant undertaking, and choosing Clojure suggests an approach that might leverage the language’s strengths in areas like concurrency management, immutability, and its powerful data structures, all while benefiting from the robust Java Virtual Machine (JVM) ecosystem.

While the project’s description field contains ”## C / CPP”, the clear summary and language metadata confirm its identity as a Clojure project focused on document storage.

Potential Use Cases and Relevance#

Given its nature as a Clojure-based document database, cravendb would likely be most relevant to:

• Clojure Developers: Those already working in Clojure might consider this for specific application needs, perhaps where integrating a JVM-based database is simpler than connecting to external services, or for learning purposes.
• Learners and Researchers: Students or engineers interested in database internals, specifically how document databases are structured or how systems software can be implemented in functional languages, can study the codebase.
• Niche or Embedded Applications: For small-scale projects, prototypes, or applications where a lightweight, potentially embedded database solution within a JVM environment is desirable.

Compared to large, production-ready document databases like MongoDB or Couchbase, cravendb appears to be a project of a different scale and potentially focus, leaning more towards specific ecosystem needs or educational value rather than broad enterprise deployment.

Project Status and Community Snapshot#

Analyzing the available metadata gives us insight into the project’s current standing:

• Age: The repository was published in 2013, indicating it’s an older project.
• Interest Level: With 62 stars and 9 watchers, there’s a modest level of interest from the community.
• Community Contribution: 7 forks suggest some developers have copied the project, potentially to experiment or build upon it. The contributors graph would provide more detail on the number of people who have committed code.
• Current Activity: There are currently 0 open issues and the project was started in 2013. This combination suggests the project may be a mature implementation for its intended purpose or is not actively being developed or seeking community contributions at this time. Standard GitHub features like pull requests and discussions are available but may reflect this status.
• Releases: The presence of a releases link indicates versioned snapshots of the code may exist, which is helpful for users.

The project has a moderate size, around 1900 KB, typical for a non-trivial application codebase.

Licensing Considerations#

A critical piece of information is the license status. The metadata explicitly states “No license”. For developers considering using or contributing to cravendb, it’s important to understand the implications of this. Without an explicit open-source license (like MIT, Apache, GPL), the code defaults to standard copyright law, meaning that legally, you cannot use, distribute, or modify the code without explicit permission from the copyright holder (robashton). This significantly limits its usability for most open-source projects or commercial applications without direct engagement with the owner.

Learning Value for Developers#

Despite the licensing point and potential inactivity, cravendb holds significant educational value, particularly for intermediate to senior developers:

• Clojure System Development: It provides a real-world example of building a complex piece of systems software (a database) in Clojure. This is valuable for understanding Clojure’s capabilities beyond typical web development or scripting.
• Database Concepts: Developers can study the source code to see how core database features like data storage, indexing (if implemented), querying, and concurrency are handled in a functional paradigm.
• Codebase Exploration: Navigating and understanding a codebase of this size focused on data persistence offers practical experience in reading and learning from existing projects.

For those looking to deepen their understanding of either Clojure or database implementation patterns, exploring the cravendb repository could be a worthwhile endeavor.