About this project

TiDB is an open-source, cloud-native, distributed SQL database from PingCAP, released under the Apache 2.0 license. It is designed for high availability, horizontal and vertical scalability, strong consistency, and high performance, and is positioned for workloads that grow unpredictably, including agentic and AI-adjacent use cases. Key capabilities described in the README: - Distributed transactions: uses a two-phase commit protocol for ACID compliance and strong consistency across multiple nodes, intended to preserve correctness under network partitions or node failures. - Scalability: can scale horizontally by adding nodes or vertically by increasing resources of existing nodes, without downtime. Its architecture separates computing from storage so both can be adjusted independently. - High availability: built-in Raft consensus provides automated failover; data is stored in multiple replicas and transactions commit only after writing to a majority of replicas. Replica placement can be configured for different disaster-tolerance levels. - HTAP: combines TiKV, a row-based storage engine, with TiFlash, a columnar storage engine. TiFlash replicates data from TiKV in real time using the Multi-Raft Learner protocol, and the TiDB Server coordinates query execution across both engines. - Cloud-native deployment: can run in public clouds, on-premises, or on Kubernetes. TiDB Operator automates cluster operations on Kubernetes, and TiDB Cloud offers a fully managed service with a free plan. - MySQL compatibility: compatible with MySQL 8.0, allowing use of familiar protocols, frameworks, and tools, with migration tools available for moving application data into TiDB. - Additional features referenced include data migration, changefeed, vector search, and disaster recovery. Quick start options include a local test cluster, deployment on Kubernetes via TiDB Operator, or TiDB Cloud. Applications can connect through MySQL drivers or ORMs. Community support is available via Discord, Slack, Stack Overflow, a Chinese forum, and GitHub Issues/Discussions. The project welcomes contributions through its contributor guide, development guide, good first issues, and contribution map.