What is idb-keyval?
The idb-keyval npm package is a simple key-value store backed by IndexedDB. It provides a straightforward API for storing, retrieving, and managing data in the browser's IndexedDB, making it easier to work with compared to the native IndexedDB API.
What are idb-keyval's main functionalities?
Set a value
This feature allows you to store a value in the IndexedDB with a specified key. The code sample demonstrates how to set a value 'value' with the key 'key'.
import { set } from 'idb-keyval';
set('key', 'value').then(() => console.log('Value set!'));
Get a value
This feature allows you to retrieve a value from the IndexedDB using a specified key. The code sample demonstrates how to get the value associated with the key 'key'.
import { get } from 'idb-keyval';
get('key').then(val => console.log('Value:', val));
Delete a value
This feature allows you to delete a value from the IndexedDB using a specified key. The code sample demonstrates how to delete the value associated with the key 'key'.
import { del } from 'idb-keyval';
del('key').then(() => console.log('Value deleted!'));
Clear all values
This feature allows you to clear all values from the IndexedDB. The code sample demonstrates how to clear all stored values.
import { clear } from 'idb-keyval';
clear().then(() => console.log('All values cleared!'));
Get all keys
This feature allows you to retrieve all keys from the IndexedDB. The code sample demonstrates how to get all keys stored in the database.
import { keys } from 'idb-keyval';
keys().then(keys => console.log('Keys:', keys));
Other packages similar to idb-keyval
localforage
LocalForage is a fast and simple storage library for JavaScript. It improves the offline experience of your web app by using asynchronous storage (IndexedDB or WebSQL) with a simple, localStorage-like API. Compared to idb-keyval, LocalForage offers more flexibility in terms of storage backends and a more extensive API.
dexie
Dexie is a minimalistic wrapper for IndexedDB that provides a more powerful and developer-friendly API. It supports advanced querying, transactions, and versioning. Compared to idb-keyval, Dexie is more feature-rich and suitable for complex use cases involving IndexedDB.
idb
The idb library is a small, well-tested library that makes working with IndexedDB more pleasant. It provides a promise-based API and simplifies many common tasks. Compared to idb-keyval, idb offers a more comprehensive API for interacting with IndexedDB, while idb-keyval focuses on simplicity and ease of use.
IDB-Keyval

This is a super-simple promise-based keyval store implemented with IndexedDB, originally based on async-storage by Mozilla.
It's small and tree-shakeable. If you only use get/set, the library is 295 bytes (brotli'd), if you use all methods it's 573 bytes.
localForage offers similar functionality, but supports older browsers with broken/absent IDB implementations. Because of that, it's orders of magnitude bigger (~7k).
This is only a keyval store. If you need to do more complex things like iteration & indexing, check out IDB on NPM (a little heavier at 1k). The first example in its README is how to create a keyval store.
Installing
Recommended: Via npm + webpack/rollup/parcel/etc
npm install idb-keyval
Now you can require/import idb-keyval
:
import { get, set } from 'idb-keyval';
If you're targeting IE10/11, use the compat version, and import a Promise
polyfill.
import 'es6-promise/auto';
import { get, set } from 'idb-keyval/dist/esm-compat';
All bundles
A well-behaved bundler should automatically pick the ES module or the CJS module depending on what it supports, but if you need to force it either way:
idb-keyval/dist/index.js
EcmaScript module.
idb-keyval/dist/index.cjs
CommonJS module.
Legacy builds:
idb-keyval/dist/compat.js
EcmaScript module, transpiled for older browsers.
idb-keyval/dist/compat.cjs
CommonJS module, transpiled for older browsers.
idb-keyval/dist/umd.js
UMD module, also transpiled for older browsers.
These built versions are also available on jsDelivr, e.g.:
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/idb-keyval@6/dist/umd.js"></script>
<script type="module">
import { get, set } from 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/idb-keyval@6/+esm';
</script>
Usage
set:
import { set } from 'idb-keyval';
set('hello', 'world');
Since this is IDB-backed, you can store anything structured-clonable (numbers, arrays, objects, dates, blobs etc), although old Edge doesn't support null
. Keys can be numbers, strings, Date
s, (IDB also allows arrays of those values, but IE doesn't support it).
All methods return promises:
import { set } from 'idb-keyval';
set('hello', 'world')
.then(() => console.log('It worked!'))
.catch((err) => console.log('It failed!', err));
get:
import { get } from 'idb-keyval';
get('hello').then((val) => console.log(val));
If there is no 'hello' key, then val
will be undefined
.
setMany:
Set many keyval pairs at once. This is faster than calling set
multiple times.
import { set, setMany } from 'idb-keyval';
Promise.all([set(123, 456), set('hello', 'world')])
.then(() => console.log('It worked!'))
.catch((err) => console.log('It failed!', err));
setMany([
[123, 456],
['hello', 'world'],
])
.then(() => console.log('It worked!'))
.catch((err) => console.log('It failed!', err));
This operation is also atomic – if one of the pairs can't be added, none will be added.
getMany:
Get many keys at once. This is faster than calling get
multiple times. Resolves with an array of values.
import { get, getMany } from 'idb-keyval';
Promise.all([get(123), get('hello')]).then(([firstVal, secondVal]) =>
console.log(firstVal, secondVal),
);
getMany([123, 'hello']).then(([firstVal, secondVal]) =>
console.log(firstVal, secondVal),
);
update:
Transforming a value (eg incrementing a number) using get
and set
is risky, as both get
and set
are async and non-atomic:
import { get, set } from 'idb-keyval';
get('counter').then((val) =>
set('counter', (val || 0) + 1);
);
get('counter').then((val) =>
set('counter', (val || 0) + 1);
);
With the above, both get
operations will complete first, each returning undefined
, then each set operation will be setting 1
. You could fix the above by queuing the second get
on the first set
, but that isn't always feasible across multiple pieces of code. Instead:
import { update } from 'idb-keyval';
update('counter', (val) => (val || 0) + 1);
update('counter', (val) => (val || 0) + 1);
This will queue the updates automatically, so the first update
set the counter
to 1
, and the second update
sets it to 2
.
del:
Delete a particular key from the store.
import { del } from 'idb-keyval';
del('hello');
delMany:
Delete many keys at once. This is faster than calling del
multiple times.
import { del, delMany } from 'idb-keyval';
Promise.all([del(123), del('hello')])
.then(() => console.log('It worked!'))
.catch((err) => console.log('It failed!', err));
delMany([123, 'hello'])
.then(() => console.log('It worked!'))
.catch((err) => console.log('It failed!', err));
clear:
Clear all values in the store.
import { clear } from 'idb-keyval';
clear();
entries:
Get all entries in the store. Each entry is an array of [key, value]
.
import { entries } from 'idb-keyval';
entries().then((entries) => console.log(entries));
keys:
Get all keys in the store.
import { keys } from 'idb-keyval';
keys().then((keys) => console.log(keys));
values:
Get all values in the store.
import { values } from 'idb-keyval';
values().then((values) => console.log(values));
Custom stores:
By default, the methods above use an IndexedDB database named keyval-store
and an object store named keyval
. If you want to use something different, see custom stores.