idb-keyval

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.

README

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 ~370 bytes (brotli'd), if you use all methods it's ~560 bytes.

Although this is tiny, it's a little larger than previous versions due to a massive bug in Safari. Hopefully this fix can be removed in the not-too-distant future, when a version of Safari without the bug reaches enough users.

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 a Promise polyfill
import 'es6-promise/auto';
import { get, set } from 'idb-keyval/dist/esm-compat';

All bundles

• dist/cjs/index.js CommonJS module.
• dist/cjs-compat/index.js CommonJS module, transpiled for older browsers.
• dist/esm/index.js EcmaScript module.
• dist/esm-compat/index.js EcmaScript module, transpiled for older browsers.
• dist/iife/index-min.js Minified plain JS, which creates an idbKeyval global containing all methods.
• dist/iife-compat/index-min.js As above, but transpiled for older browsers.

These built versions are also available on jsDelivr, e.g.:

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/idb-keyval@5/dist/iife/index-min.js"></script>
<!-- Or in modern browsers: -->
<script type="module">
  import {
    get,
    set,
  } from 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/idb-keyval@5/dist/esm/index.js';
</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, Dates, (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';

// logs: "world"
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';

// Instead of:
Promise.all([set(123, 456), set('hello', 'world')])
  .then(() => console.log('It worked!'))
  .catch((err) => console.log('It failed!', err));

// It's faster to do:
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';

// Instead of:
Promise.all([get(123), get('hello')]).then(([firstVal, secondVal]) =>
  console.log(firstVal, secondVal),
);

// It's faster to do:
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:

// Don't do this:
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:

// 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');

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';

// logs: [[123, 456], ['hello', 'world']]
entries().then((entries) => console.log(entries));

keys:

Get all keys in the store.

import { keys } from 'idb-keyval';

// logs: [123, 'hello']
keys().then((keys) => console.log(keys));

values:

Get all values in the store.

import { values } from 'idb-keyval';

// logs: [456, 'world']
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.

Updating

Updating from 3.x

The changes between 3.x and 5.x related to custom stores.

(4.x was abandoned due to a Safari bug)

Old way:

// This no longer works in 4.x
import { Store, set } from 'idb-keyval';

const customStore = new Store('custom-db-name', 'custom-store-name');
set('foo', 'bar', customStore);

New way:

import { createStore, set } from 'idb-keyval';

const customStore = createStore('custom-db-name', 'custom-store-name');
set('foo', 'bar', customStore);

For more details, see custom stores.

Updating from 2.x

2.x exported an object with methods:

// This no longer works in 3.x
import idbKeyval from 'idb-keyval';

idbKeyval.set('foo', 'bar');

Whereas in 3.x you import the methods directly:

import { set } from 'idb-keyval';

set('foo', 'bar');

This is better for minification, and allows tree shaking.