Pebble

Spec sheet

Product

Pebble is a LevelDB/RocksDB-inspired key-value store written in Go, focused on performance and internal use by CockroachDB.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

License

The GitHub repository identifies its license as BSD-3-Clause.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

Founded

Cockroach Labs says it was founded in 2015.Read 9 Oct 2026 · cockroachlabs.com

Maker

Cockroach Labs is the company behind CockroachDB and is headquartered in New York City.Read 9 Oct 2026 · cockroachlabs.com

Compatibility caution

The README warns Pebble may silently corrupt data or behave incorrectly when used with a RocksDB database that relies on unsupported features.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

Compatibility warning

The README warns that using Pebble with a RocksDB database that relies on unsupported features may silently corrupt data or behave incorrectly.Read 4 Oct 2026 · github.com

Core features

Its listed features include checkpoints, indexed batches, level-based and manual compaction, snapshots, SSTable ingestion, and range deletion tombstones.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

Features

The project lists checkpoints, indexed batches, level-based and manual compaction, snapshots, SSTable ingestion, prefix iteration, and range deletion tombstones among its features.Read 4 Oct 2026 · github.com

Format upgrades

Pebble format-major-version upgrades are permanent, and newer versions may refuse to open databases in unsupported older formats.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

Integration

The README gives a Go import path of github.com/cockroachdb/pebble and demonstrates opening a database, writing a key, and reading it.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

Intended use

Pebble targets the use case and feature set CockroachDB needs rather than aiming to include every RocksDB feature.Read 4 Oct 2026 · github.com

Limitations

Pebble does not implement several RocksDB features, including backups, column families, transactions, and universal compaction.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

Performance

The project describes faster reverse iteration, a faster commit pipeline, and concurrent compactions as improvements over RocksDB.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

Production status

The README says Pebble has been used in CockroachDB production since 2020 and is considered stable and production ready.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

Production use

The README says Pebble became CockroachDB’s default storage engine in CockroachDB v20.2, released in November 2020, and is used in production at scale.Read 4 Oct 2026 · github.com

RocksDB compatibility

Pebble v1 may open databases generated by RocksDB 6.2.1 subject to listed compatibility caveats; Pebble v2 and newer do not support opening RocksDB-generated databases.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

Security and support

The repository README does not state security certifications or a support offering.Read 4 Oct 2026 · github.com

Use case

Pebble targets the use case and feature set needed by CockroachDB.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

Where Specifiction places it

• Embedded Databases#25 of 306.8