TigerBeetle — Distributed Financial Accounting Database

What it is

TigerBeetle is a purpose-built OLTP database designed for double-entry accounting and financial transactions. Written in Zig, it prioritizes safety and deterministic performance for financial workloads that cannot tolerate data loss or inconsistency.

TigerBeetle targets fintech companies, payment processors, banks, and any organization that processes financial transactions at scale. It enforces double-entry bookkeeping invariants at the database level, eliminating an entire class of application-level bugs.

The project is actively maintained and suitable for both individual developers and teams looking to integrate it into their existing toolchain. Documentation and community support are available for onboarding.

How it saves time or tokens

TigerBeetle handles accounting invariants (debits equal credits, no overdrafts, idempotent transfers) in the database engine itself. Applications that would otherwise need complex transaction coordination logic can rely on TigerBeetle to enforce these rules. This reduces application code, eliminates race conditions, and simplifies auditing.

For teams evaluating multiple tools in the same category, the clear documentation and active community reduce the time spent on research and troubleshooting. Getting started takes minutes rather than hours of configuration.

How to use

1. Download the TigerBeetle binary or use the Docker image.
2. Format a data file: tigerbeetle format --cluster=0 --replica=0 0_0.tigerbeetle
3. Start the server: tigerbeetle start --addresses=3001 0_0.tigerbeetle
4. Use client libraries (Node.js, Go, Java, .NET, Python) to create accounts and submit transfers.

Example

// Node.js client
const { createClient } = require('tigerbeetle-node')

const client = createClient({ cluster_id: 0n, addresses: ['3001'] })

// Create two accounts
await client.createAccounts([{
  id: 1n,
  ledger: 1,
  code: 718,
  credits_posted: 0n,
  debits_posted: 0n,
  flags: 0,
}])

// Transfer funds (double-entry: debit account 1, credit account 2)
await client.createTransfers([{
  id: 1n,
  debit_account_id: 1n,
  credit_account_id: 2n,
  amount: 1000n,
  ledger: 1,
  code: 1,
}])

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Common pitfalls

• Trying to use TigerBeetle as a general-purpose database. It only handles accounts and transfers. Store user profiles, product catalogs, and other data in a separate database.
• Ignoring the deterministic simulation testing model. TigerBeetle's correctness guarantees depend on its specific data model. Do not work around its constraints with application-level hacks.
• Not planning for cluster replication from the start. Single-node setups lack fault tolerance. Configure replication before going to production.
• Not reading the changelog before upgrading. Breaking changes between versions can cause unexpected failures in production. Pin your version and review release notes.