About

Write-Ahead

database internals · one entry at a time

I kept using databases without really knowing what happened after I pressed Enter on a query. So I started taking the engine apart — the page format, the B-tree, the write-ahead log, the lock manager — and drawing each piece until it made sense.

Write-Ahead is that teardown, written in public. The bet is simple: if I can draw how a part works, I actually understand it — and so will you.

Say hi · rdm355190@gmail.com

What this is

Write-Ahead is a hand-drawn tour of how a database works on the inside.

Every entry takes one mechanism the docs gloss over and rebuilds it from first principles — with sketches, byte layouts, and small animations you can poke at. Less "here's the API," more "here's what the bytes are doing on disk." The goal is that you leave able to picture the engine, not just call it.