Blog

Updates, design notes, and deep dives from the SecantusDB project.

• Point-in-time recovery, a SQL server with its own gauges, and operator parity across both servers

  16 July 2026 · Joe Drumgoole

  Summary: Point-in-time recovery, a SQL server with its own gauges, and operator parity across both servers (v0.5.4b235).

  This is the largest SecantusDB release to date — a month of parallel work, 125 changelog entries. The headline capability is point-in-time recovery: every write already flowed through the oplog, and secantusAdmin …

• `find()` with no sort now returns documents in insertion order

  16 June 2026 · Joe Drumgoole

  Summary: find() with no sort now returns documents in insertion order (v0.5.3b13).

  An unsorted find() now returns documents in insertion order, matching mongod's natural (storage) order. Previously SecantusDB returned them in _id order — which coincides with insertion order for the default monotonic ObjectId _ids, but diverged …

• Real transactions, a pure-Python core, and the full Mongo CLI toolchain

  15 June 2026 · Joe Drumgoole

  Summary: The first PyPI release since v0.5.2b7 bundles real multi-document transactions, a Rust-free pure-Python core, richer change streams, and a wave of indexing and conformance work (v0.5.3b7).

  This is the first release on PyPI since v0.5.2b7, and it carries a lot. The headline is …

• mongo-rust-driver lands as the 6th conformance gauge — 24/24 at first check

  21 May 2026 · Joe Drumgoole

  Summary: mongo-rust-driver lands as the 6th conformance gauge — 24/24 at first check (v0.5.2b7).

  The Rust driver joins SecantusDB's driver-conformance lineup as the sixth gauge alongside pymongo, mongo-go-driver, mongo-node-driver, mongo-java-driver, and mongo-ruby-driver. The runner spawns SecantusDB on a fresh ephemeral port and runs cargo test --lib -p mongodb …

• $rank for $setWindowFields, apiStrict distinct rejection, +80 pymongo tests

  21 May 2026 · Joe Drumgoole

  Summary: $rank for $setWindowFields, apiStrict distinct rejection, +80 pymongo tests (v0.5.2b5).

  Three slices land on top of last week's 0.5.2b1, each one closing a gap the previous release explicitly deferred. $setWindowFields gains the three rank functions — $rank (1-indexed with gaps after ties: [10, 20, 20, 30 …

• Collation reaches every read path; `$unionWith` / `$redact` / `$setWindowFields` land

  20 May 2026 · Joe Drumgoole

  Summary: Collation reaches every read path; $unionWith / $redact / $setWindowFields land (v0.5.2b1).

  Eleven slices in one beta. The collation domain — the per-query collation argument that mongod's drivers carry on every CRUD call — now reaches every read path: single-field equality / range / $in (b25), compound bare-equality and prefix + trailing-operator (b27), and …

• `secantusdb.toml` config file, native checkpoint restore, j:true durability knob

  19 May 2026 · Joe Drumgoole

  Summary: secantusdb.toml config file, native checkpoint restore, j:true durability knob (v0.5.1b20).

  Two production-shaping slices land together. A new secantusdb.toml configuration file exposes every CLI flag plus the WT and oplog knobs that were previously hard-coded — including cache_size (so you can size the engine for your …

• Native TLS + mTLS + per-write `j:true` — production gaps closed

  19 May 2026 · Joe Drumgoole

  Summary: Native TLS + mTLS + per-write j:true — production gaps closed (v0.5.1b23).

  Three slices land together against the production-readiness gaps called out in the docs/production.md page.

  [tls] cert_file + [tls] key_file (in secantusdb.toml) or --tls-cert-file / --tls-key-file (CLI) makes the daemon wrap every accepted socket in TLS before …

• Geo: legacy `$near` sibling form, 2d quadtree covering, java gauge

  19 May 2026 · Joe Drumgoole

  Summary: Geo: legacy $near sibling form, 2d quadtree covering, java gauge (v0.5.1b24).

  Three geo improvements that close the long-standing tail of the phase 1/2 geo work and lift the mongo-java-driver gauge into the geo surface for the first time.

  Legacy mongod 2d shape — {geo: {$near: [x, y …

• Native WT-checkpoint backups, admin UI /oplog page, and change-stream fidelity wins

  18 May 2026 · Joe Drumgoole

  Summary: Native WT-checkpoint backups, admin UI /oplog page, and change-stream fidelity wins (v0.5.1b18).

  The natural follow-on to v0.5.1b17's local.oplog.rs synthetic collection lands as the admin UI /oplog page: a paged entry browser with a window selector (last 50 / 500 / 5000), op-checkbox filter (i …