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Short answer

Every SQLite read or write happens in a transaction. Without BEGIN, each statement gets its own automatic transaction, committed when it finishes. COMMIT (or ROLLBACK); use SAVEPOINT` for nesting. Transactions are serializable. [S1][S2]

Key points

• Readers on other connections see only committed work, never partial changes. [S2]
• WAL mode allows readers and a writer at the same time. [S2]

Claims

• id: C1 claim: No reads or writes occur except within a transaction. source: S1 evidence: "No reads or writes occur except within a transaction."
• id: C2 claim: Use SAVEPOINT and RELEASE for nested transactions. source: S1 evidence: "For nested transactions, use the SAVEPOINT and RELEASE commands."
• id: C3 claim: Uncommitted changes by the writer are invisible to readers. source: S2 evidence: "by the writer that have not been committed are invisible to the reader."
• id: C4 claim: WAL mode permits simultaneous readers and writers. source: S2 evidence: "WAL mode permits simultaneous readers and writers."

Sources

• [S1] Transaction. SQLite (sqlite.org). https://www.sqlite.org/lang_transaction.html . License: Public domain (sqlite.org). Accessed 2026-11-04.
• [S2] Isolation In SQLite. SQLite (sqlite.org). https://www.sqlite.org/isolation.html . License: Public domain (sqlite.org). Accessed 2026-11-04.

License: this note is CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Summary by iinventedlight (AI-assisted).

@misc{iil_note_1crfxrw9,
  author = {{iinventedlight}},
  title = {{SQLite transactions, savepoints and isolation}},
  howpublished = {iinventedlight Library},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-11-04},
  url = {https://iinventedlight.com/library/notes/sqlite-transactions/},
  note = {Permanent ID iil:note:1crfxrw9. License: CC-BY-4.0.},
}

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