The rules were brutal : Zero third-party runtime dependencies. No  pip . No C-extensions. No wheels. Just Python's standard library and a raw binary file stream. 1. The Bet: Why Would Anyone Replace  sqlite3 ? Every Python developer has written this line: import sqlite3 conn = sqlite3.connect("app.db") It is one of the most reliable, rock-solid, battle-tested software components on planet Earth. The C-amalgamation of SQLite powers billions of sm...