Appwrite Development

Critical Rules

1. Use TablesDB API — Collections API deprecated in 1.8.0
2. Use ID.unique() for all IDs — Row IDs (rowId:) and entity IDs in columns. Custom generators with names or timestamps overflow column limits and leak data. Generates ~20-char hex strings client-side.
3. Use Query.select() — Relationships return IDs only without it
4. Use cursor pagination — Offset degrades on large tables
5. Use Operator for counters — Avoids race conditions
6. Create indexes — Queries without indexes scan entire tables
7. Init outside handler — SDK/connections persist between warm invocations
8. Group functions by domain — One per domain, not per operation
9. Event triggers over polling — One trigger replaces thousands of requests
10. Use explicit string types — string deprecated; use varchar or text/mediumtext/longtext
11. Use appwrite generate — Type-safe SDK from your schema
12. Use Channel helpers — Type-safe realtime subscriptions, not raw strings
13. Use Realtime queries — Server-side event filtering, not client-side

Terminology (1.8.0+)

Setup

import 'package:dart_appwrite/dart_appwrite.dart';

final client = Client()
    .setEndpoint('https://cloud.appwrite.io/v1')
    .setProject('<PROJECT_ID>')
    .setKey('<API_KEY>');

final tablesDB = TablesDB(client);

from appwrite.client import Client
from appwrite.services.tables_db import TablesDB
client = Client()
client.set_endpoint('https://cloud.appwrite.io/v1')
client.set_project('<PROJECT_ID>')
client.set_key('<API_KEY>')
tables_db = TablesDB(client)

import { Client, TablesDB } from 'node-appwrite';
const client = new Client()
    .setEndpoint('https://cloud.appwrite.io/v1')
    .setProject('<PROJECT_ID>')
    .setKey('<API_KEY>');
const tablesDB = new TablesDB(client);

TablesDB CRUD

// Create
await tablesDB.createRow(databaseId: 'db', tableId: 'users', rowId: ID.unique(),
    data: {'name': 'Alice'});

// Read
final rows = await tablesDB.listRows(databaseId: 'db', tableId: 'users',
    queries: [Query.equal('status', 'active'), Query.select(['name', 'email'])]);

// Update
await tablesDB.updateRow(databaseId: 'db', tableId: 'users', rowId: 'user_123',
    data: {'status': 'inactive'});

// Upsert
await tablesDB.upsertRow(databaseId: 'db', tableId: 'settings', rowId: 'prefs',
    data: {'theme': 'dark'});

// Delete
await tablesDB.deleteRow(databaseId: 'db', tableId: 'users', rowId: 'user_123');

Bulk: See bulk-operations.md | Chunked ID queries: See chunked-queries.md

Query Reference

Comparison: equal | notEqual | lessThan | lessThanEqual | greaterThan | greaterThanEqual | between | notBetween String: startsWith | endsWith | contains | search (+ not variants) Null: isNull | isNotNull · Logical: and([...]) | or([...]) Pagination: select | limit | cursorAfter | cursorBefore | orderAsc | orderDesc | orderRandom Timestamp: createdAfter | createdBefore | updatedAfter | updatedBefore Spatial: distanceEqual | distanceLessThan | distanceGreaterThan | intersects | overlaps | touches | crosses (+ not variants)

All prefixed with Query.. Details: query-optimization.md

Operators (Atomic Updates)

data: {
    'likes': Operator.increment(1),
    'tags': Operator.arrayAppend(['trending']),
    'updatedAt': Operator.dateSetNow(),
}

Numeric: increment | decrement | multiply | divide Array: arrayAppend | arrayPrepend | arrayRemove | arrayUnique | arrayIntersect | arrayDiff Other: toggle | stringConcat | stringReplace | dateAddDays | dateSetNow

Details: atomic-operators.md

Column Types

string is deprecated. Use varchar for queryable, text for non-indexed.

Other: integer | float | boolean | datetime | email | url | ip | enum | relationship | point | line | polygon

Details: schema-management.md

Performance

Details: performance.md, pagination-performance.md

Type-Safe SDK Generation

appwrite generate

Generates typed helpers into generated/appwrite/ from your database schema. Autocomplete, compile-time validation, no hand-written types. Regenerate after schema changes.

Authentication

Email/password, OAuth (50+ providers), phone, magic link, anonymous, email OTP, custom token. MFA with TOTP, email, phone, recovery codes. SSR session handling. JWT for functions.

Details: authentication.md | auth-methods.md

Storage

Upload, download, preview with transformations (resize, format conversion), file tokens for shareable URLs. Supports HEIC, AVIF, WebP.

Details: storage-files.md

Realtime

final sub = realtime.subscribe(['databases.db.tables.posts.rows']);
sub.stream.listen((e) => print(e.events));

Channels: account | databases.<DB>.tables.<TABLE>.rows | buckets.<BUCKET>.files

Channel helpers (preferred): Use Channel class for type-safe subscriptions with IDE autocomplete:

import { Client, Realtime, Channel, Query } from "appwrite";
const sub = await realtime.subscribe(
    Channel.tablesdb('<DB>').table('<TABLE>').row(),
    response => console.log(response.payload),
    [Query.equal('status', ['active'])]  // server-side filtering
);

Details: realtime.md

Functions

Init SDK outside handler. Group by domain. Use event triggers, not polling.

Details: functions.md | functions-advanced.md

Transactions

final tx = await tablesDB.createTransaction(ttl: 300);
await tablesDB.createRow(..., transactionId: tx.$id);
await tablesDB.updateTransaction(transactionId: tx.$id, commit: true);

Details: transactions.md

Relationships

await tablesDB.listRows(databaseId: 'db', tableId: 'posts',
    queries: [Query.equal('author.country', 'US'), Query.select(['title', 'author.name'])]);

Types: oneToOne | oneToMany | manyToOne | manyToMany

Details: relationships.md

Permissions

permissions: [
    Permission.read(Role.any()),
    Permission.update(Role.user(userId)),
    Permission.delete(Role.team('admin')),
    Permission.create(Role.label('premium')),
]

Roles: any() | guests() | users() | user(id) | team(id) | team(id, role) | label(name)

Limits

Default page: 25 · Bulk: 1000 rows · Query.equal(): 100 values · Nesting: 3 levels · Queries/req: 100 · Timeout: 15s

Error Codes

400 Bad request · 401 Unauthorized · 403 Forbidden · 404 Not found · 409 Conflict · 429 Rate limited (client SDKs only)

Details: error-handling.md

Anti-Patterns

Cost Optimization

1. Query.select() — reduces bandwidth
2. Cursor pagination + total: false — fastest queries
3. Realtime over polling — one connection vs repeated calls
4. Batch operations — 1 execution vs N
5. WebP at quality 80 — smallest files, universal support
6. Init outside handler — fewer cold starts
7. Budget cap — Organization → Billing → Budget cap

Details: cost-optimization.md

Reference Files

Data: schema-management · query-optimization · atomic-operators · relationships · transactions · bulk-operations · chunked-queries Performance: performance · pagination-performance · cost-optimization Auth: authentication · auth-methods · teams Services: storage-files · functions · functions-advanced · realtime · messaging · webhooks · avatars · graphql · locale Platform: error-handling · limits · health · self-hosting · self-hosting-ops

Resources

Docs: https://appwrite.io/docs · API: https://appwrite.io/docs/references · SDKs: https://github.com/appwrite