SQLite seems like an odd dependency for a system which ultimately just journals events like "on 2026-02-24T19:36Z, entry 791 was created with username larry7 and password letmin" or "on 2026-02-24T20:51Z, the password for entry 791 became letmein2".
This is a reductionist take on what password managers actually need to do. A journal log is actually worse than the XML in this regard in that the number of events far exceeds the actual relevant relations. Also, adding an attachment/icon his no longer possible. Simple group associations and tags also become a complex nightmare in a log based system, whereas in SQLite they are super easy relationships. Relating passkeys, totp strings, icons, extensive history, etc all to one entry becomes too much of a task for that kind of format to handle.
This is a reductionist take on what password managers actually need to do. A journal log is actually worse than the XML in this regard in that the number of events far exceeds the actual relevant relations. Also, adding an attachment/icon his no longer possible. Simple group associations and tags also become a complex nightmare in a log based system, whereas in SQLite they are super easy relationships. Relating passkeys, totp strings, icons, extensive history, etc all to one entry becomes too much of a task for that kind of format to handle.