Introduction

BigchainDB is a scalable blockchain database. That is, it’s a “big data” database with some blockchain characteristics, including decentralization, immutability and native support for assets.

You can read about the motivations, goals and high-level architecture in the BigchainDB whitepaper.

Who this Documentation for?

The BigchainDB Documentation is intended primarily for:

1. Developers of BigchainDB server software.
2. People deploying and managing BigchainDB clusters.
3. Developers of BigchainDB driver software (SDKs used to develop client software).
4. App developers who are developing client apps to talk to one or more live, operational BigchainDB clusters. They would use one of the BigchainDB drivers.

Is BigchainDB Production-Ready?

No, BigchainDB is not production-ready. You can use it to build a prototype or proof-of-concept (POC); many people are already doing that. Please don’t use it for something mission-critical.

BigchainDB is currently in version 0.X. (The Releases page on GitHub has the exact version number.) Once we believe that BigchainDB is production-ready, we’ll release version 1.0.

The BigchainDB Roadmap will give you a sense of the things we intend to do with BigchainDB in the near term and the long term.

Can I Help?

Yes! BigchainDB is an open-source project; we welcome contributions of all kinds. If you want to request a feature, file a bug report, make a pull request, or help in some other way, please see the CONTRIBUTING.md file.