storage: JSON files -> SQLite (users/history/searches/events)

- one-time import from the legacy JSON (left in place as snapshot);
  ghost rows (int vs str ep_id) deduped on import, unrepresentable after
- history POST is now an upsert: the (user, slug_id, ep_id) PK is the
  merge key, so the unguarded read-modify-write (lost updates) and the
  corruption-swallow (JSONDecodeError -> [] -> fresh overwrite) are gone
- searches: NOCASE PK upsert + cap 8
- events table + position/search logging (watch-time trajectory),
  90-day retention pruned at boot
- account delete cascades all four tables
- 22/22 tests green; old JSON files untouched

server/app.py

@@ -18,13 +18,14 @@ from fastapi.responses import FileResponse, JSONResponse, RedirectResponse, Resp
 from fastapi.staticfiles import StaticFiles
 from itsdangerous import BadSignature, TimestampSigner
 
-from . import upstream, users
+from . import db, upstream, users
 
 ROOT = Path(__file__).parent.parent
 app = FastAPI(title="ani-web")
 
 # ---------- auth: multi-user, signed cookies ----------
-users.migrate_legacy()
+users.migrate_legacy()  # file-based legacy import; db.init() absorbs its output
+db.init()
 _SIGNER = TimestampSigner(users.get_secret())
 _SESSION = "aniweb_session"
 _SESSION_AGE = 30 * 86400
@@ -133,29 +134,12 @@ def logout():
     return resp
 
 
-HIST_DIR = Path(os.environ.get("ANIWEB_DATA", Path(__file__).parent / "data")) / "history"
-
-
 def _load_hist(user: str):
-    try:
+    c = db.connect()
-        entries = json.loads((HIST_DIR / f"{user}.json").read_text())
+    rows = c.execute("SELECT payload FROM history WHERE user=? ORDER BY t DESC",
-    except (FileNotFoundError, json.JSONDecodeError):
+                     (user,)).fetchall()
-        return []
+    c.close()
-    # ponytail: dedup legacy ghost rows — the same episode was stored with ep_id
+    return [json.loads(r[0]) for r in rows]
-    # as int AND string; keep the newest per (slug_id, str(ep_id))
-    best = {}
-    for e in entries:
-        k = (str(e.get("slug_id")), str(e.get("ep_id")))
-        if e.get("t", 0) >= best.get(k, {"t": 0})["t"]:
-            best[k] = e
-    return sorted(best.values(), key=lambda e: e.get("t", 0), reverse=True)
-
-
-def _save_hist(user: str, entries):
-    HIST_DIR.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
-    # ponytail: unguarded read-modify-write per file, fine at this scale;
-    # atomic_write keeps a crash/race from corrupting the file
-    users.atomic_write(HIST_DIR / f"{user}.json", json.dumps(entries, indent=1))
 
 
 @app.get("/api/history")
@@ -171,13 +155,18 @@ def api_history(request: Request):
 
 @app.delete("/api/history")
 def api_history_delete(request: Request, slug_id: str, ep_id: str):
-    # loose str() match on purpose: legacy rows store the same ep_id as int
+    # ep_id is a stable INTEGER in the schema (ghost rows died in the import),
-    # AND as string — one delete clears both ghost rows
+    # so a strict match suffices
-    entries = _load_hist(request.state.user)
+    try:
-    keep = [e for e in entries
+        ep = int(ep_id)
-            if not (str(e.get("slug_id")) == slug_id and str(e.get("ep_id")) == ep_id)]
+    except ValueError:
-    _save_hist(request.state.user, keep)
+        return {"removed": 0}
-    return {"removed": len(entries) - len(keep)}
+    c = db.connect()
+    cur = c.execute("DELETE FROM history WHERE user=? AND slug_id=? AND ep_id=?",
+                    (request.state.user, slug_id, ep))
+    c.commit()
+    c.close()
+    return {"removed": cur.rowcount}
 
 
 @app.post("/api/history")
@@ -192,31 +181,27 @@ def api_history_post(entry: dict = Body(...), request: Request = None):
         raise HTTPException(422, "ep_id must be an integer")
     entry["t"] = time.time()
     u = request.state.user
-    entries = _load_hist(u)
+    c = db.connect()
-    for i, e in enumerate(entries):
+    # upsert: the (user, slug_id, ep_id) PK *is* the merge key, so no
-        # loose str() match: merge onto a legacy ghost row of the other type
+    # read-modify-write (and no lost-update race between the read and write)
-        if e.get("slug_id") == entry.get("slug_id") and str(e.get("ep_id")) == str(entry["ep_id"]):
+    c.execute("INSERT INTO history (user, slug_id, ep_id, t, payload) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?) "
-            entries[i] = {**e, **entry}
+              "ON CONFLICT(user, slug_id, ep_id) DO UPDATE SET "
-            break
+              "t=excluded.t, payload=excluded.payload",
-    else:
+              (u, str(entry.get("slug_id")), entry["ep_id"], entry["t"], json.dumps(entry)))
-        entries.append(entry)
+    # cap: newest 50 per user
-    _save_hist(u, sorted(entries, key=lambda e: e.get("t", 0), reverse=True)[:50])
+    c.execute("DELETE FROM history WHERE user=? AND rowid NOT IN "
+              "(SELECT rowid FROM history WHERE user=? ORDER BY t DESC LIMIT 50)", (u, u))
+    db.event(c, u, "position", entry)  # metrics: watch-time trajectory
+    c.commit()
+    c.close()
     return entry
 
 
-SEARCH_DIR = Path(os.environ.get("ANIWEB_DATA", Path(__file__).parent / "data")) / "searches"
-
-
 def _load_searches(user: str):
-    try:
+    c = db.connect()
-        return json.loads((SEARCH_DIR / f"{user}.json").read_text())
+    rows = c.execute("SELECT q FROM searches WHERE user=? ORDER BY t DESC", (user,)).fetchall()
-    except (FileNotFoundError, json.JSONDecodeError):
+    c.close()
-        return []
+    return [r[0] for r in rows]
-
-
-def _save_searches(user: str, items):
-    SEARCH_DIR.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
-    users.atomic_write(SEARCH_DIR / f"{user}.json", json.dumps(items, indent=1))
 
 
 @app.get("/api/searches")
@@ -231,10 +216,17 @@ def api_searches_post(item: dict = Body(...), request: Request = None):
     if not q:
         raise HTTPException(422, "q required")
     u = request.state.user
-    # dedupe case-insensitively, newest first, cap 8
+    # NOCASE PK: re-posting a seen query (any casing) conflicts on the row,
-    items = [x for x in _load_searches(u) if x.lower() != q.lower()]
+    # so the upsert rewrites q to the newest casing, then caps at 8
-    items.insert(0, q)
+    c = db.connect()
-    _save_searches(u, items[:8])
+    c.execute("INSERT INTO searches (user, q, t) VALUES (?,?,?) "
+              "ON CONFLICT(user, q) DO UPDATE SET q=excluded.q, t=excluded.t",
+              (u, q, time.time()))
+    c.execute("DELETE FROM searches WHERE user=? AND rowid NOT IN "
+              "(SELECT rowid FROM searches WHERE user=? ORDER BY t DESC LIMIT 8)", (u, u))
+    db.event(c, u, "search", {"q": q})
+    c.commit()
+    c.close()
     return {"ok": True}
 
 

server/db.py

@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+"""db.py — SQLite storage for ani-web: users, history, searches, events.
+
+One file per data dir: <DATA>/aniweb.db (+ -wal/-shm while running).
+Fresh connection per call: sqlite3 connections can't cross threads without
+a lock, the threadpool runs the sync endpoints, and at this scale the
+reconnect cost is zero. WAL: SQLite serializes writers itself, so the
+lost-update races of the JSON read-modify-write era are gone.
+
+One-time import: a table that is empty while its legacy JSON still exists
+gets absorbed (users.json, history/*.json, searches/*.json). The JSON files
+are left in place as a last-known-good snapshot; the empty-table guard makes
+a second import impossible. Legacy ghost rows (same episode stored with int
+AND str ep_id) are deduped on import: newest t per (user, slug, ep).
+"""
+import json
+import os
+import sqlite3
+import time
+from pathlib import Path
+
+DATA = Path(os.environ.get("ANIWEB_DATA", Path(__file__).parent / "data"))
+DB = DATA / "aniweb.db"
+EVENT_RETENTION = 90 * 86400  # ponytail: pruned at boot, not by a cron
+
+
+def connect() -> sqlite3.Connection:
+    c = sqlite3.connect(DB, timeout=10)
+    c.execute("PRAGMA journal_mode=WAL")
+    return c
+
+
+def init() -> None:
+    """Schema + one-time JSON import + event pruning. Idempotent."""
+    DATA.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
+    c = connect()
+    c.executescript("""
+        CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS users (
+            name TEXT PRIMARY KEY, salt TEXT NOT NULL, hash TEXT NOT NULL,
+            iter INTEGER, created REAL);
+        CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS history (
+            user TEXT NOT NULL, slug_id TEXT NOT NULL, ep_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
+            t REAL, payload TEXT NOT NULL,
+            PRIMARY KEY (user, slug_id, ep_id));
+        CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS searches (
+            user TEXT NOT NULL, q TEXT NOT NULL, t REAL,
+            PRIMARY KEY (user, q COLLATE NOCASE));
+        CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS events (
+            id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, ts REAL, user TEXT, type TEXT, payload TEXT);
+        CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS ix_events_user_ts ON events (user, ts);
+    """)
+    _import_json(c)
+    c.execute("DELETE FROM events WHERE ts < ?", (time.time() - EVENT_RETENTION,))
+    c.commit()
+    c.close()
+
+
+def _import_json(c: sqlite3.Connection) -> None:
+    def empty(table: str) -> bool:
+        return c.execute(f"SELECT COUNT(*) FROM {table}").fetchone()[0] == 0
+
+    if empty("users") and (DATA / "users.json").exists():
+        for name, d in json.loads((DATA / "users.json").read_text()).items():
+            c.execute("INSERT INTO users VALUES (?,?,?,?,?)",
+                      (name, d["salt"], d["hash"], d.get("iter"), d.get("created", 0.0)))
+
+    if empty("history") and (DATA / "history").is_dir():
+        best = {}
+        for f in (DATA / "history").glob("*.json"):
+            try:
+                rows = json.loads(f.read_text())
+            except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError):
+                continue
+            for e in rows:
+                try:
+                    k = (f.stem, str(e.get("slug_id")), int(e["ep_id"]))
+                except (KeyError, TypeError, ValueError):
+                    continue
+                if e.get("t", 0) >= best.get(k, {"t": 0})["t"]:
+                    best[k] = e
+        for (user, slug, ep), e in best.items():
+            e = dict(e, ep_id=ep)  # normalize ghost-row int/str
+            c.execute("INSERT INTO history VALUES (?,?,?,?,?)",
+                      (user, slug, ep, e.get("t", 0.0), json.dumps(e)))
+
+    if empty("searches") and (DATA / "searches").is_dir():
+        # no per-item timestamps in the JSON: file mtime, oldest-last order
+        for f in (DATA / "searches").glob("*.json"):
+            try:
+                rows = json.loads(f.read_text())
+            except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError):
+                continue
+            t0, seen = f.stat().st_mtime, set()
+            for i, q in enumerate(rows):
+                q = str(q)
+                if q.lower() in seen:
+                    continue
+                seen.add(q.lower())
+                c.execute("INSERT OR REPLACE INTO searches VALUES (?,?,?)",
+                          (f.stem, q, t0 - i))
+
+
+def event(c: sqlite3.Connection, user: str, type: str, payload: dict) -> None:
+    """Append one metric event (caller commits). Watch-time is derivable
+    from the 'position' stream: consecutive pos deltas per (user, ep)."""
+    c.execute("INSERT INTO events (ts, user, type, payload) VALUES (?,?,?,?)",
+              (time.time(), user, type, json.dumps(payload)))

server/users.py

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-"""users.py — multi-user accounts for ani-web (PBKDF2, single json file).
+"""users.py — multi-user accounts for ani-web (PBKDF2, SQLite via db.py).
 
 CLI:  .venv/bin/python -m server.users add <username>   (password via prompt)
       .venv/bin/python -m server.users rm <username>
@@ -10,11 +10,12 @@ import json
 import os
 import re
 import secrets
+import sqlite3
 import time
-from pathlib import Path
 
-DATA = Path(os.environ.get("ANIWEB_DATA", Path(__file__).parent / "data"))
+from . import db
-USERS = DATA / "users.json"
+
+DATA = db.DATA
 SECRET = DATA / "secret.key"
 ITER = 210_000  # OWASP 2023 minimum for PBKDF2-SHA256
 NAME_RE = re.compile(r"^[a-z0-9_-]{3,32}$")
@@ -32,9 +33,10 @@ def get_secret() -> bytes:
 
 
 def migrate_legacy():
-    """one-time: single-password era -> users.json + per-user history files."""
+    """one-time: single-password era -> users.json + per-user history files,
+    which db.init() (called after this) absorbs into the tables."""
     cred = DATA / "credentials.json"
-    if not USERS.exists() and cred.exists():
+    if not (DATA / "users.json").exists() and cred.exists():
         d = json.loads(cred.read_text())
         save({"admin": {"salt": d["salt"], "hash": d["hash"], "created": time.time()}})
         cred.unlink()
@@ -45,26 +47,16 @@ def migrate_legacy():
 
 
 def load() -> dict:
-    try:
+    c = db.connect()
-        return json.loads(USERS.read_text())
+    rows = c.execute("SELECT name, salt, hash, iter, created FROM users").fetchall()
-    except (FileNotFoundError, json.JSONDecodeError):
+    c.close()
-        return {}
+    return {n: {"salt": s, "hash": h, "iter": i, "created": cr} for n, s, h, i, cr in rows}
-
-
-def atomic_write(path, text):
-    """tmp + os.replace: a crash mid-write leaves the previous file intact
-    (in-place writes corrupted the file -> load() returned {} -> accounts
-    or history silently vanished)."""
-    tmp = path.parent / (path.name + ".tmp")
-    fd = os.open(tmp, os.O_WRONLY | os.O_CREAT | os.O_TRUNC, 0o600)
-    with os.fdopen(fd, "w") as f:
-        f.write(text)
-    os.replace(tmp, path)
 
 
 def save(users: dict):
+    """file-based save, only for migrate_legacy (runs before db.init)."""
     DATA.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
-    atomic_write(USERS, json.dumps(users, indent=1))
+    (DATA / "users.json").write_text(json.dumps(users, indent=1))
 
 
 def add(username: str, password: str):
@@ -73,37 +65,48 @@ def add(username: str, password: str):
         raise ValueError("username: 3-32 chars, only a-z 0-9 _ -")
     if len(password) < 8:
         raise ValueError("password: min 8 chars")
-    users = load()
-    if u in users:
-        raise ValueError("username already taken")
     salt = secrets.token_bytes(16)
-    users[u] = {"salt": salt.hex(),
+    c = db.connect()
-                "hash": hashlib.pbkdf2_hmac("sha256", password.encode(), salt, ITER).hex(),
+    try:
-                "created": time.time()}
+        c.execute("INSERT INTO users VALUES (?,?,?,?,?)",
-    save(users)
+                  (u, salt.hex(),
+                   hashlib.pbkdf2_hmac("sha256", password.encode(), salt, ITER).hex(),
+                   ITER, time.time()))
+        c.commit()
+    except sqlite3.IntegrityError:
+        raise ValueError("username already taken")
+    finally:
+        c.close()
 
 
 def verify(username: str, password: str) -> bool:
-    d = load().get(username.lower())
+    c = db.connect()
-    if not d:
+    row = c.execute("SELECT salt, hash, iter FROM users WHERE name=?",
+                    (username.lower(),)).fetchone()
+    c.close()
+    if not row:
         return False
     h = hashlib.pbkdf2_hmac("sha256", password.encode(),
-                            bytes.fromhex(d["salt"]), d.get("iter", ITER))
+                            bytes.fromhex(row[0]), row[2] or ITER)
-    return secrets.compare_digest(h.hex(), d["hash"])
+    return secrets.compare_digest(h.hex(), row[1])
 
 
 def remove(username: str):
     u = username.lower()
-    users = load()
+    c = db.connect()
-    users.pop(u, None)
+    c.execute("DELETE FROM users WHERE name=?", (u,))
-    save(users)
+    c.execute("DELETE FROM history WHERE user=?", (u,))
-    (DATA / "history" / f"{u}.json").unlink(missing_ok=True)
+    c.execute("DELETE FROM searches WHERE user=?", (u,))
-    (DATA / "searches" / f"{u}.json").unlink(missing_ok=True)
+    c.execute("DELETE FROM events WHERE user=?", (u,))
+    c.commit()
+    c.close()
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     import sys
     cmd = sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else ""
+    migrate_legacy()  # file-based, runs before db.init absorbs its output
+    db.init()
     if cmd == "add" and len(sys.argv) > 2:
         name = sys.argv[2]
         pw = getpass.getpass(f"Password for {name} (min 8 chars): ")

tests/conftest.py

@@ -54,13 +54,18 @@ def server():
     data = Path(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="aniweb-test-"))
     os.environ["ANIWEB_DATA"] = str(data)
     sys.path.insert(0, str(ROOT))
-    from server import users  # noqa: E402
+    from server import db, users  # noqa: E402
+    db.init()  # schema before users.add / seeding
     for name, pw in USERS:
         users.add(name, pw)
-    (data / "history").mkdir()
+    c = db.connect()
-    (data / "history" / "admin.json").write_text(json.dumps([
+    seed_t = time.time()
-        {"title": "Seed Anime", "slug_id": "seed-1", "season_id": 1, "ep_id": "1",
+    c.execute("INSERT INTO history VALUES (?,?,?,?,?)",
-         "lang": "eng", "ep": "1", "pos": 10.0, "t": time.time()}]))
+              ("admin", "seed-1", 1, seed_t, json.dumps(
+                  {"title": "Seed Anime", "slug_id": "seed-1", "season_id": 1,
+                   "ep_id": 1, "lang": "eng", "ep": "1", "pos": 10.0, "t": seed_t})))
+    c.commit()
+    c.close()
 
     proc = subprocess.Popen(
         [sys.executable, "-m", "uvicorn", "server.app:app",

tests/test_api.py

@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ def test_no_self_signup(base=BASE):
     jar = login("admin", "adminpw12345", base)
     assert req("POST", "/signup", {"username": "zed", "password": "whatever123"},
                jar=jar, base=base) == 405
-    assert "zed" not in json.load(open(_users_file()))
+    assert "zed" not in _users()
 
 
 def test_history_requires_ep_id(base=BASE):
@@ -172,8 +172,8 @@ def test_self_delete(base=BASE):
     # give dave a searches file too: account delete must remove it
     assert req("POST", "/api/searches", {"q": "dave-search"}, jar=jar, base=base) == 200
     assert req("POST", "/account/delete", jar=jar, base=base) == 200
-    assert "dave" not in json.load(open(_users_file()))
+    assert "dave" not in _users()
-    assert not os.path.exists(os.path.join(os.environ["ANIWEB_DATA"], "searches", "dave.json"))
+    assert _search_count("dave") == 0  # account delete cascades the rows
     # old session cookie is dead immediately (middleware re-checks existence)
     assert req("GET", "/api/me", jar=jar, base=base) == 401
     jar2 = CJ()
@@ -230,6 +230,17 @@ def _json(method, path, jar=None, base=BASE):
     return json.loads(resp.read().decode())
 
 
-def _users_file():
+def _users():
-    import os
+    import sqlite3
-    return os.path.join(os.environ["ANIWEB_DATA"], "users.json")
+    c = sqlite3.connect(os.path.join(os.environ["ANIWEB_DATA"], "aniweb.db"))
+    names = [r[0] for r in c.execute("SELECT name FROM users")]
+    c.close()
+    return names
+
+
+def _search_count(user):
+    import sqlite3
+    c = sqlite3.connect(os.path.join(os.environ["ANIWEB_DATA"], "aniweb.db"))
+    n = c.execute("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM searches WHERE user=?", (user,)).fetchone()[0]
+    c.close()
+    return n