Tools for enabling and disabling WAL, closes #132

docs/cli.rst

@@ -684,6 +684,8 @@ To remove the FTS tables and triggers you created, use ``disable-fts``::
 
     $ sqlite-utils disable-fts mydb.db documents
 
+.. _cli_vacuum:
+
 Vacuum
 ======
 
@@ -691,6 +693,8 @@ You can run VACUUM to optimize your database like so::
 
     $ sqlite-utils vacuum mydb.db
 
+.. _cli_optimize:
+
 Optimize
 ========
 
@@ -705,3 +709,18 @@ If you just want to run OPTIMIZE without the VACUUM, use the ``--no-vacuum`` fla
 
     # Optimize but skip the VACUUM
     $ sqlite-utils optimize --no-vacuum mydb.db
+
+.. _cli_wal:
+
+WAL mode
+========
+
+You can enable `Write-Ahead Logging <https://www.sqlite.org/wal.html>`__ for a database file using the ``enable-wal`` command::
+
+    $ sqlite-utils enable-wal mydb.db
+
+You can disable WAL mode using ``disable-wal``::
+
+    $ sqlite-utils disable-wal mydb.db
+
+Both of these commands accept one or more database files as arguments.

docs/python-api.rst

@@ -1195,6 +1195,8 @@ You can create a unique index by passing ``unique=True``:
 
 Use ``if_not_exists=True`` to do nothing if an index with that name already exists.
 
+.. _python_api_vacuum:
+
 Vacuum
 ======
 
@@ -1204,6 +1206,31 @@ You can optimize your database by running VACUUM against it like so:
 
     Database("my_database.db").vacuum()
 
+.. _python_api_wal:
+
+WAL mode
+========
+
+You can enable `Write-Ahead Logging <https://www.sqlite.org/wal.html>`__ for a database with ``.enable_wal()``:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    Database("my_database.db").enable_wal()
+
+You can disable WAL mode using ``.disable_wal()``:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    Database("my_database.db").disable_wal()
+
+You can check the current journal mode for a database using the ``journal_mode`` property:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    journal_mode = Database("my_database.db").journal_mode
+
+This will usually be ``wal`` or ``delete`` (meaning WAL is disabled), but can have other values - see the `PRAGMA journal_mode <https://www.sqlite.org/pragma.html#pragma_journal_mode>`__ documentation.
+
 .. _python_api_suggest_column_types:
 
 Suggesting column types