# better-sqlite3: what changed from 12 to 13

- Product: better-sqlite3 (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/better-sqlite3)
- Vendor: WiseLibs
- Range: changelog entries numbered after v12.12.0 up to and including v13.0.3, stable releases only
- Entries below: 4 releases (newest first)
- Resolved: 12 is v12.12.0 and 13 is v13.0.3, the newest stable release of each major we track
- Carrying security changes: 0 · CVEs mentioned: 0 · Mentioning breaking changes: 0 · Removing or deprecating something: 1
- Page: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/better-sqlite3/compare/12...13

What's New is an index, not a publisher: every entry below links to the vendor's own release notes, which are the authoritative source. Entries are labelled where they are hand-curated sample data, pre-releases, or drawn from a secondary source such as a developer blog.

Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'.

## What changed (11 changes, grouped by kind)

### Added

#### v13.0.2 (2026-07-29)

- Add gypfile option to package.json

#### v13.0.0 (2026-07-21)

- Added db.explain() method for running EXPLAIN queries without needing to supply bound parameters
- Added preparedStatement.toString() method for getting the expanded SQL of a prepared statement

### Changed

#### v13.0.3 (2026-08-05)

- Use Ubuntu 22.04-arm for builds

#### v13.0.2 (2026-07-29)

- Update SQLite to version 3.53.4

#### v13.0.0 (2026-07-21)

- Refactored codebase to use node-addon-api and N-API for compatibility across different versions of Node.js and Electron

### Fixed

#### v13.0.2 (2026-07-29)

- Validate the parameters of table properly
- Fix process aborting from terminating worker threads

#### v13.0.1 (2026-07-21)

- Fixed a regression in parameter binding where it would be overly strict and reject plain objects from other realms

#### v13.0.0 (2026-07-21)

- Fixed SqliteError cross-realm and Error.isError compatibility

### Removed

#### v13.0.0 (2026-07-21)

- Removed deprecated prebuild-install dependency

## Release notes

### v13.0.3

- Date: 2026-08-05
- Version: v13.0.3
- Original notes: https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/releases/tag/v13.0.3
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/better-sqlite3/releases/v13.0.3

- **changed** — Use Ubuntu 22.04-arm for builds

##### What's Changed
* use Ubuntu 22.04-arm by @neoxpert in https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/pull/1510


**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/compare/v13.0.2...v13.0.3

### v13.0.2

- Date: 2026-07-29
- Version: v13.0.2
- Original notes: https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/releases/tag/v13.0.2
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/better-sqlite3/releases/v13.0.2

- **added** — Add gypfile option to package.json
- **changed** — Update SQLite to version 3.53.4
- **fixed** — Validate the parameters of table properly
- **fixed** — Fix process aborting from terminating worker threads

##### What's Changed
* add gypfile option to package.json by @neoxpert in https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/pull/1505
* Update SQLite to version 3.53.4 by @JoshuaWise in https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/pull/1506
* validate the parameters of table properly by @theosotr in https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/pull/1504
* fix: this dependabot configuration does not set a co... in... by @anupamme in https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/pull/1508
* fixed process aborting from terminating worker threads (https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/issues/1507)

##### New Contributors
* @theosotr made their first contribution in https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/pull/1504
* @anupamme made their first contribution in https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/pull/1508

**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/compare/v13.0.1...v13.0.2

### v13.0.1

- Date: 2026-07-21
- Version: v13.0.1
- Original notes: https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/releases/tag/v13.0.1
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/better-sqlite3/releases/v13.0.1

- **fixed** — Fixed a regression in parameter binding where it would be overly strict and reject plain objects from other realms

**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/compare/v13.0.0...v13.0.1

Fixed a regression in parameter binding where it would be overly strict and reject plain objects from other realms (e.g., in jest tests).

### v13.0.0

- Date: 2026-07-21
- Version: v13.0.0
- Original notes: https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/releases/tag/v13.0.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/better-sqlite3/releases/v13.0.0

- **changed** — Refactored codebase to use node-addon-api and N-API for compatibility across different versions of Node.js and Electron
- **removed** — Removed deprecated prebuild-install dependency
- **added** — Added db.explain() method for running EXPLAIN queries without needing to supply bound parameters
- **added** — Added preparedStatement.toString() method for getting the expanded SQL of a prepared statement
- **fixed** — Fixed SqliteError cross-realm and Error.isError compatibility

Version `13.0.0` marks a major milestone, as it's the first version of `better-sqlite3` to run on [the N-API](https://nodejs.org/api/n-api.html). This means prebuilt binaries should theoretically work across different versions of Node.js and Electron, and perhaps even other runtimes like Bun. As a result, we've removed the deprecated [`prebuild-install`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/prebuild-install) dependency, and now prebuilt binaries are published directly with the `better-sqlite3` code itself. If your platform/architecture doesn't have a prebuilt binary, it should compile during install as before.

##### What's Changed
* Refactored codebase to use node-addon-api by @JoshuaWise in https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/pull/1498
* Added a new [`db.explain()`](https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/blob/master/docs/api.md#explainstring---array-of-rows) method, for running EXPLAIN queries without needing to supply bound parameters.
* Added a new [`preparedStatement.toString()`](https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/blob/master/docs/api.md#tostring---string) method, for getting the expanded SQL of a prepared statement.
* Fix `SqliteError` cross-realm and `Error.isError` compatibility by @dennismutuku2005 in https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/pull/1473

##### New Contributors
* @dennismutuku2005 made their first contribution in https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/pull/1473

**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/compare/v12.12.0...v13.0.0