Title: How does it work?
Published: July 15, 2026
Last modified: July 16, 2026

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# How does it work?

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/playground/developers/architecture/wordpress-database/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

## Database is supported via MySQL\<->SQLite translation layer

WordPress requires MySQL. However, there isn’t a WebAssembly version of MySQL you
could run in the browser. WordPress Playground therefore ships PHP with the [native SQLite driver](https://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.pdo-sqlite.php)
and leans on SQLite.

But how can WordPress run on a different database?

Behind the scenes, the official [SQLite Database Integration](https://github.com/WordPress/sqlite-database-integration)
plugin intercepts all MySQL queries and rewrites them in SQLite dialect. The 2.0
release ships [a new WordPress Playground-informed translation layer](https://github.com/WordPress/sqlite-database-integration/pull/9)
that allows WordPress on SQLite to pass 99% of the WordPress unit test suite.

First published

July 15, 2026

Last updated

July 16, 2026

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Changelog

[ See list of changes: How does it work? ](https://developer.wordpress.org/playground/developers/architecture/wordpress-database/?output_format=md#)

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