Is there a way to open a database file under a custom name, independent of its filename?

[felixwoestmann]

I have multiple SQLite files with different names (client_a.db, client_b.db, etc.) that all share the same structure. I want to open any one of them with Datasette and always have it appear under a single canonical name (e.g. mydb), so that canned queries and custom templates defined for mydb keep working regardless of which file I actually open.

Right now Datasette derives the name from the filename, so each file gets a different name and I'd need to duplicate my queries and templates for every possible filename.

What I've tried:

• Symlink — ln -sf client_a.db mydb.db && datasette mydb.db works but feels fragile

I also noticed db.route (#1668) already separates the URL path from the internal name for plugins, so I'm wondering if there's a config-level equivalent I've missed.

Is there an existing way to do this?

[sueun-dev]

No CLI flag or metadata/config option does this rn, the internal name is always derived from the filename. On the serve path each file is opened with add_database(Database(...)) and no name=, so it falls back to suggest_name(), which is just the filename stem.

Cleanest fix is a tiny startup plugin that registers the file under a fixed name, so canned queries/templates keyed to mydb keep working no matter which file you point at:

from datasette import hookimpl
from datasette.database import Database

@hookimpl
def startup(datasette):
    async def inner():
        datasette.add_database(
            Database(datasette, path="/abs/path/client_a.db", is_mutable=False),
            name="mydb",
        )
    return inner

Drop it in a --plugins-dir and start datasette with no db on the command line. Use an absolute path, a relative one resolves against cwd and you'll silently get an empty mydb. Tested on 1.0a35: it shows at /mydb and /-/databases.json lists mydb. db.route (#1668) only changes the URL path, not the internal name, so the plugin is what does what you want here.