Quick Start

This guide walks you through basic persistent ETS operations with shelf.

1. Add shelf to your project

gleam add shelf

2. Open a persistent table

import shelf/set

pub fn main() {
  // Open a persistent set — loads existing data from disk
  let assert Ok(table) = set.open(name: "users", path: "data/users.dets")

  // Fast writes (to ETS)
  let assert Ok(Nil) = set.insert(table, "alice", 42)
  let assert Ok(Nil) = set.insert(table, "bob", 99)

  // Fast reads (from ETS)
  let assert Ok(42) = set.lookup(table, "alice")

  // Persist to disk when ready
  let assert Ok(Nil) = set.save(table)

  // Close auto-saves
  let assert Ok(Nil) = set.close(table)
}

On next startup, set.open automatically loads the saved data back into ETS.

Next steps

Learn about Set Tables for unique key-value storage
Use Bag Tables for multiple values per key
Configure Write Modes for your durability needs
Understand Persistence Operations like save, reload, and sync