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What is sleet?

criccomini/sleet — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

26RustAudience · developerComplexity · 4/5LicenseSetup · moderate

In one sentence

A fleet manager that runs garbage collection, compaction, and mirroring jobs for one or more SlateDB databases stored in object storage.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((sleet))
    What it does
      Garbage collection
      Compaction scheduling
      Mirroring backups
    Tech stack
      Rust
      SlateDB
      Object storage
    Use cases
      Automate database upkeep
      Backup across regions
      Monitor fleet status
    Audience
      Rust developers
      Data infra teams
    Setup
      Install script
      Cargo install
      Register database

Code map

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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Run scheduled garbage collection and compaction for a fleet of SlateDB databases automatically.

USE CASE 2

Continuously mirror a production database to a backup location in another cloud or region.

USE CASE 3

Check the health and placement of database maintenance services across a cluster of nodes.

USE CASE 4

Embed fleet management directly into a Rust application instead of using the command line.

What is it built with?

RustSlateDBObject StorageS3Cargo

How does it compare?

criccomini/sleetalexgladkov/quickaiantgroup/napaxi
Stars262626
LanguageRustRustRust
Setup difficultymoderateeasyhard
Complexity4/52/54/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires an existing SlateDB database and object storage credentials such as S3.

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

So what is it?

Sleet is a tool that manages a fleet of SlateDB databases, running the background jobs those databases need to stay healthy. SlateDB is a database that stores its data as files in object storage like S3. Sleet takes care of the maintenance work around it: garbage collection to clean up old files, scheduling and running compaction jobs that merge data together, and mirroring, which copies a database continuously or on a schedule to another storage location, even in a different region or cloud provider. You install Sleet with a shell script or through Rust's cargo install command. To use it, you pick a location in object storage to act as the fleet root, then register one or more SlateDB databases against that root. Starting a node lets it discover other nodes through heartbeat files and automatically share the workload as nodes join or leave. A status command reports which databases are registered, which services are running where, and any warnings, with options to check compaction queue depth or mirror lag. Configuration lives in simple text files: an overall fleet policy file, plus one file per database that can override the fleet defaults. This lets you decide, per database, which services should run and how many workers to assign. Mirroring targets are configured the same way, with settings for sync mode, how often to run, and how long to keep old restore points. For Rust developers, Sleet also ships as a library so an application can open a fleet, register databases, or check status without shelling out to the command line tool. The project is small, at 26 stars, and is licensed under MIT.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Walk me through installing sleet and registering my first SlateDB database with it.
Prompt 2
Help me write a sleet.toml config that runs gc and compaction but not mirroring.
Prompt 3
Show me how to set up a periodic mirror target from sleet to a backup bucket in another region.
Prompt 4
Explain what sleet's status command output means and how to check compaction queue depth.
Prompt 5
Help me use the sleet Rust crate as a library inside my own async application.

Frequently asked questions

What is sleet?

A fleet manager that runs garbage collection, compaction, and mirroring jobs for one or more SlateDB databases stored in object storage.

What language is sleet written in?

Mainly Rust. The stack also includes Rust, SlateDB, Object Storage.

What license does sleet use?

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

How hard is sleet to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is sleet for?

Mainly developer.

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