diff --git a/adapter/sqlite/db.go b/adapter/sqlite/db.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a132c0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/adapter/sqlite/db.go
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+package sqlite
+
+import (
+	"database/sql"
+
+	_ "github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3"
+	"github.com/mickael-menu/zk/util/errors"
+)
+
+// DB holds the connections to a SQLite database.
+type DB struct {
+	db *sql.DB
+}
+
+// Open creates a new DB instance for the SQLite database at the given path.
+func Open(path string) (*DB, error) {
+	db, err := sql.Open("sqlite3", "file:"+path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to open the database")
+	}
+	return &DB{db}, nil
+}
+
+// Close terminates the connections to the SQLite database.
+func (db *DB) Close() error {
+	err := db.db.Close()
+	return errors.Wrap(err, "failed to close the database")
+}
+
+// Migrate upgrades the SQL schema of the database.
+func (db *DB) Migrate() error {
+	wrap := errors.Wrapper("database migration failed")
+
+	tx, err := db.db.Begin()
+	if err != nil {
+		return wrap(err)
+	}
+	defer tx.Rollback()
+
+	var version int
+	err = tx.QueryRow("PRAGMA user_version").Scan(&version)
+	if err != nil {
+		return wrap(err)
+	}
+
+	if version == 0 {
+		err = execMultiple(tx, []string{
+			`
+				CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS notes (
+					id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT NOT NULL,
+					filename TEXT NOT NULL,
+					dir TEXT NOT NULL,
+					title TEXT DEFAULT('') NOT NULL,
+					content TEXT DEFAULT('') NOT NULL,
+					word_count INTEGER DEFAULT(0) NOT NULL,
+					checksum TEXT NOT NULL,
+					created TEXT DEFAULT(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP) NOT NULL,
+					modified TEXT DEFAULT(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP) NOT NULL,
+					UNIQUE(filename, dir)
+				)
+			`,
+			`CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS notes_checksum_idx ON notes(checksum)`,
+			`
+				CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE IF NOT EXISTS notes_fts USING fts5(
+					title, content,
+					content = notes,
+					content_rowid = id,
+					tokenize = 'porter unicode61 remove_diacritics 1'
+				)
+			`,
+			// Triggers to keep the FTS index up to date.
+			`
+				CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS notes_ai AFTER INSERT ON notes BEGIN
+					INSERT INTO notes_fts(rowid, title, content) VALUES (new.id, new.title, new.content);
+				END
+			`,
+			`
+				CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS notes_ad AFTER DELETE ON notes BEGIN
+					INSERT INTO notes_fts(notes_fts, rowid, title, content) VALUES('delete', old.id, old.title, old.content);
+				END
+			`,
+			`
+				CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS notes_au AFTER UPDATE ON notes BEGIN
+					INSERT INTO notes_fts(notes_fts, rowid, title, content) VALUES('delete', old.id, old.title, old.content);
+					INSERT INTO notes_fts(rowid, title, content) VALUES (new.id, new.title, new.content);
+				END
+			`,
+			`PRAGMA user_version = 1`,
+		})
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		return wrap(err)
+	}
+
+	err = tx.Commit()
+	if err != nil {
+		return wrap(err)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func execMultiple(tx *sql.Tx, stmts []string) error {
+	var err error
+	for _, stmt := range stmts {
+		if err != nil {
+			break
+		}
+		_, err = tx.Exec(stmt)
+	}
+	return err
+}
diff --git a/cmd/container.go b/cmd/container.go
index efd3f2d..279b1e0 100644
--- a/cmd/container.go
+++ b/cmd/container.go
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import (
 	"os"
 
 	"github.com/mickael-menu/zk/adapter/handlebars"
+	"github.com/mickael-menu/zk/adapter/sqlite"
+	"github.com/mickael-menu/zk/core/zk"
 	"github.com/mickael-menu/zk/util"
 	"github.com/mickael-menu/zk/util/date"
 )
@@ -34,3 +36,14 @@ func (c *Container) TemplateLoader() *handlebars.Loader {
 	}
 	return c.templateLoader
 }
+
+// Database returns the DB instance for the given slip box, after executing any
+// pending migration.
+func (c *Container) Database(zk *zk.Zk) (*sqlite.DB, error) {
+	db, err := sqlite.Open(zk.DBPath())
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	err = db.Migrate()
+	return db, err
+}
diff --git a/core/zk/zk.go b/core/zk/zk.go
index 7a9783e..88a6f3d 100644
--- a/core/zk/zk.go
+++ b/core/zk/zk.go
@@ -121,6 +121,11 @@ func locateRoot(path string) (string, error) {
 	return locate(path)
 }
 
+// DBPath returns the path to the slip box database.
+func (zk *Zk) DBPath() string {
+	return filepath.Join(zk.Path, ".zk/data.db")
+}
+
 // DirAt returns a Dir representation of the slip box directory at the given path.
 func (zk *Zk) DirAt(path string, overrides ...ConfigOverrides) (*Dir, error) {
 	wrap := errors.Wrapperf("%v: not a valid slip box directory", path)
diff --git a/core/zk/zk_test.go b/core/zk/zk_test.go
index ebc2c92..9e437ce 100644
--- a/core/zk/zk_test.go
+++ b/core/zk/zk_test.go
@@ -9,10 +9,16 @@ import (
 	"github.com/mickael-menu/zk/util/opt"
 )
 
+func TestDBPath(t *testing.T) {
+	wd, _ := os.Getwd()
+	zk := &Zk{Path: wd}
+
+	assert.Equal(t, zk.DBPath(), filepath.Join(wd, ".zk/data.db"))
+}
+
 func TestDirAtGivenPath(t *testing.T) {
 	// The tests are relative to the working directory, for convenience.
-	wd, err := os.Getwd()
-	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	wd, _ := os.Getwd()
 
 	zk := &Zk{Path: wd}
 
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index bf50181..e7101d5 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -10,5 +10,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/hashicorp/hcl/v2 v2.8.1
 	github.com/kballard/go-shellquote v0.0.0-20180428030007-95032a82bc51
 	github.com/lestrrat-go/strftime v1.0.3
+	github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3 v1.14.6
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.4.0 // indirect
 )
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index a64d0f9..b826a2a 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ github.com/kylelemons/godebug v0.0.0-20170820004349-d65d576e9348/go.mod h1:B69LE
 github.com/lestrrat-go/envload v0.0.0-20180220234015-a3eb8ddeffcc/go.mod h1:kopuH9ugFRkIXf3YoqHKyrJ9YfUFsckUU9S7B+XP+is=
 github.com/lestrrat-go/strftime v1.0.3 h1:qqOPU7y+TM8Y803I8fG9c/DyKG3xH/xkng6keC1015Q=
 github.com/lestrrat-go/strftime v1.0.3/go.mod h1:E1nN3pCbtMSu1yjSVeyuRFVm/U0xoR76fd03sz+Qz4g=
+github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3 v1.14.6 h1:dNPt6NO46WmLVt2DLNpwczCmdV5boIZ6g/tlDrlRUbg=
+github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3 v1.14.6/go.mod h1:NyWgC/yNuGj7Q9rpYnZvas74GogHl5/Z4A/KQRfk6bU=
 github.com/mitchellh/go-wordwrap v0.0.0-20150314170334-ad45545899c7 h1:DpOJ2HYzCv8LZP15IdmG+YdwD2luVPHITV96TkirNBM=
 github.com/mitchellh/go-wordwrap v0.0.0-20150314170334-ad45545899c7/go.mod h1:ZXFpozHsX6DPmq2I0TCekCxypsnAUbP2oI0UX1GXzOo=
 github.com/pkg/errors v0.8.1 h1:iURUrRGxPUNPdy5/HRSm+Yj6okJ6UtLINN0Q9M4+h3I=