I don't know, is my choice of SQL engine (sqlite) via WASM a realistic solution? How does one compile sqlite to WASM, and how is this made available to the end user?

sql.js[1] is a pure JS implementation of sqlite and it weighs a ton (2.6MB) compared to browser supplied native sqlite. Ideally the user doesn't have to pay the price of downloading a large binary (on top of already large SPA).

[1] https://github.com/kripken/sql.js/

Sure, but that's the JS version. wasm is meant to produce smaller, less resource-intensive versions (and there is a wasm version of sqlite I believe [1]). I'd much rather see CDN and caching tech improve along with other low-level tools such as wasm and CSS Houdini to let us build whatever we'd like. I can see that being better for devs than waiting for vendors to standardize a watered-down spec for each feature we might want like SQL (and there's a lot of them).

[1] https://github.com/mandel59/sqlite-wasm

Agreed, browser vendors may not always have the best interests of developers in mind.

If WASM approach can deliver a relatively small binary with better-than-js performance, then that may be a viable alternative, thanks.