thelounge: sqlite3 fails to load

[maikelthedev]

Nixpkgs version

• Stable (25.11)

Describe the bug

Either version stable (25.11) and unstable use the same TheLounge version.

Whatever you do when you launch it you get this error

2026-01-07 11:13:48 [ERROR] Unable to load sqlite3 module. See https://github.com/mapbox/node-sqlite3/wiki/Binaries

Which renders storing the conversations on server restart, useless, since it's not using SQLite. That means nothign gets ever stored.

@winterqt @RaitoBezariu

Steps to reproduce

Install it, launch it manually and see it happening.

Expected behaviour

conversations are saved

Screenshots

Relevant log output

sudo thelounge start
2026-01-07 11:13:48 [WARN] You are currently running The Lounge as root. We highly discourage running as root!
2026-01-07 11:13:48 [ERROR] Unable to load sqlite3 module. See https://github.com/mapbox/node-sqlite3/wiki/Binaries
2026-01-07 11:13:48 [INFO] The Lounge v4.4.3 (Node.js 22.21.1 on linux x64)
2026-01-07 11:13:48 [INFO] Configuration file: /var/lib/thelounge/config.js
2026-01-07 11:13:48 [INFO] Available at http://[::]:9000/ in private mode
2026-01-07 11:13:48 [INFO] Package thelounge-plugin-giphy v1.0.2 loaded
2026-01-07 11:13:48 [INFO] There are packages using the experimental plugin API. Be aware that this API is not yet stable and may change in future The Lounge releases.
2026-01-07 11:13:48 [INFO] User maikel loaded

Additional context

No response

System metadata

• system: "x86_64-linux"
• host os: Linux 6.12.59, NixOS, 25.11 (Xantusia), 25.11.3265.3c9db02515ef
• multi-user?: yes
• sandbox: yes
• version: nix-env (Lix, like Nix) 2.93.3 System type: x86_64-linux Additional system types: i686-linux, x86_64-v1-linux, x86_64-v2-linux, x86_64-v3-linux Features: gc, signed-caches System configuration file: /etc/nix/nix.conf User configuration files: /home/maikel/.config/nix/nix.conf:/home/maikel/.config/kdedefaults/nix/nix.conf:/etc/xdg/nix/nix.conf:/home/maikel/.nix-profile/etc/xdg/nix/nix.conf:/nix/profile/etc/xdg/nix/nix.conf:/home/maikel/.local/state/nix/profile/etc/xdg/nix/nix.conf:/etc/profiles/per-user/maikel/etc/xdg/nix/nix.conf:/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/etc/xdg/nix/nix.conf:/run/current-system/sw/etc/xdg/nix/nix.conf Store directory: /nix/store State directory: /nix/var/nix Data directory: /nix/store/zp4ccr3fvndjx0dznjg7yf49xh68bdzw-lix-2.93.3/share
• channels(root): "nixos-25.11, unstable"
• nixpkgs: /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixos

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[maikelthedev]

I got the source code of thelounge and tried to built it, it didn't work without python313Packages.distutils but once added, sqlite3 was working fine.