# How to create an empty SQLite database

> Learn how to create an empty SQLite database the simplest way: just make an empty file with touch storage.db, then copy the file to back it up or clone it.

Author: [Flavio Copes](https://flaviocopes.com/about/) | Published: 2021-05-04 | Topics: [Database](https://flaviocopes.com/tags/database/) | Canonical: https://flaviocopes.com/create-empty-sqllite-database/

I was looking for how to create an SQLite database to use with [Prisma](https://flaviocopes.com/prisma/), when I found you can initialize an empty SQLite database just by creating an empty file.

I was overcomplicating it, but with SQLite initializing a new database is very very simple

For example you can use `touch` from the command line to create a SQLite database named `storage.db`:

```
$ touch storage.db
```

The same approach can be taken when duplicating a database with all its tables, or backing it up. You just copy the file.