diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index efc937001..9f3dd3815 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ export DOMAIN=your.domain.here
 export OL_URL="https://openlibrary.org"
 
 ## Database backend to use.
-## Default is postgres, use sqlite is for dev quickstart only (NOT production!!!)
+## Default is postgres, sqlite is for dev quickstart only (NOT production!!!)
 export FEDIREADS_DATABASE_BACKEND=postgres
 
 export MEDIA_ROOT="images/"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9cb68f898..cd768e3dd 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
 /.vscode
 
 # sqlite
-.db
-.db-journal
+*.db
+*.db-journal
 
 # Fedireads
 .env
diff --git a/fedireads/migrations/0001_initial.py b/fedireads/migrations/0001_initial.py
index b9036bdf2..214204e3e 100644
--- a/fedireads/migrations/0001_initial.py
+++ b/fedireads/migrations/0001_initial.py
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
-# Generated by Django 3.0.2 on 2020-02-15 20:11
+# Generated by Django 3.0.3 on 2020-02-15 22:15
 
 from django.conf import settings
 import django.contrib.auth.models
 import django.contrib.auth.validators
-import django.contrib.postgres.fields.jsonb
 import django.core.validators
 from django.db import migrations, models
 import django.db.models.deletion
 import django.utils.timezone
+import fedireads.utils.fields
 
 
 class Migration(migrations.Migration):
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ class Migration(migrations.Migration):
             fields=[
                 ('id', models.AutoField(auto_created=True, primary_key=True, serialize=False, verbose_name='ID')),
                 ('uuid', models.CharField(max_length=255, unique=True)),
-                ('content', django.contrib.postgres.fields.jsonb.JSONField(max_length=5000)),
+                ('content', fedireads.utils.fields.JSONField(max_length=5000)),
                 ('activity_type', models.CharField(max_length=255)),
                 ('fedireads_type', models.CharField(blank=True, max_length=255, null=True)),
                 ('created_date', models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)),
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ class Migration(migrations.Migration):
             fields=[
                 ('id', models.AutoField(auto_created=True, primary_key=True, serialize=False, verbose_name='ID')),
                 ('openlibrary_key', models.CharField(max_length=255)),
-                ('data', django.contrib.postgres.fields.jsonb.JSONField()),
+                ('data', fedireads.utils.fields.JSONField()),
                 ('added_date', models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)),
                 ('updated_date', models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)),
             ],
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ class Migration(migrations.Migration):
                 ('id', models.AutoField(auto_created=True, primary_key=True, serialize=False, verbose_name='ID')),
                 ('activitypub_id', models.CharField(max_length=255)),
                 ('openlibrary_key', models.CharField(max_length=255, unique=True)),
-                ('data', django.contrib.postgres.fields.jsonb.JSONField()),
+                ('data', fedireads.utils.fields.JSONField()),
                 ('cover', models.ImageField(blank=True, null=True, upload_to='covers/')),
                 ('added_date', models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)),
                 ('updated_date', models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)),
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ class Migration(migrations.Migration):
             fields=[
                 ('id', models.AutoField(auto_created=True, primary_key=True, serialize=False, verbose_name='ID')),
                 ('status_type', models.CharField(default='Note', max_length=255)),
-                ('activity', django.contrib.postgres.fields.jsonb.JSONField(max_length=5000, null=True)),
+                ('activity', fedireads.utils.fields.JSONField(max_length=5000, null=True)),
                 ('content', models.TextField(blank=True, null=True)),
                 ('created_date', models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)),
                 ('updated_date', models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)),
diff --git a/fedireads/models/activity.py b/fedireads/models/activity.py
index 30fcbfc07..e922f1f93 100644
--- a/fedireads/models/activity.py
+++ b/fedireads/models/activity.py
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 ''' models for storing different kinds of Activities '''
-from django.contrib.postgres.fields import JSONField
 from django.core.validators import MaxValueValidator, MinValueValidator
 from django.db import models
 from model_utils.managers import InheritanceManager
 
+from fedireads.utils.fields import JSONField
 
 class Activity(models.Model):
     ''' basic fields for storing activities '''
diff --git a/fedireads/models/book.py b/fedireads/models/book.py
index ccd8d8236..1cd9952cd 100644
--- a/fedireads/models/book.py
+++ b/fedireads/models/book.py
@@ -3,13 +3,13 @@ from django.db import models
 from model_utils.managers import InheritanceManager
 from django.dispatch import receiver
 from django.contrib.auth.models import AbstractUser
-from django.contrib.postgres.fields import JSONField
 from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError
 from Crypto import Random
 from Crypto.PublicKey import RSA
 import re
 
 from fedireads.settings import DOMAIN, OL_URL
+from fedireads.utils.fields import JSONField
 
 class Shelf(models.Model):
     activitypub_id = models.CharField(max_length=255)
diff --git a/fedireads/settings.py b/fedireads/settings.py
index e4e134049..c5cdfd9b4 100644
--- a/fedireads/settings.py
+++ b/fedireads/settings.py
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ WSGI_APPLICATION = 'fedireads.wsgi.application'
 # Database
 # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/ref/settings/#databases
 
-FEDIREADS_DATABASE_BACKEND = env('FEDIREADS_DATABASE', 'postgres')
+FEDIREADS_DATABASE_BACKEND = env('FEDIREADS_DATABASE_BACKEND', 'postgres')
 
 FEDIREADS_DBS = {
     'postgres': {
@@ -80,6 +80,10 @@ FEDIREADS_DBS = {
         'PASSWORD': 'fedireads',
         'HOST': '',
         'PORT': 5432
+    },
+    'sqlite': {
+        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
+        'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'fedireads.db')
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/fedireads/utils/__init__.py b/fedireads/utils/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/fedireads/utils/fields.py b/fedireads/utils/fields.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1d6c8a39b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fedireads/utils/fields.py
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+'''Quick and dirty shim for JSONField and ArrayField compatibility on sqlite.
+
+For more info and original code, see:
+- https://medium.com/@philamersune/using-postgresql-jsonfield-in-sqlite-95ad4ad2e5f1
+- https://gist.github.com/pvsune/2e5f9f9ae356d0bff633d896bc7d168b#file-django-sqlite-fields-py
+'''
+
+import json
+
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.contrib.postgres.fields import (
+    JSONField as DjangoJSONField,
+    ArrayField as DjangoArrayField,
+)
+from django.db.models import Field
+
+
+class JSONField(DjangoJSONField):
+    pass
+
+
+class ArrayField(DjangoArrayField):
+    pass
+
+
+if 'sqlite' in settings.DATABASES['default']['ENGINE']:
+    class JSONField(Field):
+        def db_type(self, connection):
+            return 'text'
+
+        def from_db_value(self, value, expression, connection):
+            if value is not None:
+                return self.to_python(value)
+            return value
+
+        def to_python(self, value):
+            if value is not None:
+                try:
+                    return json.loads(value)
+                except (TypeError, ValueError):
+                    return value
+            return value
+
+        def get_prep_value(self, value):
+            if value is not None:
+                return str(json.dumps(value))
+            return value
+
+        def value_to_string(self, obj):
+            return self.value_from_object(obj)
+
+
+    class ArrayField(JSONField):
+        def __init__(self, base_field, size=None, **kwargs):
+            """Care for DjangoArrayField's kwargs."""
+            self.base_field = base_field
+            self.size = size
+            return super().__init__(**kwargs)
+
+        def deconstruct(self):
+            """Need to create migrations properly."""
+            name, path, args, kwargs = super().deconstruct()
+            kwargs.update({
+                'base_field': self.base_field.clone(),
+                'size': self.size,
+            })
+            return name, path, args, kwargs
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rebuilddb.sh b/rebuilddb.sh
index 536288be1..df855cb99 100755
--- a/rebuilddb.sh
+++ b/rebuilddb.sh
@@ -6,8 +6,16 @@ if [ ! -f .env ]; then
   cp .env.example .env
 fi
 
-dropdb fedireads
-createdb fedireads
+source .env
+
+if [ $FEDIREADS_DATABASE_BACKEND = 'sqlite' ]; then
+  rm fedireads.db
+else
+  # assume postgres
+  dropdb fedireads
+  createdb fedireads
+fi
+
 python manage.py makemigrations fedireads
 python manage.py migrate