diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index a9a9b6685..875968f0c 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1266,6 +1266,50 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "diesel"
+version = "2.2.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "62d6dcd069e7b5fe49a302411f759d4cf1cf2c27fe798ef46fb8baefc053dd2b"
+dependencies = [
+ "diesel_derives",
+ "libsqlite3-sys",
+ "time",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "diesel_derives"
+version = "2.2.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "59de76a222c2b8059f789cbe07afbfd8deb8c31dd0bc2a21f85e256c1def8259"
+dependencies = [
+ "diesel_table_macro_syntax",
+ "dsl_auto_type",
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn 2.0.68",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "diesel_migrations"
+version = "2.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "8a73ce704bad4231f001bff3314d91dce4aba0770cee8b233991859abc15c1f6"
+dependencies = [
+ "diesel",
+ "migrations_internals",
+ "migrations_macros",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "diesel_table_macro_syntax"
+version = "0.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "209c735641a413bc68c4923a9d6ad4bcb3ca306b794edaa7eb0b3228a99ffb25"
+dependencies = [
+ "syn 2.0.68",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "diff"
 version = "0.1.13"
@@ -1373,6 +1417,20 @@ version = "0.3.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "fea41bba32d969b513997752735605054bc0dfa92b4c56bf1189f2e174be7a10"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "dsl_auto_type"
+version = "0.1.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "0892a17df262a24294c382f0d5997571006e7a4348b4327557c4ff1cd4a8bccc"
+dependencies = [
+ "darling",
+ "either",
+ "heck 0.5.0",
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn 2.0.68",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "dtoa"
 version = "1.0.9"
@@ -2129,6 +2187,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "git2",
  "git2-hooks",
  "gitbutler-git",
+ "gitbutler-project-store",
  "gitbutler-testsupport",
  "gix",
  "glob",
@@ -2198,6 +2257,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "walkdir",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "gitbutler-project-store"
+version = "0.0.0"
+dependencies = [
+ "anyhow",
+ "diesel",
+ "diesel_migrations",
+ "libsqlite3-sys",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "gitbutler-tauri"
 version = "0.0.0"
@@ -3859,6 +3928,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "libc",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "libsqlite3-sys"
+version = "0.25.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "29f835d03d717946d28b1d1ed632eb6f0e24a299388ee623d0c23118d3e8a7fa"
+dependencies = [
+ "cc",
+ "pkg-config",
+ "vcpkg",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "libssh2-sys"
 version = "0.3.0"
@@ -4030,6 +4110,27 @@ dependencies = [
  "autocfg",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "migrations_internals"
+version = "2.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "fd01039851e82f8799046eabbb354056283fb265c8ec0996af940f4e85a380ff"
+dependencies = [
+ "serde",
+ "toml 0.8.14",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "migrations_macros"
+version = "2.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "ffb161cc72176cb37aa47f1fc520d3ef02263d67d661f44f05d05a079e1237fd"
+dependencies = [
+ "migrations_internals",
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "mime"
 version = "0.3.17"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 001ffb302..dc00894a3 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ members = [
     "crates/gitbutler-watcher/vendor/debouncer",
     "crates/gitbutler-testsupport",
     "crates/gitbutler-cli",
+    "crates/gitbutler-project-store"
 ]
 resolver = "2"
 
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ gitbutler-core = { path = "crates/gitbutler-core" }
 gitbutler-watcher = { path = "crates/gitbutler-watcher" }
 gitbutler-testsupport = { path = "crates/gitbutler-testsupport" }
 gitbutler-cli ={ path = "crates/gitbutler-cli" }
+gitbutler-project-store = { path = "crates/gitbutler-project-store" }
 
 [profile.release]
 codegen-units = 1 # Compile crates one after another so the compiler can optimize better
diff --git a/crates/gitbutler-core/Cargo.toml b/crates/gitbutler-core/Cargo.toml
index 8e2d25527..dad48da78 100644
--- a/crates/gitbutler-core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/gitbutler-core/Cargo.toml
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ uuid.workspace = true
 walkdir = "2.5.0"
 zip = "0.6.5"
 gitbutler-git.workspace = true
+gitbutler-project-store.workspace = true
 
 [features]
 # by default Tauri runs in production mode
diff --git a/crates/gitbutler-project-store/Cargo.toml b/crates/gitbutler-project-store/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4876a545a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/gitbutler-project-store/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+[package]
+name = "gitbutler-project-store"
+version = "0.0.0"
+edition = "2021"
+publish = false
+
+[lib]
+path = "src/lib.rs"
+doctest = false
+test = false
+
+[dependencies]
+diesel = { version = "2.2.0", features = ["sqlite"] }
+diesel_migrations = { version = "2.2.0" }
+libsqlite3-sys = { version = "0.25.2", features = ["bundled"] }
+anyhow = "1.0.86"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/crates/gitbutler-project-store/diesel.toml b/crates/gitbutler-project-store/diesel.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..126d532c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/gitbutler-project-store/diesel.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# For documentation on how to configure this file,
+# see https://diesel.rs/guides/configuring-diesel-cli
+
+[print_schema]
+file = "src/schema.rs"
+custom_type_derives = ["diesel::query_builder::QueryId", "Clone"]
+
+[migrations_directory]
+dir = "/Users/calebowens/code/gitbutler-client/crates/gitbutler-project-store/migrations"
diff --git a/crates/gitbutler-project-store/migrations/.keep b/crates/gitbutler-project-store/migrations/.keep
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/crates/gitbutler-project-store/src/lib.rs b/crates/gitbutler-project-store/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fadf9aa63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/gitbutler-project-store/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+use anyhow::{anyhow, Result};
+use std::path::Path;
+
+use diesel::{Connection, SqliteConnection};
+use diesel_migrations::{embed_migrations, EmbeddedMigrations, MigrationHarness};
+
+const DATABASE_NAME: &str = "project.sqlite";
+const MIGRATIONS: EmbeddedMigrations = embed_migrations!();
+
+/// ProjectStore provides a light wrapper around a sqlite database
+struct ProjectStore {
+    connection: SqliteConnection,
+}
+
+/// Database setup
+impl ProjectStore {
+    /// Creates an instance of ProjectStore and runs any pending sqlite migrations
+    /// gitbutler_project_directory should be the `.git/gitbutler` path of a given
+    /// repository
+    pub fn initialize(gitbutler_project_directory: &Path) -> Result<ProjectStore> {
+        let database_path = gitbutler_project_directory.join(DATABASE_NAME);
+        let database_path = database_path.to_str().ok_or(anyhow!(
+            "Failed to get database {}",
+            gitbutler_project_directory.display()
+        ))?;
+        let mut connection = SqliteConnection::establish(database_path)?;
+
+        // Run any pending migrations
+        connection
+            .run_pending_migrations(MIGRATIONS)
+            .map_err(|err| anyhow!("{}", err))?;
+
+        Ok(ProjectStore { connection })
+    }
+}