---
title: "Architecture overview"
description: "Simple overview of NocoDB architecture"
tags: ['Engineering']
hide_table_of_contents: true
---

By default, if `NC_DB` is not specified, then SQLite will be used to store your metadata. We suggest users to separate the metadata and user data in different databases.
  
![image](/img/architecture.png)


| Project Type                           | Metadata stored in | Data stored in |
|----------------------------------------|-----------|--------|
| Create new base                        | NC_DB | NC_DB |
| Create new base with External Database | NC_DB | External Database |
| Create new base from Excel             | NC_DB | NC_DB |