diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index da8ec0d..4cd66fb 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -12,4 +12,4 @@ go run github.com/tailscale/mkctr \
   --tags="latest" \
   --repos="registry.fly.io/tsgo" \
   --push \
-  /tsgo -verbose -linkdir=/root/linkdata -mkdir
+  /tsgo -verbose -sqlitedb /root/golinks.db
diff --git a/golink.go b/golink.go
index 6f5f48f..0d530bd 100644
--- a/golink.go
+++ b/golink.go
@@ -29,10 +29,12 @@ import (
 )
 
 var (
-	verbose = flag.Bool("verbose", false, "be verbose")
-	linkDir = flag.String("linkdir", "", "the directory to store one JSON file per go/ shortlink")
-	dev     = flag.String("dev-listen", "", "if non-empty, listen on this addr and run in dev mode; auto-set linkDir if empty and don't use tsnet")
-	doMkdir = flag.Bool("mkdir", false, "whether to make --linkdir at start")
+	verbose    = flag.Bool("verbose", false, "be verbose")
+	linkDir    = flag.String("linkdir", "", "the directory to store one JSON file per go/ shortlink")
+	sqlitefile = flag.String("sqlitedb", "", "path of SQLite database to store links")
+	migrate    = flag.Bool("migrate-to-sqlite", false, "migrate link data from file storage to sqlite")
+	dev        = flag.String("dev-listen", "", "if non-empty, listen on this addr and run in dev mode; auto-set linkDir if empty and don't use tsnet")
+	doMkdir    = flag.Bool("mkdir", false, "whether to make --linkdir at start")
 )
 
 var stats struct {
@@ -57,23 +59,10 @@ var localClient *tailscale.LocalClient
 func main() {
 	flag.Parse()
 
-	if *linkDir == "" {
-		if devMode() {
-			var err error
-			*linkDir, err = ioutil.TempDir("", "golink_dev_*")
-			if err != nil {
-				log.Fatal(err)
-			}
-			log.Printf("Dev mode temp dir: %s", *linkDir)
-		} else {
-			log.Fatalf("--linkdir is required")
-		}
-	}
-
 	var err error
-	db, err = NewFileDB(*linkDir, *doMkdir)
+	db, err = setupDB()
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("NewFileDB(%q): %v", *linkDir, err)
+		log.Fatalf("setting up database: %v", err)
 	}
 
 	if err := restoreLastSnapshot(); err != nil {
@@ -120,6 +109,74 @@ func main() {
 	}
 }
 
+// setupDB returns a DB used for link storage based on CLI flags and migrates
+// data if requested.  If flags are provided for both sqlite and file-base
+// storage, sqlite is preferred.
+func setupDB() (DB, error) {
+	if *sqlitefile == "" && *linkDir == "" && !devMode() {
+		return nil, errors.New("must specify linkdir or sqlitedb")
+	}
+
+	var sqliteDB *SQLiteDB
+	if *sqlitefile != "" {
+		var err error
+		if sqliteDB, err = NewSQLiteDB(*sqlitefile); err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("NewSQLiteDB(%q): %w", *sqlitefile, err)
+		}
+		if !*migrate {
+			// not migrating data, so return early
+			return sqliteDB, nil
+		}
+	}
+
+	if *linkDir == "" && devMode() {
+		var err error
+		*linkDir, err = ioutil.TempDir("", "golink_dev_*")
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		log.Printf("Dev mode temp dir: %s", *linkDir)
+	}
+
+	var fileDB *FileDB
+	if *linkDir != "" {
+		var err error
+		if fileDB, err = NewFileDB(*linkDir, *doMkdir); err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("NewFileDB(%q): %w", *linkDir, err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	if *migrate {
+		if sqliteDB == nil || fileDB == nil {
+			return nil, errors.New("migrate-to-sqlite requires both linkdir and sqlitedb to be specified")
+		}
+
+		links, err := fileDB.LoadAll()
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		for _, link := range links {
+			if err := sqliteDB.Save(link); err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+		}
+
+		stats, err := fileDB.LoadStats()
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		if err := sqliteDB.SaveStats(stats); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
+
+	if sqliteDB != nil {
+		return sqliteDB, nil
+	} else {
+		return fileDB, nil
+	}
+}
+
 // homeTmpl is the template used by the http://go/ index page where you can
 // create or edit links.
 var homeTmpl *template.Template