diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 259148f..acee4a7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -30,3 +30,10 @@
 *.exe
 *.out
 *.app
+
+# vim
+*.swp
+
+# transient sqlite files
+/sqlite
+/sqlite-autoconf*
diff --git a/build-sqlite b/build-sqlite
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..ca88e88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-sqlite
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+VERSION=3220000
+
+fetch_if_needed() {
+  if [ ! -e sqlite ]; then
+    curl --fail "https://sqlite.org/2018/sqlite-autoconf-${VERSION}.tar.gz" > sqlite.tar.gz
+    tar xf sqlite.tar.gz
+    rm sqlite.tar.gz
+    ln -s sqlite-autoconf-${VERSION} sqlite
+  fi
+}
+
+build() {
+  cd sqlite
+  ./configure
+  make
+}
+
+main() {
+  here=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")
+  here=$(readlink -f "$here")
+  cd "$here"
+
+  fetch_if_needed
+  build
+}
+
+main "$@"