Apache CouchDB, commonly referred to as CouchDB, is an open source database that focuses on ease of use and on being "a database that completely embraces the web". It is a document-oriented NoSQL database that uses JSON to store data, JavaScript as its query language using MapReduce, and HTTP for an API. CouchDB was first released in 2005 and later became an Apache project in 2008.Unlike a relational database, CouchDB does not store data and relationships in tables.