diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index e45f9eb..4901527 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -16,10 +16,15 @@ class Trilogy {
     }
 
     let obj = this.options = setup(options)
-    obj.connection.filename = resolve(obj.dir, path)
 
-    // ensure the directory exists
-    makeDirPath(dirname(obj.connection.filename))
+    if (path === ':memory:') {
+      obj.connection.filename = path
+    } else {
+      obj.connection.filename = resolve(obj.dir, path)
+
+      // ensure the directory exists
+      makeDirPath(dirname(obj.connection.filename))
+    }
 
     this.isNative = obj.client === 'sqlite3'
     this.verbose = obj.verbose
@@ -27,7 +32,10 @@ class Trilogy {
     let config = { client: 'sqlite3', useNullAsDefault: true }
 
     if (this.isNative) {
-      touchFile(obj.connection.filename)
+      if (path !== ':memory:') {
+        touchFile(obj.connection.filename)
+      }
+
       this.knex = knex({ ...config, connection: obj.connection })
     } else {
       this.knex = knex(config)
diff --git a/src/sqljs-handler.js b/src/sqljs-handler.js
index 876f676..0a20ba7 100644
--- a/src/sqljs-handler.js
+++ b/src/sqljs-handler.js
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ export function readDatabase (instance) {
   let client
   let { filename } = instance.options.connection
 
+  if (filename === ':memory:') {
+    return new SQL.Database()
+  }
+
   try {
     makeDirPath(dirname(filename))
     let file = readFileSync(filename)
@@ -28,9 +32,11 @@ export function readDatabase (instance) {
 }
 
 export function writeDatabase (instance, db) {
+  let { filename } = instance.options.connection
+  if (filename === ':memory:') return
+
   let data = db.export()
   let buffer = Buffer.from(data)
-  let { filename } = instance.options.connection
 
   makeDirPath(dirname(filename))
   writeFileSync(filename, buffer, { mode: parseInt('0777', 8) })