Database compatibility between monero-wallet-gui and cli

Question

Is it possible to use the database generated after running monero-wallet-gui with monero-wallet-cli?

If I want to use the monero-wallet-cli I need to run monerod first (not needed with monero-wallet-gui), but if I run the command "./monerod --data-dir /path/to/lmdb-generated-by-monero-wallet-gui" I get the following error:

W Found existing LMDB files in /path/to/lmdb-generated-by-monero-wallet-gui
W Move data.mdb and/or lock.mdb to /path/to/lmdb-generated-by-monero-wallet-gui/lmdb, or delete them, and then restart
E Error opening database: Database could not be opened

Because of the small file size of data.mdb after full sync with monero-wallet-gui, I figure this database only contains info of the relevant blocks containing transactions on wich my wallet is involved. Is this the cause of the issue?

Answer 1

Database compatibility between monero-wallet-gui and cli

They use the same database, i.e. a fully synchronized blockchain that is accessed via a running daemon (monerod).

Is it possible to use the database generated after running monero-wallet-gui with monero-wallet-cli?

Yes.

If I want to use the monero-wallet-cli I need to run monerod first (not needed with monero-wallet-gui)

Because the GUI launches a daemon (monerod) behind the scenes. Both wallets (GUI / CLI) need access to a daemon and blockchain.

but if I run the command "./monerod --data-dir /path/to/lmdb-generated-by-monero-wallet-gui" I get the following error...

The path specified with --data-dir needs to be the folder containing the lmdb directory, and you can't run two instances of monerod at the same time using the same database.

Because of the small file size of data.mdb after full sync with monero-wallet-gui...

If data.mdb is small you have not fully synchronized the database at that path.