diff --git a/cmd/gotelem/cli/client.go b/cmd/gotelem/cli/client.go
index bf8fa23..e55f0c8 100644
--- a/cmd/gotelem/cli/client.go
+++ b/cmd/gotelem/cli/client.go
@@ -7,13 +7,13 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
-	"sync"
 	"sync/atomic"
 
 	"github.com/kschamplin/gotelem/internal/db"
 	"github.com/kschamplin/gotelem/internal/logparsers"
 	"github.com/kschamplin/gotelem/skylab"
 	"github.com/urfave/cli/v2"
+	"golang.org/x/sync/errgroup"
 )
 
 var parsersString string
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ var importCmd = &cli.Command{
 			Name:    "database",
 			Aliases: []string{"d", "db"},
 			Usage:   "the path of the database",
-			Value:   "./gotelem.db",
+			Value:   "gotelem.db",
 		},
 		&cli.UintFlag{
 			Name:  "batch-size",
@@ -99,11 +99,16 @@ func importAction(ctx *cli.Context) error {
 		n, err := db.AddEventsCtx(ctx.Context, events...)
 		if err != nil {
 			fmt.Printf("%v", err)
+			return
 		}
 		n_pkt.Add(n)
 	}
 
-	var wg sync.WaitGroup
+	// we use this errorgroup to limit the number of
+	// running goroutines to a normal value. This way
+	// we don't thrash the system,
+	eg := new(errgroup.Group)
+	eg.SetLimit(5)
 	var linenum int64 = 0
 	n_unknown := 0
 	n_error := 0
@@ -130,31 +135,27 @@ func importAction(ctx *cli.Context) error {
 		linenum++
 		batchIdx++
 		if batchIdx >= int(bSize) {
-			// flush it!!!!
-			wg.Add(1)
 			e := make([]skylab.BusEvent, bSize)
 			copy(e, eventsBatch)
-			go func(e []skylab.BusEvent) {
+			eg.Go(func() error {
 				delegateInsert(e)
-				wg.Done()
-			}(e)
+				return nil
+			})
 			batchIdx = 0 // reset the batch
 		}
 
 	}
 	// check if we have remaining packets and flush them
 	if batchIdx > 0 {
-		wg.Add(1)
-
-		go func() {
+		eg.Go(func() error {
 			// since we don't do any modification
 			// we can avoid the copy
 			delegateInsert(eventsBatch[:batchIdx])
-			wg.Done()
-		}()
+			return nil
+		})
 	}
 	// wait for any goroutines.
-	wg.Wait()
+	eg.Wait()
 	fmt.Printf("import status: %d successful, %d unknown, %d errors\n", n_pkt.Load(), n_unknown, n_error)
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/internal/db/db.go b/internal/db/db.go
index 8eddb32..4266882 100644
--- a/internal/db/db.go
+++ b/internal/db/db.go
@@ -28,14 +28,19 @@ type TelemDb struct {
 // TelemDbOption lets you customize the behavior of the sqlite database
 type TelemDbOption func(*TelemDb) error
 
+// this string is used to open the read-write db.
+// the extra options improve performance significantly.
+const rwDbPathFmt = "file:%s?_journal_mode=wal&mode=rwc&_txlock=immediate&_timeout=10000"
+
+
 func OpenTelemDb(path string, options ...TelemDbOption) (tdb *TelemDb, err error) {
 	tdb = &TelemDb{}
-	tdb.db, err = sqlx.Connect("sqlite3", path)
+
+	dbStr := fmt.Sprintf(rwDbPathFmt, path)
+	tdb.db, err = sqlx.Connect("sqlite3", dbStr)
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
-	// TODO: add options support.
-
 	for _, fn := range options {
 		err = fn(tdb)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -43,13 +48,12 @@ func OpenTelemDb(path string, options ...TelemDbOption) (tdb *TelemDb, err error
 		}
 	}
 
-	var version int
-	err = tdb.db.Get(&version, "PRAGMA user_version")
+	// perform any database migrations
+	version, err := tdb.GetVersion()
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
-
-	// get latest version of migrations - then run the SQL in order to perform them
+	// TODO: use logging instead of printf
 	fmt.Printf("starting version %d\n", version)
 
 	version, err = RunMigrations(tdb)