diff --git a/hiedb.cabal b/hiedb.cabal
--- a/hiedb.cabal
+++ b/hiedb.cabal
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 cabal-version:       2.4
 name:                hiedb
-version:             0.7.0.0
+version:             0.8.0.0
 synopsis:            Generates a references DB from .hie files
 description:         Tool and library to index and query a collection of `.hie` files
 bug-reports:         https://github.com/wz1000/HieDb/issues
@@ -21,8 +21,9 @@
                       || ==9.4.8
                       || ==9.6.7
                       || ==9.8.4
-                      || ==9.10.2
+                      || ==9.10.3
                       || ==9.12.2
+                      || ==9.14.1
 
 source-repository head
   type: git
@@ -30,7 +31,7 @@
 
 common common-options
   default-language:    Haskell2010
-  build-depends:       base >= 4.12 && < 4.22
+  build-depends:       base >= 4.12 && < 4.23
   ghc-options:         -Wall
                        -Wcompat
                        -Widentities
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@
                        HieDb.Dump,
                        HieDb.Html,
                        HieDb.Run
-  build-depends:       ghc >= 8.6 && < 9.13
+  build-depends:       ghc >= 8.6 && < 9.15
                      , array
                      , containers
                      , filepath
diff --git a/src/HieDb/Create.hs b/src/HieDb/Create.hs
--- a/src/HieDb/Create.hs
+++ b/src/HieDb/Create.hs
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 
 import Control.Exception
 import Control.Monad
+import Control.Monad.Cont
 import Control.Monad.IO.Class
 import Control.Monad.State.Strict (evalStateT)
 
@@ -61,26 +62,87 @@
   else
     throwIO $ IncompatibleSchemaVersion dB_VERSION ver
 
+-- | Commmon implementation for the @withHieDb*@ functions that prepared the
+-- hiedb file, if it didn't already exist. Also prepares any statements that
+-- we'll need to do indexing.
+withHieDbImpl :: FilePath -> (HieDb -> IO a) -> IO a
+withHieDbImpl fp act = withConnection fp $ \connection -> do
+  liftIO $ setupHieDb connection
+
+  -- We manually prepare statements instead of using the machinery in
+  -- sqlite-simple so we can reuse these across `.hie` files more easily.
+  -- This was benchmarked to be faster:
+  --   https://github.com/wz1000/HieDb/pull/86
+  withPreparedHieDbStatements connection $ \statements -> do
+    act $ HieDb connection statements
+
+withPreparedHieDbStatements :: Connection -> (HieDbStatements -> IO a) -> IO a
+withPreparedHieDbStatements connection action = do
+  let prepareInternalTableDeletion = do
+        deletions
+          <- traverse (createStatement connection)
+            [ "DELETE FROM refs  WHERE hieFile = ?"
+            , "DELETE FROM decls WHERE hieFile = ?"
+            , "DELETE FROM defs  WHERE hieFile = ?"
+            , "DELETE FROM typerefs WHERE hieFile = ?"
+            , "DELETE FROM mods  WHERE hieFile = ?"
+            , "DELETE FROM exports WHERE hieFile = ?"
+            ]
+        pure $ \fp -> mapM_ (`runStatementFor_` fp) deletions
+
+  runContT
+    ( HieDbStatements
+        <$> createStatement connection "INSERT INTO mods VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?)"
+        <*> createStatement connection "INSERT INTO refs VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)"
+        <*> createStatement connection "INSERT INTO decls VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?)"
+        <*> createStatement connection "INSERT INTO imports VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?)"
+        <*> createStatement connection "INSERT INTO defs VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?)"
+        <*> createStatement connection "INSERT INTO exports VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)"
+        <*> createStatement connection "INSERT INTO typerefs VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?)"
+        <*> createStatement connection "INSERT INTO typenames(name,mod,unit) VALUES (?,?,?)"
+        <*> createStatement connection "SELECT id FROM typenames WHERE name = ? AND mod = ? AND unit = ?"
+        <*> prepareInternalTableDeletion
+    )
+    action
+
 {-| Given path to @.hiedb@ file, constructs 'HieDb' and passes it to given function. -}
 withHieDb :: FilePath -> (HieDb -> IO a) -> IO a
-withHieDb fp f = withConnection fp (checkVersion f . HieDb)
+withHieDb fp f = withHieDbImpl fp $ \hiedb -> do
+  checkVersion f hiedb
 
 {-| Given GHC LibDir and path to @.hiedb@ file,
 constructs DynFlags (required for printing info from @.hie@ files)
 and 'HieDb' and passes them to given function.
 -}
 withHieDbAndFlags :: LibDir -> FilePath -> (DynFlags -> HieDb -> IO a) -> IO a
-withHieDbAndFlags libdir fp f = do
+withHieDbAndFlags libdir fp f = withHieDbImpl fp $ \hiedb -> do
   dynFlags <- dynFlagsForPrinting libdir
-  withConnection fp (checkVersion (f dynFlags) . HieDb)
+  checkVersion (f dynFlags) hiedb
 
 {-| Initialize database schema for given 'HieDb'.
 -}
 initConn :: HieDb -> IO ()
-initConn (getConn -> conn) = do
+{-# DEPRECATED initConn "Use setupHieDb instead." #-}
+initConn = setupHieDb . getConn
+
+{-| Initialize database schema for given 'HieDb'.
+-}
+setupHieDb :: Connection -> IO ()
+setupHieDb conn = do
   execute_ conn "PRAGMA busy_timeout = 500;"
   execute_ conn "PRAGMA journal_mode = WAL;"
   execute_ conn "PRAGMA foreign_keys = ON;"
+
+  -- The default setting for synchronous is 'FULL'. `FULL` will issue fsync's
+  -- and wait to ensure that every write is done durably. Switching to `NORMAL`
+  -- moves this to the checkpoints by the WAL (when using a WAL), losing us
+  -- durability. Practically this means that committed transaction may be rolled
+  -- back on system failure. This is fine, as the hiedb file will recover by
+  -- reindexing. See the following.
+  -- - https://sqlite.org/pragma.html#pragma_synchronous
+  -- - https://sqlite.org/wal.html
+  -- - https://github.com/wz1000/HieDb/pull/86 for benchmarks.
+  execute_ conn "PRAGMA synchronous = NORMAL;"
   execute_ conn "PRAGMA defer_foreign_keys = ON;"
 
   execute_ conn "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS mods \
@@ -188,7 +250,7 @@
 corresponding record in DB.
 -}
 addArr :: HieDb -> A.Array TypeIndex HieTypeFlat -> IO (A.Array TypeIndex (Maybe Int64))
-addArr (getConn -> conn) arr = do
+addArr hiedb arr = do
   forM arr $ \case
     HTyVarTy n -> addName n
     HTyConApp tc _ -> addName (ifaceTyConName tc)
@@ -201,8 +263,8 @@
         let occ = nameOccName n
             mod = moduleName m
             uid = moduleUnit m
-        execute conn "INSERT INTO typenames(name,mod,unit) VALUES (?,?,?)" (occ,mod,uid)
-        fmap fromOnly . listToMaybe <$> query conn "SELECT id FROM typenames WHERE name = ? AND mod = ? AND unit = ?" (occ,mod,uid)
+        runStatementFor_ (insertTypenamesStatement (preparedStatements hiedb)) (occ,mod,uid)
+        fmap fromOnly <$> runStatementFor (queryTypenamesStatement (preparedStatements hiedb)) (occ,mod,uid)
 
 {-| Add references to types from given @.hie@ file to DB. -}
 addTypeRefs
@@ -308,7 +370,7 @@
 addRefsFromLoadedInternal
   db@(getConn -> conn) path sourceFile hash skipOptions hf =
     liftIO $ withTransaction conn $ do
-      deleteInternalTables conn path
+      deleteInternalTablesStatement (preparedStatements db) (Only path)
       addRefsFromLoaded_unsafe db path sourceFile hash skipOptions hf
 
 -- | Like 'addRefsFromLoaded' but without:
@@ -317,8 +379,7 @@
 --
 --   Mostly useful to index a new database from scratch as fast as possible
 addRefsFromLoaded_unsafe
-  :: MonadIO m
-  => HieDb -- ^ HieDb into which we're adding the file
+  :: HieDb -- ^ HieDb into which we're adding the file
   -> FilePath -- ^ Path to @.hie@ file
   -> SourceFile -- ^ Path to .hs file from which @.hie@ file was created
                 -- Also tells us if this is a real source file?
@@ -326,9 +387,9 @@
   -> Fingerprint -- ^ The hash of the @.hie@ file
   -> SkipOptions -- ^ Skip indexing certain tables
   -> HieFile -- ^ Data loaded from the @.hie@ file
-  -> m ()
+  -> IO ()
 addRefsFromLoaded_unsafe
- db@(getConn -> conn) path sourceFile hash skipOptions hf = liftIO $ do
+ db path sourceFile hash skipOptions hf = do
 
   let isBoot = "boot" `isSuffixOf` path
       mod    = moduleName smod
@@ -352,25 +413,25 @@
         let sourceOnlyNodeInfo = SourcedNodeInfo $ M.delete originToDrop sniMap
         in Node sourceOnlyNodeInfo sp (map (dropNodeInfos originToDrop) children)
 
-  execute conn "INSERT INTO mods VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?)" modrow
+  runStatementFor_ (insertModsStatement (preparedStatements db)) modrow
 
   let AstInfo refsSrc declsSrc importsSrc = genAstInfo path smod SourceInfo refmapSourceOnly
       AstInfo refsGen declsGen importsGen = genAstInfo path smod GeneratedInfo refmapGeneratedOnly
 
   unless (skipRefs skipOptions) $
-    executeMany conn "INSERT INTO refs VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)" (refsSrc <> refsGen)
+    mapM_ (runStatementFor_ (insertRefsStatement (preparedStatements db))) (refsSrc <> refsGen)
   unless (skipDecls skipOptions) $
-    executeMany conn "INSERT INTO decls VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?)" (declsSrc <> declsGen)
+    mapM_ (runStatementFor_ (insertDeclsStatement (preparedStatements db))) (declsSrc <> declsGen)
   unless (skipImports skipOptions) $
-    executeMany conn "INSERT INTO imports VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?)" (importsSrc <> importsGen)
+    mapM_ (runStatementFor_ (insertImportsStatement (preparedStatements db))) (importsSrc <> importsGen)
 
   let defs = genDefRow path smod refmapAll
   unless (skipDefs skipOptions) $
-      executeMany conn "INSERT INTO defs VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?)" defs
+    mapM_ (runStatementFor_ (insertDefsStatement (preparedStatements db))) defs
 
   let exports = generateExports path $ hie_exports hf
   unless (skipExports skipOptions) $
-    executeMany conn "INSERT INTO exports VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)" exports
+    mapM_ (runStatementFor_ (insertExportsStatement (preparedStatements db))) exports
 
   unless (skipTypes skipOptions) $ do
     ixs <- addArr db (hie_types hf)
@@ -400,21 +461,21 @@
 
 {-| Delete all occurrences of given @.hie@ file from the database -}
 deleteFileFromIndex :: HieDb -> FilePath -> IO ()
-deleteFileFromIndex (getConn -> conn) path = withTransaction conn $ do
-  deleteInternalTables conn path
+deleteFileFromIndex db@(getConn -> conn) path = withTransaction conn $ do
+  deleteInternalTablesStatement (preparedStatements db) (Only path)
 
 {-| Delete all entries associated with modules for which the 'modInfoSrcFile' doesn't exist
 on the disk.
 Doesn't delete it if there is no associated 'modInfoSrcFile'
 -}
 deleteMissingRealFiles :: HieDb -> IO ()
-deleteMissingRealFiles (getConn -> conn) = withTransaction conn $ do
+deleteMissingRealFiles db@(getConn -> conn) = withTransaction conn $ do
   missing_file_keys <- fold_ conn "SELECT hieFile,hs_src FROM mods WHERE hs_src IS NOT NULL AND is_real" [] $
     \acc (path,src) -> do
       exists <- doesFileExist src
       pure $ if exists then acc else path : acc
   forM_ missing_file_keys $ \path -> do
-    deleteInternalTables conn path
+    deleteInternalTablesStatement (preparedStatements db) (Only path)
 
 {-| Garbage collect typenames with no references - it is a good idea to call
 this function after a sequence of database updates (inserts or deletes)
@@ -422,6 +483,9 @@
 garbageCollectTypeNames :: HieDb -> IO Int
 garbageCollectTypeNames (getConn -> conn) = do
   execute_ conn "DELETE FROM typenames WHERE NOT EXISTS ( SELECT 1 FROM typerefs WHERE typerefs.id = typenames.id LIMIT 1 )"
+  -- Tack on a call to optimize that'll vacuum and update any table statistics
+  -- that might have changed. See https://sqlite.org/pragma.html#pragma_optimize.
+  execute_ conn "PRAGMA optimize;"
   changes conn
 
 deleteInternalTables :: Connection -> FilePath -> IO ()
diff --git a/src/HieDb/Run.hs b/src/HieDb/Run.hs
--- a/src/HieDb/Run.hs
+++ b/src/HieDb/Run.hs
@@ -277,7 +277,6 @@
   when (trace opts) $
     setHieTrace conn (Just $ T.hPutStrLn stderr . ("\n****TRACE: "<>))
   when (reindex opts) $ do
-    initConn conn
     files' <- map hieModuleHieFile <$> getAllIndexedMods conn
     files <- fmap catMaybes $ forM files' $ \f -> do
       exists <- doesFileExist f
@@ -293,9 +292,8 @@
       hPutStrLn stderr $ "Re-indexing " ++ show n ++ " files, deleting " ++ show (n-orig) ++ " files"
     doIndex conn opts stderr files
   case cmd of
-    Init -> initConn conn
+    Init -> pure ()
     Index dirs -> do
-      initConn conn
       files <- concat <$> mapM getHieFilesIn dirs
       doIndex conn opts stderr files
     TypeRefs typ mn muid -> do
diff --git a/src/HieDb/Types.hs b/src/HieDb/Types.hs
--- a/src/HieDb/Types.hs
+++ b/src/HieDb/Types.hs
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 {-# LANGUAGE FlexibleInstances #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE CPP #-}
 {-# OPTIONS_GHC -Wno-orphans #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE TypeApplications #-}
 module HieDb.Types where
 
 import Prelude hiding (mod)
@@ -16,9 +17,11 @@
 import qualified Data.Text as T
 import qualified Data.Text.Encoding as T
 
+import Control.Exception
+import Control.Monad (void)
+import Control.Monad.Cont (ContT(..))
 import Control.Monad.IO.Class
 import Control.Monad.Reader
-import Control.Exception
 
 import Data.List.NonEmpty (NonEmpty(..))
 
@@ -32,7 +35,81 @@
 
 import HieDb.Compat
 
-newtype HieDb = HieDb { getConn :: Connection }
+data HieDb = HieDb
+  { getConn :: !Connection
+  , preparedStatements :: HieDbStatements
+  }
+
+-- | Record of prepared statements that are relevant during the slowest
+-- operation, indexing.
+--
+-- See benchmarks in https://github.com/wz1000/HieDb/pull/86, where statement
+-- preparation results in a ~28% improvement in indexing hie files generated
+-- from HLS.
+data HieDbStatements = HieDbStatements
+  { insertModsStatement :: !(StatementFor HieModuleRow)
+  , insertRefsStatement :: !(StatementFor RefRow)
+  , insertDeclsStatement :: !(StatementFor DeclRow)
+  , insertImportsStatement :: !(StatementFor ImportRow)
+  , insertDefsStatement :: !(StatementFor DefRow)
+  , insertExportsStatement :: !(StatementFor ExportRow)
+  , insertTyperefsStatement :: !(StatementFor TypeRef)
+  , insertTypenamesStatement :: !(StatementFor (OccName, ModuleName, Unit))
+  , queryTypenamesStatement :: !(StatementFor (OccName, ModuleName, Unit))
+  , deleteInternalTablesStatement :: !(Only FilePath -> IO ())
+  }
+
+-- | A type-safe wrapper connecting the query preparation with the datatype the
+-- query is intended for. The type variable 'a' should correspond to the
+-- datatype that will be bound to the statement that is wrapped.
+newtype StatementFor a = StatementFor Statement
+
+-- | Equivalent to unit so we can avoid parsing anything when doing insertions.
+--
+-- Many of our indexing operations are just simple inserts that don't return
+-- results. We can't use the array of @sqlite-simple.execute@ functions as they
+-- can't make use of the statements we've prepared.
+data NoOutput = NoOutput
+
+instance FromRow NoOutput where
+  fromRow = pure NoOutput
+
+-- | Helper for preparing multiple statements, each of which has to be
+-- bracket-wrapped. Done via ContT, so we can use do/applicative notation.
+createStatement :: Connection -> Query -> ContT r IO (StatementFor a)
+createStatement connection query = fmap StatementFor (ContT (withStatement connection query))
+
+-- | Run a statement that was built for an datatype in mind, ensuring that we do
+-- indeed pass that datatype.
+--
+-- This function is preferably inlined so it'd get specialized with the datatype
+-- encoder.
+runStatementFor_ :: ToRow a => StatementFor a -> a -> IO ()
+{-# INLINE runStatementFor_ #-}
+runStatementFor_ (StatementFor statement) params = do
+  withBind statement params $
+    -- sqlite-simple doesn't offer the best interface for executing prepared
+    -- insertions. `nextRow` requires a hint to know what it needs to parse if it
+    -- encounters content from sqlite. Though this code path isn't hit as our
+    -- insertions don't return anything, we still need to provide a parsable
+    -- datatype. Bit of a leaky abstraction, can be cleaned up by using the
+    -- lower-level `direct-sqlite` instead.
+    void (nextRow @NoOutput statement)
+
+-- | Run a statement that was built for an datatype in mind, ensuring that we do
+-- indeed pass that datatype.
+--
+-- This function is preferably inlined so it'd get specialized with the datatype
+-- encoder.
+--
+-- NB: While the input variable acts as a witness and is carried around, the
+-- output variable is unconstrained. When using this function, double check that
+-- the output type is what you expect it to be.
+runStatementFor :: (ToRow a, FromRow b) => StatementFor a -> a -> IO (Maybe b)
+{-# INLINE runStatementFor #-}
+runStatementFor (StatementFor statement) params = do
+  withBind statement params $
+    nextRow statement
 
 data HieDbException
   = IncompatibleSchemaVersion
diff --git a/src/HieDb/Utils.hs b/src/HieDb/Utils.hs
--- a/src/HieDb/Utils.hs
+++ b/src/HieDb/Utils.hs
@@ -35,13 +35,13 @@
 
 import HieDb.Types
 import HieDb.Compat
-import Database.SQLite.Simple
 import Control.Monad.State.Strict (StateT, get, put)
 import qualified Data.IntSet as ISet
 import qualified Data.IntMap.Strict as IMap
 import Data.IntMap.Strict (IntMap)
 import Data.IntSet (IntSet)
 import Control.Monad (guard, unless)
+import GHC.Builtin.Utils
 
 #if __GLASGOW_HASKELL__ >= 903
 import Control.Concurrent.MVar (readMVar)
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
 type TypeIndexing a = StateT (IntMap IntSet) IO a
 
 addTypeRef :: HieDb -> FilePath -> A.Array TypeIndex HieTypeFlat -> A.Array TypeIndex (Maybe Int64) -> RealSrcSpan -> TypeIndex -> TypeIndexing ()
-addTypeRef (getConn -> conn) hf arr ixs sp = go 0
+addTypeRef hiedb hf arr ixs sp = go 0
   where
     sl = srcSpanStartLine sp
     sc = srcSpanStartCol sp
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@
           indexed <- get
           let isTypeIndexed = ISet.member (fromIntegral occ) (IMap.findWithDefault ISet.empty depth indexed)
           unless isTypeIndexed $ do
-            liftIO $ execute conn "INSERT INTO typerefs VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?)" ref
+            liftIO $ runStatementFor_ (insertTyperefsStatement (preparedStatements hiedb)) ref
             put $ IMap.alter (\case
                   Nothing -> Just $ ISet.singleton (fromIntegral occ)
                   Just s -> Just $ ISet.insert (fromIntegral occ) s
@@ -94,10 +94,10 @@
 makeNc :: IO NameCache
 makeNc = do
 #if __GLASGOW_HASKELL__ >= 903
-  initNameCache 'z' []
+  initNameCache 'r' knownKeyNames
 #else
-  uniq_supply <- mkSplitUniqSupply 'z'
-  return $ initNameCache uniq_supply []
+  uniq_supply <- mkSplitUniqSupply 'r'
+  return $ initNameCache uniq_supply knownKeyNames
 #endif
 
 -- | Recursively search for @.hie@ and @.hie-boot@  files in given directory
diff --git a/test/Main.hs b/test/Main.hs
--- a/test/Main.hs
+++ b/test/Main.hs
@@ -241,7 +241,11 @@
             [ "Span: test/data/Module1.hs:10:8-10"
             , "Constructors: {(HsVar, HsExpr)}"
             , "Identifiers:"
+#if MIN_VERSION_base(4,22,0)
+            , "Symbol:v:not:GHC.Internal.Classes:ghc-internal"
+#else
             , "Symbol:v:not:GHC.Classes:ghc-prim"
+#endif
             , "not defined at <no location info>"
             , "    Details:  Just Bool -> Bool {usage}"
             , "Types:"
