diff --git a/cmd/litestream/replicate.go b/cmd/litestream/replicate.go
index 7c0403b..1973183 100644
--- a/cmd/litestream/replicate.go
+++ b/cmd/litestream/replicate.go
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ func (c *ReplicateCommand) Run(ctx context.Context) (err error) {
 // Close closes all open databases.
 func (c *ReplicateCommand) Close() (err error) {
 	for _, db := range c.DBs {
-		if e := db.SoftClose(); e != nil {
+		if e := db.Close(); e != nil {
 			log.Printf("error closing db: path=%s err=%s", db.Path(), e)
 			if err == nil {
 				err = e
diff --git a/db.go b/db.go
index dd33d7e..b7a31eb 100644
--- a/db.go
+++ b/db.go
@@ -291,20 +291,9 @@ func (db *DB) Open() (err error) {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// Close releases the read lock & closes the database. This method should only
-// be called by tests as it causes the underlying database to be checkpointed.
+// Close flushes outstanding WAL writes to replicas, releases the read lock,
+// and closes the database.
 func (db *DB) Close() (err error) {
-	return db.close(false)
-}
-
-// SoftClose closes everything but the underlying db connection. This method
-// is available because the binary needs to avoid closing the database on exit
-// to prevent autocheckpointing.
-func (db *DB) SoftClose() (err error) {
-	return db.close(true)
-}
-
-func (db *DB) close(soft bool) (err error) {
 	db.cancel()
 	db.wg.Wait()
 
@@ -325,7 +314,7 @@ func (db *DB) close(soft bool) (err error) {
 				err = e
 			}
 		}
-		r.Stop(!soft)
+		r.Stop(true)
 	}
 
 	// Release the read lock to allow other applications to handle checkpointing.
@@ -335,9 +324,7 @@ func (db *DB) close(soft bool) (err error) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	// Only perform full close if this is not a soft close.
-	// This closes the underlying database connection which can clean up the WAL.
-	if !soft && db.db != nil {
+	if db.db != nil {
 		if e := db.db.Close(); e != nil && err == nil {
 			err = e
 		}
@@ -392,8 +379,9 @@ func (db *DB) init() (err error) {
 	dsn := db.path
 	dsn += fmt.Sprintf("?_busy_timeout=%d", BusyTimeout.Milliseconds())
 
-	// Connect to SQLite database.
-	if db.db, err = sql.Open("sqlite3", dsn); err != nil {
+	// Connect to SQLite database. Use the driver registered with a hook to
+	// prevent WAL files from being removed.
+	if db.db, err = sql.Open("litestream-sqlite3", dsn); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
@@ -1419,7 +1407,7 @@ func applyWAL(ctx context.Context, index int, dbPath string) error {
 	}
 
 	// Open SQLite database and force a truncating checkpoint.
-	d, err := sql.Open("sqlite3", dbPath)
+	d, err := sql.Open("litestream-sqlite3", dbPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/db_test.go b/db_test.go
index b7eb54b..ef82987 100644
--- a/db_test.go
+++ b/db_test.go
@@ -270,8 +270,8 @@ func TestDB_Sync(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Fatal(err)
 		}
 
-		// Verify WAL does not exist.
-		if _, err := os.Stat(db.WALPath()); !os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		// Remove WAL file.
+		if err := os.Remove(db.WALPath()); err != nil {
 			t.Fatal(err)
 		}
 
diff --git a/litestream.go b/litestream.go
index c895ac3..3fa3474 100644
--- a/litestream.go
+++ b/litestream.go
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
+
+	"github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3"
 )
 
 // Naming constants.
@@ -42,6 +44,25 @@ var (
 	ErrChecksumMismatch = errors.New("invalid replica, checksum mismatch")
 )
 
+var (
+	// LogWriter is the destination writer for all logging.
+	LogWriter = os.Stdout
+
+	// LogFlags are the flags passed to log.New().
+	LogFlags = 0
+)
+
+func init() {
+	sql.Register("litestream-sqlite3", &sqlite3.SQLiteDriver{
+		ConnectHook: func(conn *sqlite3.SQLiteConn) error {
+			if err := conn.SetFileControlInt("main", sqlite3.SQLITE_FCNTL_PERSIST_WAL, 1); err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("cannot set file control: %w", err)
+			}
+			return nil
+		},
+	})
+}
+
 // SnapshotIterator represents an iterator over a collection of snapshot metadata.
 type SnapshotIterator interface {
 	io.Closer