diff --git a/Package.resolved b/Package.resolved
index c161271d..70ec96cd 100644
--- a/Package.resolved
+++ b/Package.resolved
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  "originHash" : "c23a65a671a050ad4a9a14e2506d4c5d127c928aa245e735949f4e4891331401",
+  "originHash" : "df330bfa630916a4bace49aef1473ae4f7471ce413a497590e789c4c8e96937a",
   "pins" : [
     {
       "identity" : "combine-schedulers",
@@ -123,8 +123,8 @@
       "kind" : "remoteSourceControl",
       "location" : "https://github.com/pointfreeco/swift-structured-queries",
       "state" : {
-        "revision" : "8a733f414adc1224c5185c3a35c30ee1ef217171",
-        "version" : "0.36.0"
+        "branch" : "custom-collations",
+        "revision" : "45b057400ecae8599e6ceb4a9f1b113a7170a20e"
       }
     },
     {
diff --git a/Package.swift b/Package.swift
index 50115d26..1593dcbc 100644
--- a/Package.swift
+++ b/Package.swift
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ let package = Package(
     .package(url: "https://github.com/pointfreeco/swift-snapshot-testing", from: "1.18.4"),
     .package(
       url: "https://github.com/pointfreeco/swift-structured-queries",
-      from: "0.36.0",
+      branch: "custom-collations",
       traits: [
         .trait(name: "CasePaths", condition: .when(traits: ["CasePaths"])),
         .trait(name: "ColumnCoding", condition: .when(traits: ["ColumnCoding"])),
diff --git a/Sources/SQLiteData/StructuredQueries+GRDB/CustomCollations.swift b/Sources/SQLiteData/StructuredQueries+GRDB/CustomCollations.swift
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6ca475c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Sources/SQLiteData/StructuredQueries+GRDB/CustomCollations.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+import GRDBSQLite
+public import StructuredQueriesSQLiteCore
+
+#if EXCLUDE_EXPORTS
+  // NB: This 'public import' breaks the '@_exported import'.
+  public import class GRDB.Database
+#endif
+
+extension Database {
+  /// Adds a user-defined `@DatabaseCollation` to a connection.
+  ///
+  /// - Parameter collation: A database collation to add.
+  public func add(collation: some DatabaseCollation) {
+    sqlite3_create_collation_v2(
+      sqliteConnection,
+      collation.name,
+      SQLITE_UTF8,
+      Unmanaged.passRetained(DatabaseCollationDefinition(collation)).toOpaque(),
+      { context, lhsCount, lhs, rhsCount, rhs in
+        switch Unmanaged<DatabaseCollationDefinition>
+          .fromOpaque(context!)
+          .takeUnretainedValue()
+          .collation
+          .compare(
+            UnsafeRawBufferPointer(start: lhs, count: Int(lhsCount)),
+            UnsafeRawBufferPointer(start: rhs, count: Int(rhsCount))
+          )
+        {
+        case .ascending: return -1
+        case .same: return 0
+        case .descending: return 1
+        }
+      },
+      { context in
+        guard let context else { return }
+        Unmanaged<DatabaseCollationDefinition>.fromOpaque(context).release()
+      }
+    )
+  }
+
+  /// Deletes a user-defined `@DatabaseCollation` from a connection.
+  ///
+  /// - Parameter collation: A database collation to delete.
+  public func remove(collation: some DatabaseCollation) {
+    sqlite3_create_collation_v2(
+      sqliteConnection,
+      collation.name,
+      SQLITE_UTF8,
+      nil,
+      nil,
+      nil
+    )
+  }
+}
+
+extension Collation where Self == CanonicalCollation {
+  /// Orders text by Unicode Canonical Equivalence.
+  ///
+  /// This collating sequence orders text the same way as Swift's String type.
+  ///
+  /// > Tip: This collating sequence is automatically installed by
+  /// > ``defaultDatabase(path:configuration:)``. To manually install it, use
+  /// > ``GRDB/Database/add(collation:)``:
+  /// >
+  /// > ```swift
+  /// > configuration.prepareDatabase { db in
+  /// >   db.add(collation: .canonical)
+  /// > }
+  /// > ```
+  public static var canonical: Self { Self() }
+}
+
+/// A collating sequence that orders text by Unicode Canonical Equivalence.
+public nonisolated struct CanonicalCollation: DatabaseCollation, Sendable {
+  public var name: String { "canonical" }
+  public init() {}
+  public func compare(
+    _ lhs: UnsafeRawBufferPointer, _ rhs: UnsafeRawBufferPointer
+  ) -> CollationOrder {
+    #if compiler(>=6.2)
+      if #available(iOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26, watchOS 26, *) {
+        do {
+          let lhsSpan = try UTF8Span(validating: lhs.assumingMemoryBound(to: UInt8.self).span)
+          let rhsSpan = try UTF8Span(validating: rhs.assumingMemoryBound(to: UInt8.self).span)
+          if lhsSpan.isCanonicallyLessThan(rhsSpan) { return .ascending }
+          if rhsSpan.isCanonicallyLessThan(lhsSpan) { return .descending }
+          return .same
+        } catch {
+          return lhs.elementsEqual(rhs)
+            ? .same
+            : lhs.lexicographicallyPrecedes(rhs) ? .ascending : .descending
+        }
+      }
+    #endif
+    return CollationOrder(
+      String(decoding: lhs, as: UTF8.self), String(decoding: rhs, as: UTF8.self)
+    )
+  }
+}
+
+private final class DatabaseCollationDefinition {
+  let collation: any DatabaseCollation
+  init(_ collation: some DatabaseCollation) {
+    self.collation = collation
+  }
+}
diff --git a/Sources/SQLiteData/StructuredQueries+GRDB/DefaultDatabase.swift b/Sources/SQLiteData/StructuredQueries+GRDB/DefaultDatabase.swift
index 2f70021d..63681c69 100644
--- a/Sources/SQLiteData/StructuredQueries+GRDB/DefaultDatabase.swift
+++ b/Sources/SQLiteData/StructuredQueries+GRDB/DefaultDatabase.swift
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@ public func defaultDatabase(
   path: String? = nil,
   configuration: Configuration = Configuration()
 ) throws -> any DatabaseWriter {
+  var configuration = configuration
+  configuration.prepareDatabase { db in
+    db.add(collation: .canonical)
+  }
   let database: any DatabaseWriter
   @Dependency(\.context) var context
   switch context {
diff --git a/Tests/SQLiteDataTests/CustomCollationTests.swift b/Tests/SQLiteDataTests/CustomCollationTests.swift
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d1e3bc75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/SQLiteDataTests/CustomCollationTests.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+import Foundation
+import SQLiteData
+import Testing
+
+@Suite struct CustomCollationsTests {
+  @Table struct Item {
+    var title: String
+  }
+
+  @DatabaseCollation func reversed(_ lhs: String, _ rhs: String) -> CollationOrder {
+    CollationOrder(rhs, lhs)
+  }
+
+  @Test func basics() throws {
+    var configuration = Configuration()
+    configuration.prepareDatabase { db in
+      db.add(collation: $reversed)
+    }
+    let database = try DatabaseQueue(configuration: configuration)
+    let titles = try database.write { db in
+      try db.execute(sql: "CREATE TABLE items (title TEXT NOT NULL)")
+      try db.execute(sql: "INSERT INTO items VALUES ('a'), ('c'), ('b')")
+      return try Item.order { $0.title.collate($reversed) }.fetchAll(db).map(\.title)
+    }
+    #expect(titles == ["c", "b", "a"])
+
+    try database.write { db in
+      db.remove(collation: $reversed)
+    }
+    #expect(throws: (any Error).self) {
+      try database.read { db in
+        _ = try Item.order { $0.title.collate($reversed) }.fetchAll(db)
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Suite(.dependency(\.defaultDatabase, try .database()))
+  struct CanonicalCollationTests {
+    @Dependency(\.defaultDatabase) var database
+
+    @Table struct Item {
+      var title: String
+    }
+
+    @Test func ordering() throws {
+      let titles = ["cafe\u{0301}z", "CAFE", "caf\u{00E9}", "caff", "cafe"]
+      try database.write { db in
+        try Item.insert {
+          for title in titles {
+            Item(title: title)
+          }
+        }
+        .execute(db)
+      }
+      let ordered = try database.read { db in
+        try Item.order { $0.title.collate(.canonical) }.fetchAll(db).map(\.title)
+      }
+      #expect(ordered == titles.sorted())
+    }
+
+    @Test func equality() throws {
+      try database.write { db in
+        try Item.insert {
+          for title in ["caf\u{00E9}", "cafe\u{0301}", "cafe"] {
+            Item(title: title)
+          }
+        }
+        .execute(db)
+      }
+      let matches = try database.read { db in
+        try Item.where { $0.title.collate(.canonical).eq("caf\u{00E9}") }.fetchAll(db)
+      }
+      #expect(matches.count == 2)
+    }
+
+  }
+}
+
+extension DatabaseWriter where Self == DatabaseQueue {
+  fileprivate static func database() throws -> any DatabaseWriter {
+    let database = try SQLiteData.defaultDatabase()
+    try database.write { db in
+      try #sql(
+        """
+        CREATE TABLE "items" ("title" TEXT NOT NULL)
+        """
+      )
+      .execute(db)
+    }
+    return database
+  }
+}