diff --git a/chdb/dbapi/connections.py b/chdb/dbapi/connections.py
index 0a3ae1fcebc..090aa5500f9 100644
--- a/chdb/dbapi/connections.py
+++ b/chdb/dbapi/connections.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ class Connection(object):
     Accepts several arguments:
 
     :param cursorclass: Custom cursor class to use.
+    :param path: Optional folder path to store database files on disk.
 
     See `Connection <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0249/#connection-objects>`_ in the
     specification.
@@ -25,7 +26,7 @@ class Connection(object):
     _closed = False
     _session = None
 
-    def __init__(self, cursorclass=Cursor):
+    def __init__(self, cursorclass=Cursor, path=None):
 
         self._resp = None
 
@@ -37,11 +38,11 @@ def __init__(self, cursorclass=Cursor):
         self._result = None
         self._affected_rows = 0
 
-        self.connect()
+        self.connect(path)
 
-    def connect(self):
+    def connect(self, path=None):
         from chdb import session as chs
-        self._session = chs.Session()
+        self._session = chs.Session(path)
         self._closed = False
         self._execute_command("select 1;")
         self._read_query_result()
diff --git a/tests/test_dbapi_persistence.py b/tests/test_dbapi_persistence.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ebd21dc0c2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_dbapi_persistence.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+import unittest
+from chdb import dbapi
+
+test_state_dir = ".state_tmp_auxten_dbapi"
+
+class TestDBAPIPersistence(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_persistence(self):
+        conn = dbapi.connect(path=test_state_dir)
+        cur = conn.cursor()
+        cur.execute("CREATE DATABASE e ENGINE = Atomic;")
+        cur.execute("CREATE TABLE e.hi (a String primary key, b Int32) Engine = MergeTree ORDER BY a;")
+        cur.execute("INSERT INTO e.hi (a, b) VALUES (%s, %s);", ["he", 32])
+
+        cur.close()
+        conn.close()
+
+        conn2 = dbapi.connect(path=test_state_dir)
+        cur2 = conn2.cursor()
+        cur2.execute('SELECT * FROM e.hi;')
+        row = cur2.fetchone()
+        self.assertEqual(('he', 32), row)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()
diff --git a/tests/test_issue31.py b/tests/test_issue31.py
index b5b5733ea4b..508b43335f4 100644
--- a/tests/test_issue31.py
+++ b/tests/test_issue31.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
 from timeout_decorator import timeout
 
-csv_url = "https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/datablist/sample-csv-files/main/files/organizations/organizations-2000000.zip"
+csv_url = "https://github.com/chdb-io/chdb/files/14662379/organizations-500000.zip"
 
 
 # download csv file, and unzip it
@@ -33,13 +33,13 @@ def download_and_extract(url, save_path):
 def payload():
     now = time.time()
     res = chdb.query(
-        'select Name, count(*) cnt from file("organizations-2000000.csv", CSVWithNames) group by Name order by cnt desc, Name asc limit 10000',
+        'select Name, count(*) cnt from file("organizations-500000.csv", CSVWithNames) group by Name order by cnt desc, Name asc limit 10000',
         "CSV",
     )
     # calculate md5 of the result
     hash_out = hashlib.md5(res.bytes()).hexdigest()
     print("output length: ", len(res))
-    if hash_out != "423570bd700ba230ccd2b720b7976626":
+    if hash_out != "626be2713f7a26b266d7160f7172ab43":
         print(res.bytes().decode("utf-8"))
         raise Exception(f"md5 not match {hash_out}")
     used_time = time.time() - now
@@ -71,11 +71,11 @@ def handler(signum, frame):
 
 class TestAggOnCSVSpeed(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
-        download_and_extract(csv_url, "organizations-2000000.zip")
+        download_and_extract(csv_url, "organizations-500000.zip")
 
     def tearDown(self):
-        os.remove("organizations-2000000.csv")
-        os.remove("organizations-2000000.zip")
+        os.remove("organizations-500000.csv")
+        os.remove("organizations-500000.zip")
 
     def _test_agg(self, arg=None):
         payload()