Developers, system administrators, tech enthusiasts, today I will introduce you PocketBasea complete backend solution that will save you hours of configuration and development. And the best part is that everything fits in a single executable file!
No more need to juggle different services, configure containers, manage complex dependencies since PocketBase offers a radically different approach: a minimalist but complete backend, which integrates everything you need to quickly start your projects.
First things first: PocketBase is written in Gowhich gives it excellent performance and portability. So, in this small binary available under macOS, Windows and Linux, several features are hidden:
- A SQLite database embedded with real-time subscription support
- A interface d’administration quite pleasant
- A complete system of user and file management
- A API REST
But don't be fooled by its apparent simplicity because PocketBase hides its game well! Let's take a concrete example. Here's how to create a collection and interact with it via JavaScript:
import PocketBase from 'pocketbase'; const pb = new PocketBase('http://127.0.0.1:8090'); // Création d'un nouvel enregistrement const record = await pb.collection('articles').create({ title: 'Mon super article', content: 'Un contenu passionnant...' }); // Souscription aux changements en temps réel pb.collection('articles').subscribe('*', function (e) { console.log('Nouvel article :', e.record); }); Like that, in a few lines of code, you already have a functional blog system with real-time updates!
One of the strengths of PocketBase lies above all in its flexibility. You can use it in two ways:
- As a standalone application: download the binary, launch it, and configure everything via the administration interface.
- Like a Go framework: import it into your code to add your own specific functionality.
Now let's talk performance. On a modest virtual machine with 4 bullets per month (i.e. 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM), PocketBase can manage more than 10,000 simultaneous connections in real time. Not bad for such a small tool, right?
And deployment is disarmingly simple. You download the binary to your server and run the command:
./pocketbase serve
That's all! No dependencies to install, no database to configure, no web server to configure. Everything is included and ready to use. A demo is available here for those who want.
For authentication, PocketBase supports more than 15 OAuth2 providers: Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, GitHub… Configuration is done in a few clicks in the administration interface.
Here are some project ideas you could do with PocketBase:
- And CMS headless for your blog or showcase site
- A API backend for your mobile application
- And chat system in real time
- A content management platform for your business
- And backend for multiplayer game light
PocketBase particularly shines in scenarios where you need to quickly start a project, minimize infrastructure costs, maintain a simple code base, or have a hassle-free deployment
Of course, PocketBase is not the ideal solution for all use cases. If you need massive horizontal scalability or very specific functionality, you may need to look to more traditional solutions. But for the vast majority of small to medium sized projects, it's an excellent choice.
When it comes to security, PocketBase is not left out since the granular permissions system allows you to precisely control who can do what with your data. You can therefore define complex access rules directly in the administration interface.
And for development, official SDKs are available for JavaScript/TypeScript and Dart, which covers a wide range of platforms: web, mobile, desktop. The documentation is clear and well structured, with many practical examples.
A final tip: Start small. Create a simple test project to familiarize yourself with the tool and you'll be surprised how quickly you can get a complete, working application up and running.
Thanks to Lorenper for sharing this info!
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