How PocketBase Lets You Spin Up a Full Backend in Minutes

Introduction

PocketBase is an open‑source backend platform written in Go that combines an embedded SQLite database, real‑time subscriptions, built‑in authentication, file storage, an admin dashboard, and automatically generated REST APIs into a single binary. It aims to let front‑end or full‑stack developers obtain a complete backend service in minutes, so they can focus on business logic and user experience.

Core Features

Embedded Database: Uses SQLite with data stored in a single file, eliminating the need for a separate database server.

Authentication: Supports email/password and OAuth2 providers (Google, Facebook, GitHub, etc.), includes JWT tokens and password‑reset flows.

File Storage: Offers local storage or S3‑compatible cloud storage with access‑control policies.

Realtime Data Sync: Implements WebSocket and SSE for real‑time subscriptions; clients can listen to record‑level or collection‑wide changes such as creates, updates, and deletes.

Built‑in Admin UI: Visual interface for managing collections, user permissions, files, and API logs, and can generate API documentation automatically.

Automatic API Generation: Generates RESTful endpoints directly from the data model.

Frontend Framework Integration: Provides JavaScript and Dart SDKs that work with Angular, React, Vue, Flutter, Svelte and other popular frameworks.

Quick Start

Download the pre‑compiled binary for your platform from the official website or the GitHub Releases page, unzip it, and run a single command: ./pocketbase serve When the service starts for the first time, it automatically opens a setup page in the browser to create the initial super‑admin account. After that, a fully functional backend with database, API, and admin console is running locally at http://127.0.0.1:8090.

Using PocketBase as a Library

If you prefer to embed PocketBase in a Go program, the minimal example below shows how to create an app instance, add custom routes or hooks, and start the server.

package main

import (
    "log"
    "github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase"
)

func main() {
    app := pocketbase.New()
    // Add custom routes or hooks here
    if err := app.Start(); err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
}

Interface Preview

The admin UI provides sections for user management, API configuration, file storage, and backup/restore. Screenshots illustrate each area:

Open‑Source Repository

https://github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase