DEV Community

Alex Spinov
Alex Spinov

Posted on

PocketBase Has a Free Backend in a Single File — Database, Auth, and API in One Binary

#backend #database #opensource #go

A weekend project needed a backend. Setting up PostgreSQL, Express, JWT auth, file storage was going to take longer than building the actual app.

PocketBase is a free backend in a single executable file. SQLite database, auth, file storage, real-time subscriptions, admin UI - all in one 15MB binary.

What PocketBase Offers for Free

  • Single Binary - Download one file, run it, done
  • SQLite Database - Collections (tables) with schema editor
  • Authentication - Email/password, OAuth2 providers
  • REST API - Auto-generated CRUD endpoints
  • Real-time - Subscribe to collection changes via SSE
  • File Storage - Upload files with local or S3 storage
  • Admin UI - Beautiful dashboard for managing data
  • Hooks - JavaScript or Go hooks for custom logic
  • Embeddable - Use as a Go library in your own app

Quick Start 

# Download and run
./pocketbase serve
# Admin UI at http://127.0.0.1:8090/_/
# API at http://127.0.0.1:8090/api/
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

GitHub: pocketbase/pocketbase - 42K+ stars

Need to monitor and scrape data from multiple web services automatically? I build custom scraping solutions. Check out my web scraping toolkit or email me at spinov001@gmail.com for a tailored solution.

Top comments (0)