PocketBase

Infrastructure

self-hosted backend

SHOW HN2022

563points
111comments
#40of 2,570 in 2022
Top 2%of 2022 by points

How HN took it

MixedNo clear lean

26 positive, 30 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 8 critical, out of 65 comments about the project. Thread score +0.35.

Idea: 8 for, 0 againstDocs: 0 for, 7 againstDesign: 2 for, 0 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 againstExecution: 1 for, 0 against

The thread, comment by comment

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

What HN said

What people liked

  • Polished documentation and website

    From 2 comments
    • This here is some quality work top to bottom, including the documentation and the website.
      Comevius on HN
    • Very nice, I thought it was a basic wrapper around SQLite but then realized it actually had more features then that, such as it's own admin dashboard. Then I realized you built…
      Xeoncross on HN
  • Useful for rapid prototyping and local development

    From 2 comments
    • This looks like a great solution for rapid prototyping scenarios where you want a basic CRUD backend with as little friction as possible. The API preview feature in the admin…
      segphault on HN
    • This is fantastic work. Supabase local development has always been a pain.
      ilrwbwrkhv on HN
  • Go backend makes it easy to integrate custom code

    From 1 comment
    • I really like this. All my current projects use Go as a backend and I definitely need my own routes and business logic, so PocketBase looks way easier to integrate into my…
      Wronnay on HN

Objections

  • Description of 'backend' and terms like 'backed-in files' are unclear

    From 1 comment
    • feedback: re the site: i have no idea what you mean by a "backend". If it's got a "admin dashboard" it's got a UI which means it's got a front-end which means it's not a backend.…
      masukomi on HN
  • Calling it realtime is misleading

    From 1 comment
    • Nice but my super anal quip is please don't call this thing "realtime". It doesn't make sense in this context. What is realtime about it? Are there timing guarantees or are…
      abraxas on HN
  • Single SQLite server means no horizontal scaling

    From 2 comments
    • You may want to check Supabase or Nhost in that case. PocketBase was specifically designed to be self-contained and running only on a single server.
      randomwebdev on HN
    • Other than some json functions, PocketBase doesn't use too much SQLite specific features, but I don't plan adding support for other databases at the moment. Please also note that…
      randomwebdev on HN

Requests

  • Postgres support

    From 2 comments
    • I would love it. But: postgres, +backups, +replica managment. Basically a managed database for postgres in a container.
      roguas on HN
    • Sweet. How tightly is this coupled to SQLite? I’d like to embed Dolt [0] instead, specifically for the Dolthub-backed collaboration model. [0] https://github.com/dolthub/dolt
      pbronez on HN
  • Index creation in admin UI

    From 1 comment
    • Currently you cannot create indexes through the admin UI, but it's in my todo. As an alternative, you can always create indexes through DB migrations or add the index directly…
      randomwebdev on HN
  • Client SDKs for mobile platforms

    From 1 comment
  • Litestream integration for backups

    From 1 comment
    • This is cool. I think it would also be neat to have option to have Litestream [1] integration so that users can use this without any persistent volume or worry about back ups [1]…
      creakingstairs on HN

Questions

  • How realtime subscriptions are implemented

    From 1 comment
    • How are the real time subscriptions with SQLite achieved? Is this a feature of SQLite itself or something that PocketBase itself implements on top of it?
      oakesm9 on HN
  • Offline client support

    From 1 comment
  • Comparison with Ory Kratos

    From 1 comment
    • Congrats! What a lovely project. What a fantastic job! Question: I am currently evaluating Ory/Kratos as authentication backend for a side project. Ory Kratos is a mature and…
      asmutalix on HN

Alternatives named

  • Supabase

    From 2 comments
    • PocketBase is a small open source project that I've been working for the last couple of months. You could think of PocketBase as a lightweight Firebase/Supabase alternative. In…
      randomwebdev on HN
    • You may want to check Supabase or Nhost in that case. PocketBase was specifically designed to be self-contained and running only on a single server.
      randomwebdev on HN
  • Firebase

    From 1 comment
    • It's a lightweight replacement for Firebase. I That's why it is described as a backend, because it's primary feature is to act as a data store. If don't understand what a project…
      sangnoir on HN
  • Appwrite

    From 1 comment
    • For anyone curious, another popular open-source backend as a service is AppWrite: https://appwrite.io/ I've tried them out for some dummy projects and they seem pretty great, and…
      benkaiser on HN
  • Nhost

    From 1 comment
    • You may want to check Supabase or Nhost in that case. PocketBase was specifically designed to be self-contained and running only on a single server.
      randomwebdev on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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