[PocketBase](https://pocketbase.io) is an open source Go backend, consisting of:
- embedded database (_SQLite_) with **realtime subscriptions**
- built-in **files and users management**
- convenient **Admin dashboard UI**
- and simple **REST-ish API**
**For documentation and examples, please visit https://pocketbase.io/docs.**
> [!WARNING]
> Please keep in mind that PocketBase is still under active development
> and therefore full backward compatibility is not guaranteed before reaching v1.0.0.
## API SDK clients
The easiest way to interact with the API is to use one of the official SDK clients:
- **JavaScript - [pocketbase/js-sdk](https://github.com/pocketbase/js-sdk)** (_browser and node_)
- **Dart - [pocketbase/dart-sdk](https://github.com/pocketbase/dart-sdk)** (_web, mobile, desktop_)
## Overview
### Use as standalone app
You could download the prebuilt executable for your platform from the [Releases page](https://github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/releases).
Once downloaded, extract the archive and run `./pocketbase serve` in the extracted directory.
The prebuilt executables are based on the [`examples/base/main.go` file](https://github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/blob/master/examples/base/main.go) and comes with the JS VM plugin enabled by default which allows to extend PocketBase with JavaScript (_for more details please refer to [Extend with JavaScript](https://pocketbase.io/docs/js-overview/)_).
### Use as a Go framework/toolkit
PocketBase is distributed as a regular Go library package which allows you to build
your own custom app specific business logic and still have a single portable executable at the end.
Here is a minimal example:
0. [Install Go 1.22+](https://go.dev/doc/install) (_if you haven't already_)
1. Create a new project directory with the following `main.go` file inside it:
```go
package main
import (
"log"
"net/http"
"github.com/labstack/echo/v5"
"github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase"
"github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/apis"
"github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/core"
)
func main() {
app := pocketbase.New()
app.OnBeforeServe().Add(func(e *core.ServeEvent) error {
// add new "GET /hello" route to the app router (echo)
e.Router.AddRoute(echo.Route{
Method: http.MethodGet,
Path: "/hello",
Handler: func(c echo.Context) error {
return c.String(200, "Hello world!")
},
Middlewares: []echo.MiddlewareFunc{
apis.ActivityLogger(app),
},
})
return nil
})
if err := app.Start(); err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
```
2. To init the dependencies, run `go mod init myapp && go mod tidy`.
3. To start the application, run `go run main.go serve`.
4. To build a statically linked executable, you can run `CGO_ENABLED=0 go build` and then start the created executable with `./myapp serve`.
> [!NOTE]
> PocketBase embeds SQLite, but doesn't require CGO.
>
> If CGO is enabled (aka. `CGO_ENABLED=1`), it will use [mattn/go-sqlite3](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3) driver, otherwise - [modernc.org/sqlite](https://pkg.go.dev/modernc.org/sqlite).
> Enable CGO only if you really need to squeeze the read/write query performance at the expense of complicating cross compilation.
_For more details please refer to [Extend with Go](https://pocketbase.io/docs/go-overview/)._
### Building and running the repo main.go example
To build the minimal standalone executable, like the prebuilt ones in the releases page, you can simply run `go build` inside the `examples/base` directory:
0. [Install Go 1.21+](https://go.dev/doc/install) (_if you haven't already_)
1. Clone/download the repo
2. Navigate to `examples/base`
3. Run `GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 CGO_ENABLED=0 go build`
(_https://go.dev/doc/install/source#environment_)
4. Start the created executable by running `./base serve`.
Note that the supported build targets by the pure Go SQLite driver at the moment are:
```
darwin amd64
darwin arm64
freebsd amd64
freebsd arm64
linux 386
linux amd64
linux arm
linux arm64
linux ppc64le
linux riscv64
linux s390x
windows amd64
windows arm64
```
### Testing
PocketBase comes with mixed bag of unit and integration tests.
To run them, use the standard `go test` command:
```sh
go test ./...
```
Check also the [Testing guide](http://pocketbase.io/docs/testing) to learn how to write your own custom application tests.
## Security
If you discover a security vulnerability within PocketBase, please send an e-mail to **support at pocketbase.io**.
All reports will be promptly addressed, and you'll be credited accordingly.
## Contributing
PocketBase is free and open source project licensed under the [MIT License](LICENSE.md).
You are free to do whatever you want with it, even offering it as a paid service.
You could help continuing its development by:
- [Contribute to the source code](CONTRIBUTING.md)
- [Suggest new features and report issues](https://github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/issues)
PRs for new OAuth2 providers, bug fixes, code optimizations and documentation improvements are more than welcome.
But please refrain creating PRs for _new features_ without previously discussing the implementation details.
PocketBase has a [roadmap](https://github.com/orgs/pocketbase/projects/2) and I try to work on issues in specific order and such PRs often come in out of nowhere and skew all initial planning with tedious back-and-forth communication.
Don't get upset if I close your PR, even if it is well executed and tested. This doesn't mean that it will never be merged.
Later we can always refer to it and/or take pieces of your implementation when the time comes to work on the issue (don't worry you'll be credited in the release notes).