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Pocketbase – open-source realtime back end in 1 file

pocketbase.io

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Re: Pocketbase – open-source realtime back end in 1 file

#151

Opened the link, went to the live app, read the first page of documentation and still doesn't know what this is. Calls itself an "open source backend". A backend for what? Where does it fits in my application architecture? If it's a backend, can I write business rules in it? Is it a framework?

It's the first thing on the linked page:

Realtime database Authentication File storage Admin dashboard

Re: Pocketbase – open-source realtime back end in 1 file

#152

Opened the link, went to the live app, read the first page of documentation and still doesn't know what this is. Calls itself an "open source backend". A backend for what? Where does it fits in my application architecture? If it's a backend, can I write business rules in it? Is it a framework?

I read their webpage instead of the first page of documentation and got a pretty good idea of what it was, perhaps their documentation is too in the weeds for the overview you’re looking for?

Personally I’d describe it as an alternative to firebase, if you’re familiar with that.

Re: Pocketbase – open-source realtime back end in 1 file

#153
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a respectfully and humbly written comparison page. Ditto for their Supabase comparison. I can't rate the objectivity since I know very little about TrailBase but they got my attention now. It brings me such joy to see such a writeup in a world where humility is perceived as weakness. Kudos.

> It brings me such joy to see such a writeup in a world where humility is perceived as weakness. I think the trend will shift in the opposite direction with advancement of all the genAI tools. On a personal level, my reading time has reduced. Unless I know/respect the author, I don't bother reading genAI slop.

Let us be happy about this without the doom and gloom about the future creeping in!

Re: Pocketbase – open-source realtime back end in 1 file

#154

I'm a huge fan of Pocketbase. Backing up the sqlite though had me more stressed than I'd prefer, and I wanted a plug-and-play way to sqlite3_rsync a backup while Pocketbase was running: so I've been working on this: https://sqlrsync.com . MVP works. Billing isn't being checked yet (be gentle but it's Cloudflare Durable Objects underneath so it should be local, fast, and resilient.) Would love feedback from anyone ope…

Love seeing the love for SQLite. Personally, I've had a great experience with litestream, which will continuously replicate any changes. Are you using https://sqlite.org/rsync.html ?

Litestream is excellent however I wanted something that I could spin up faster without as much finickyneess as setting g up and securing new S3 credentials, and ideally a way to broadcast out updates.

For example I have a sqlite db in my userdir on most servers I (personally) ssh into with "things I'd like to remember" (using dnote for spaced reptition). When I make a change to that file using "dnote", sqlrsync waits until changes stop, performs the sqlite3_rsync, and Cloudflare sends a websocket message to subscribers of that file (me on other servers) to pull down updates when they can.

I'd also like to add "dead man's alarms", etc. So it's bells and whistles around an easier-to-use sqlite.org/rsync.

Re: Pocketbase – open-source realtime back end in 1 file

#155

I see Pocketbase, I upvote. Using it in a few production apps and it's been a very solid experience. Some breaking changes from time to time, but generally very solid. Also has a lot of extensibility built in. Sometimes you might hit a scenario where it doesn't provide what you need, which is when things can get a bit hairy, but nothing a skilled dev can't work around.

> nothing a skilled dev can't work around. Agreed. Loved this FAQ notice: "If you don't have the time to at least skim through the documentation and you plan to solely rely on some AI tool, then please do NOT use PocketBase!"

Yap, not famous enough to train AI on it

Re: Pocketbase – open-source realtime back end in 1 file

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the differences between sqlrsync and litestream?

There’s a high level comparison here [1] but it doesn’t go into much detail about the architecture decisions. TLDR; litestream is continuous, sqlitersync is run as a command.

Here's the page threecheese meant to link: https://sqlrsync.com/help/alternatives

This is the very high level architecture: https://sqlrsync.com/help/architecture

Source code to the client which explains the code running on your system and how I use safe(r) sqlite3 APIs to copy a running database: https://github.com/sqlrsync/client

Re: Pocketbase – open-source realtime back end in 1 file

#157

I'm a huge fan of Pocketbase. Backing up the sqlite though had me more stressed than I'd prefer, and I wanted a plug-and-play way to sqlite3_rsync a backup while Pocketbase was running: so I've been working on this: https://sqlrsync.com . MVP works. Billing isn't being checked yet (be gentle but it's Cloudflare Durable Objects underneath so it should be local, fast, and resilient.) Would love feedback from anyone ope…

Sorry if my question is misguided: did you try SQLite3's native online backup API? I would not use raw file access knowing they have that.

I'm aware of it but was wanted to create something that I can just quickly point at a running system and make a backup. This is a narrower use case and I accept that it's not for everyone.

Re: Pocketbase – open-source realtime back end in 1 file

#158
post #75

I love it and use it for personal projects and internal tools. I tend to combine it with https://pocketpages.dev/ which gives me file-based routing and nice templates. Ah, and Pocketbase has automatic database migrations, so all schema modifications can go into version control. I even hacked a Gemini protocol server into it, so that I can browse my personal knowledge graph using Lagrange.

May I know how's Pocketbase performance demand? I am thinking of hosting it on a Raspberry Pi 5 at home. Any limitations you find unusual/notable compared to standard Supabase?

Re: Pocketbase – open-source realtime back end in 1 file

#159

Postbase uses PostgreSQL and BetterAuth. No GUI yet, but it's in the plan and will be called Admin (Panel). I had the same instinct of using SQLite, but then, after a bit of research, PostgreSQL seemed a better alternative for serious projects.

Postbase, in contrast to PocketBase, doesn’t seem ready for primetime : ” Brand new project launched 02 Nov 2025, this is boiler plate but working! Expect heavy changes coming every few hours until stable Mostly all code is ChatGPT generated but manually tested by human.”

So does Pocketbase

"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."

Re: Pocketbase – open-source realtime back end in 1 file

#160
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heh. I wasn't aware that there was a new definition of realtime. My 40+ year career consisted of about 20% realtime embedded firmware development. In all of my experience, 100ms is an absurdly long delay. Most RTOSs (that call themselves such) have latency measured in μs. The last serious RTOS that I wrote (MSP430, non-preemptive) had a firm requirement that any task must complete within 1ms. That one ran on a single…

Well Pocketbase isnt embedded firmware.

And yet they claim to be "embedded performant."
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