Pb Deploy
Production deployment for PocketBase. Use when deploying PocketBase to a server, setting up Docker, configuring systemd, reverse proxy (nginx/Caddy), TLS, SMTP, backups, S3 storage, rate limiting, or hardening for production. Provides ready-to-use configs.
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Content
PocketBase Production Deployment
Single Binary Deployment
PocketBase is a single binary. No runtime dependencies.
# Download
wget https://github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/releases/download/v0.X.X/pocketbase_0.X.X_linux_amd64.zip
unzip pocketbase_*.zip
chmod +x pocketbase
# Run
./pocketbase serve --http="0.0.0.0:8090"Data stored in pb_data/ (SQLite DB, uploaded files, logs).
systemd Service
# /etc/systemd/system/pocketbase.service
[Unit]
Description=PocketBase
After=network.target
[Service]
Type=simple
User=pocketbase
Group=pocketbase
LimitNOFILE=4096
Restart=always
RestartSec=5s
WorkingDirectory=/opt/pocketbase
ExecStart=/opt/pocketbase/pocketbase serve --http="127.0.0.1:8090"
# Security hardening
NoNewPrivileges=true
ProtectSystem=strict
ProtectHome=true
ReadWritePaths=/opt/pocketbase/pb_data /opt/pocketbase/pb_hooks /opt/pocketbase/pb_migrations
PrivateTmp=true
# Memory limit (adjust to your server)
# MemoryMax=512M
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target# Setup
sudo useradd --system --no-create-home pocketbase
sudo mkdir -p /opt/pocketbase
sudo cp pocketbase /opt/pocketbase/
sudo chown -R pocketbase:pocketbase /opt/pocketbase
# Enable & start
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable pocketbase
sudo systemctl start pocketbase
sudo systemctl status pocketbase
# Logs
sudo journalctl -u pocketbase -fFile descriptor limit
For high-traffic deployments, increase the limit:
# In the [Service] section:
LimitNOFILE=65535Also set system-wide in /etc/security/limits.conf:
pocketbase soft nofile 65535
pocketbase hard nofile 65535Go memory limit
For constrained environments:
Environment=GOMEMLIMIT=400MiBDocker
Dockerfile
FROM alpine:latest
ARG PB_VERSION=0.25.0
RUN apk add --no-cache \
unzip \
ca-certificates
# Download and install PocketBase
# NOTE: verify the checksum in production — see https://github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/releases
ADD https://github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/releases/download/v${PB_VERSION}/pocketbase_${PB_VERSION}_linux_amd64.zip /tmp/pb.zip
RUN unzip /tmp/pb.zip -d /pb/ && rm /tmp/pb.zip
# Copy hooks and migrations
COPY ./pb_hooks /pb/pb_hooks
COPY ./pb_migrations /pb/pb_migrations
EXPOSE 8090
CMD ["/pb/pocketbase", "serve", "--http=0.0.0.0:8090"]docker-compose.yml
services:
pocketbase:
build: .
ports:
- "127.0.0.1:8090:8090" # bind to localhost only — expose via reverse proxy
volumes:
- pb_data:/pb/pb_data
- ./pb_hooks:/pb/pb_hooks
- ./pb_migrations:/pb/pb_migrations
restart: unless-stopped
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD", "wget", "--no-verbose", "--tries=1", "--spider", "http://localhost:8090/api/health"]
interval: 30s
timeout: 5s
retries: 3
volumes:
pb_data:Reverse Proxy
Caddy (recommended — auto TLS)
# /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
myapp.com {
reverse_proxy localhost:8090
}That's it. Caddy handles TLS certificates automatically via Let's Encrypt.
nginx
# /etc/nginx/sites-available/pocketbase
server {
listen 80;
server_name myapp.com;
return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}
server {
listen 443 ssl http2;
server_name myapp.com;
ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/myapp.com/fullchain.pem;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/myapp.com/privkey.pem;
ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;
client_max_body_size 50M;
# Block public access to the admin dashboard
location /_/ {
return 403;
}
location / {
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8090;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
# SSE support for realtime
proxy_buffering off;
proxy_cache off;
proxy_read_timeout 3600s;
}
}Critical for realtime: proxy_buffering off and proxy_read_timeout must be set for SSE subscriptions to work.
# Let's Encrypt with nginx
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d myapp.comSMTP Configuration
Configure in Dashboard > Settings > Mail settings, or via hooks:
// pb_hooks/settings.pb.js
onBootstrap(function(e) {
var settings = e.app.settings()
settings.smtp.enabled = true
settings.smtp.host = $os.getenv("SMTP_HOST")
settings.smtp.port = parseInt($os.getenv("SMTP_PORT") || "587")
settings.smtp.username = $os.getenv("SMTP_USER")
settings.smtp.password = $os.getenv("SMTP_PASS")
settings.smtp.tls = true // STARTTLS
// settings.smtp.authMethod = "PLAIN" // or "LOGIN"
settings.meta.senderName = "My App"
settings.meta.senderAddress = "[email protected]"
e.app.save(settings)
return e.next()
})Security Hardening
Superuser MFA
Always enable MFA for superuser accounts in production: Dashboard > Superusers > Auth options > MFA > Enable
Settings encryption key
Encrypt sensitive settings (SMTP passwords, S3 keys) at rest:
./pocketbase serve --encryptionEnv=PB_ENCRYPTION_KEYSet PB_ENCRYPTION_KEY environment variable to a 32+ character random string. Once set, settings are encrypted in the DB. Do not lose this key — you won't be able to decrypt settings without it.
Rate limiting
Built-in rate limiter (enabled by default). Configure in Dashboard > Settings > Rate limits, or:
settings.rateLimits.enabled = true
settings.rateLimits.rules = [
{ label: "*:auth*", maxRequests: 10, duration: 300 }, // 10 auth attempts per 5 min
{ label: "POST:/api/collections/*/records", maxRequests: 50, duration: 60 },
]Hide the Dashboard in production
./pocketbase serve --http="127.0.0.1:8090" # bind to localhost onlyAccess the dashboard only via SSH tunnel:
ssh -L 8090:127.0.0.1:8090 user@serverS3 Storage
For file uploads, offload to S3-compatible storage:
Dashboard > Settings > Files storage > S3
// Or via hooks:
onBootstrap(function(e) {
var settings = e.app.settings()
settings.s3.enabled = true
settings.s3.bucket = $os.getenv("S3_BUCKET")
settings.s3.region = $os.getenv("S3_REGION")
settings.s3.endpoint = $os.getenv("S3_ENDPOINT")
settings.s3.accessKey = $os.getenv("S3_ACCESS_KEY")
settings.s3.secret = $os.getenv("S3_SECRET")
settings.s3.forcePathStyle = true // for MinIO/Backblaze
e.app.save(settings)
return e.next()
})Compatible providers: AWS S3, Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2, MinIO, DigitalOcean Spaces, Wasabi.
Backups
Small databases (< 1GB)
Use the built-in backup feature:
- Dashboard > Settings > Backups
- Or via API:
POST /api/backups - Auto-schedule: configure cron in Dashboard
Large databases
The Dashboard backup uses SQLite's online backup API (locks DB briefly). For large DBs, use:
# sqlite3 .backup command (hot backup, minimal locking)
sqlite3 /opt/pocketbase/pb_data/data.db ".backup '/tmp/backup.db'"
# Then rsync to remote
rsync -avz /tmp/backup.db backup-server:/backups/pocketbase/data-$(date +%Y%m%d).dbNever copy the .db file directly while PocketBase is running — it may be in an inconsistent state.
Backup script
#!/bin/bash
# /opt/pocketbase/backup.sh
set -euo pipefail
BACKUP_DIR="/backups/pocketbase"
DB_PATH="/opt/pocketbase/pb_data/data.db"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
# Hot backup
sqlite3 "$DB_PATH" ".backup '${BACKUP_DIR}/data_${DATE}.db'"
# Also backup pb_data files (uploads, if not using S3)
tar -czf "${BACKUP_DIR}/pb_data_${DATE}.tar.gz" -C /opt/pocketbase pb_data --exclude='pb_data/data.db*'
# Retain last 30 days
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "data_*.db" -mtime +30 -delete
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "pb_data_*.tar.gz" -mtime +30 -delete# Crontab: daily at 2 AM
0 2 * * * /opt/pocketbase/backup.sh >> /var/log/pocketbase-backup.log 2>&1Health Check
curl http://localhost:8090/api/health
# {"code":200,"message":"API is healthy."}Deployment Checklist
- Binary: correct architecture (linux_amd64 / linux_arm64)
- systemd: service enabled, LimitNOFILE set
- Reverse proxy: Caddy or nginx with TLS, proxy_buffering off for SSE
- SMTP: configured and tested (send a test verification email)
- Superuser: strong password + MFA enabled
- Encryption key:
--encryptionEnvset for sensitive settings - Backups: automated daily, tested restore procedure
- Rate limiting: enabled with sane defaults
- File storage: S3 configured if expecting many uploads
- Monitoring: health check endpoint monitored, journalctl logs reviewed
- Firewall: only 80/443 exposed, 8090 bound to localhost
- GOMEMLIMIT: set if on constrained VPS