Features

What slonbase does, by area, with a link to the guide for each. slonbase is a self-hosted backend platform on PostgreSQL: one Rust binary, with the dashboard built in.

#Data and API

• Collections as real tables. Base, auth and view collections with 14 field types, indexes (unique and partial ones too) and relations. Each collection is a table in the slonbase schema: query it with SQL, join it, replicate it. See the API guide.
• A REST API with filtering, sorting, paging, expand for relations, field selection, batch requests in one transaction and clear, field-level validation errors.
• One filter language for queries and for access rules, compiled to parameterized SQL that uses your indexes: relation paths, @request.*, @collection.*.
• View collections from an SQL query, with a live preview while you write it.
• Migrations in JavaScript, each in a transaction, with automigrate (migrations).

#Authentication and access

• Password, OAuth2 (dozens of providers and any OpenID Connect provider), one-time passwords and multi-factor sign-in; verification, password reset and email change; new-device alerts and impersonation.
• Roles for superusers: Owner, Admin, Developer and Viewer, checked on every request, and API keys for scripts and CI, each with a role, an expiry date and allowed IP addresses.
• Per-collection API rules, lockout after failed sign-ins, rate limits with a tester that says which rule a request would meet, CORS, superuser IP restrictions and a maintenance mode.

#Realtime

• Subscriptions over SSE with per-subscriber rules, filters and expand.
• Events for every change to a table, whoever makes it: the API, your own SQL, an auth flow or another program. A trigger on each table announces the write.

#Files

• File fields on disk or any S3-compatible bucket, with thumbnails, protected files and byte ranges; Settings shows where files are, how much room there is and what they take.

#The dashboard

• Live record grids, a record editor in a drawer, a schema editor and diagram, API rules, an API preview per collection, request logs and the health of the installation.
• An SQL console that only reads unless you allow writes, with limits, a schema browser, per-installation history and exports.
• A command center for many projects: requests per minute, errors, latency, data and configuration of every installation on a server (or several), side by side.
• Make it yours: thirteen named accents or a colour of your own, light and dark mode, the application's name and logo everywhere, a sign-in page you lay out yourself and an email designer with a layout, placeholders and a live preview. Each project has its own.

#Projects and scale

• Many projects, one server: each project is an isolated installation with its own users, superusers, collections, settings and files, in a PostgreSQL database of its own, on the main server or another (projects).
• Several instances on one database, behind any load balancer, with no sticky sessions, and optionally behind PgBouncer. Tested layouts, the connection budget and limits are in the scaling guide. Realtime, schema changes, settings and rate limits are shared through PostgreSQL (deployment).

#Operations

• Request logs, Prometheus metrics, and a health page.
• Backups on a schedule or on demand, to disk or S3, optionally encrypted, with one-click restore, and a history of every backup and cron job run: when, how long, how it ended.
• A one-command installer, .deb and .rpm packages from signed repositories, a Docker image and Compose file, and setups for Render, Railway, Fly.io, Coolify and Dokploy (installation, platforms).
• Upgrades tested in place from every release, and a stability promise.

#Extending

• JavaScript hooks, routes, cron jobs, migrations and a query builder, with no build step; PocketBase's hooks run as they are (extending).
• A Rust library API to embed slonbase in your own program.

#Compatibility

• The PocketBase JavaScript and Dart SDKs work against slonbase's API, and slonbase import-pocketbase brings over an existing PocketBase installation, password hashes included (migrating, slonbase and PocketBase).

#Requirements

PostgreSQL 14 or newer (not bundled), and Linux on x86_64 or aarch64 for the release builds. The quickstart takes a bare server to a working backend in a few minutes.