How To Install PocketBase on Digital Ocean

Prerequisites

• A Digital Ocean account with an Ubuntu droplet (even the smallest $4 option works)
• Basic knowledge of using the command line and SSH
• A domain or subdomain (optional, for accessible URL with SSL)

Steps

• Spin up a Digital Ocean droplet

- Select a standard Ubuntu droplet; any size works for testing

• Download the Linux AMD64 binary

- Visit the PocketBase releases page (e.g., https://github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/releases) - Download the latest linuxamd64 zip file (e.g., pocketbase0.8.0linuxamd64.zip)

• Extract and upload the binary to your droplet

- Unzip the downloaded file on your local machine; it will produce two files: LICENSE and the executable “pocketbase” - Use rsync (or your preferred upload method) to transfer the binary to your droplet directory. For example: • rsync -avz -e ssh /local/path/to/pocketbase root@YOURDROPLETIP:/root/pb - The example above uploads the binary into the /root/pb directory on your droplet.

• Create a systemd service to run PocketBase continually

- Open or create a new service file: • sudo vi /lib/systemd/system/pocketbase.service - Paste in the following content (replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain or subdomain):

-------------------------------------------
     [Unit]
     Description = PocketBase Service
     [Service]
     Type           = simple
     User           = root
     Group          = root
     LimitNOFILE    = 4096
     Restart        = always
     RestartSec     = 5s
     StandardOutput = append:/root/pb/errors.log
     StandardError  = append:/root/pb/errors.log
     ExecStart      = /root/pb/pocketbase serve --http="yourdomain.com:80" --https="yourdomain.com:443"
     [Install]
     WantedBy = multi-user.target
     -------------------------------------------

• Save and close the file.

- Enable and start the service: • sudo systemctl enable pocketbase.service --now

• Assign a readable URL

- Instead of using an IP address, point your domain/subdomain to the droplet’s IP by configuring DNS via Digital Ocean’s networking tools (see DigitalOcean docs for adding domains) - PocketBase’s built-in HTTPS handling (via Let’s Encrypt) will work when your actual domain name is used in the service config.

• Backup your PocketBase data

- PocketBase stores data in the pbdata directory (by default in /root/pb/pbdata/) - For regular backups, consider using a tool like rclone combined with a cron job to periodically sync your pb_data folder to backup storage (such as DO Spaces) - Alternatively, tools like Litestream (for SQLite backups) can be explored

Tips

• Make sure to leave SSH (port 22) open when configuring UFW/firewall rules. For example: sudo ufw allow 22/tcp
• Although some may suggest using nginx or Apache as a reverse proxy, PocketBase includes its own HTTP/HTTPS server with automated certificate provisioning; you don’t need an additional web server for basic setups.
• Test your installation locally before deploying to production by running:

• ./pocketbase serve This will start a local server on 127.0.0.1:8090 for exploration.

Next Steps

• Monitor the logs in /root/pb/errors.log to catch any issues early
• Experiment with PocketBase features locally and adjust your production configuration as needed
• Enhance security (e.g., update system packages, restrict file permissions) for a production environment