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    Poor Man's Back End-as-a-Service (BaaS), Similar to Firebase/Supabase/Pocketbase

    (github.com)
    200 points dcu | 12 comments | 03 Jul 25 15:35 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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    CharlesW ◴[03 Jul 25 17:03 UTC] No.44457094[source]▶
    Pocketbase is already the poor man's BaaS, and is minimalist compared to the two others mentioned.

    > Data stored in human-readable CSVs

    The choice to not use a database when two near-perfect tiny candidates exist, and furthermore to choose the notorious CSV format for storing data, is absolutely mystifying. One can use their Wasm builds if platform-specific binaries offend.

    replies(6): >>44457217 #>>44457440 #>>44457602 #>>44459642 #>>44460110 #>>44460962 #
    loeber ◴[03 Jul 25 17:58 UTC] No.44457602[source]▶
    In 2025, pretending that a CSV can be a reasonable alternative to a database because it is "smaller" is just wild. Totally unconscionable.
    replies(5): >>44457929 #>>44458129 #>>44458193 #>>44460475 #>>44464263 #
    r0fl ◴[03 Jul 25 18:56 UTC] No.44458129[source]▶
    I use CSV files to run multiple sites with 40,000+ pages each. Close to 1mil pages total

    Super fast

    Can’t hack me because those CSV files are stored elsewhere and only pulled on build

    Free, ultra fast, no latency. Every alternative I’ve tried is slower and eventually costs money.

    CSV files stored on GitHub/vercel/netlify/cloudflare pages can scale to millions of rows for free if divided properly

    replies(5): >>44458194 #>>44458300 #>>44458419 #>>44458904 #>>44464188 #
    1. vineyardmike ◴[03 Jul 25 19:16 UTC] No.44458300[source]▶
    Can't argue with what works, but...

    All these benefits also apply to SQLite, but SQLite is also typed, indexed, and works with tons of tools and libraries.

    It can even be stored as a static file on various serving options mentioned above. Even better, it can be served on a per-page basis, so you can download just the index to the client, who can query for specific chunks of the database, further reducing the bandwidth required to serve.

    replies(2): >>44459549 #>>44459963 #
    2. deepsun ◴[03 Jul 25 22:04 UTC] No.44459549[source]▶
    Just to be pedantic, SQLite is not really typed. I'd call them type-hints, like in Python. Their (bad IMHO) arguments for it: https://www.sqlite.org/flextypegood.html
    replies(5): >>44459594 #>>44459754 #>>44459913 #>>44459970 #>>44462610 #
    3. edmundsauto ◴[03 Jul 25 22:12 UTC] No.44459594[source]▶
    Don’t you think it’s better in this dimension than CSV though? It seems to me like it’s a strictly better improvement than the other option discussed.
    4. newlisp ◴[03 Jul 25 22:44 UTC] No.44459754[source]▶
    https://www.sqlite.org/stricttables.html
    5. ezekiel68 ◴[03 Jul 25 23:20 UTC] No.44459913[source]▶
    TBH this is why I've never messed with SQLite.

    If I want to bother with a SQL database, I at least want the benefit of the physical layer compressing data to the declared types and PostgreSQL scales down surprisingly well to lower-resource (by 2025 standards) environments.

    replies(1): >>44460265 #
    6. ◴[03 Jul 25 23:27 UTC] No.44459963[source]▶
    7. dragonwriter ◴[03 Jul 25 23:28 UTC] No.44459970[source]▶
    A sibling comment posted a blind link whose contents address this, but (for the benefit of people who aren't likely to follow such links), recent versions of SQLite support STRICT tables which are rigidly typed, if you have a meed tor that instead of the default loose type affinity system.
    8. MobiusHorizons ◴[04 Jul 25 00:36 UTC] No.44460265{3}[source]▶
    How exactly do you anticipate using Postgres on client? Or are you ignoring the problem statement and saying it’s better to run a backend?
    replies(1): >>44460578 #
    9. throwaway032023 ◴[04 Jul 25 02:11 UTC] No.44460578{4}[source]▶
    https://pglite.dev/
    replies(2): >>44465144 #>>44465512 #
    10. fer ◴[04 Jul 25 08:56 UTC] No.44462610[source]▶
    > Just to be pedantic, SQLite is not really typed. I'd call them type-hints, like in Python

    Someone already chimed in for SQLite, so worth mentioning that Python is hard typed, just dynamic. Everyone has seen TypeError; you'll get that even without hints. It becomes particularly obvious when using Cython, the dynamic part is gone and you have to type your stuff manually. Type hints are indeed hints, but for your IDE, or mypy, or you (for clarity).

    It's a bit like saying C++ isn't typed because you can use "auto".

    11. felipeccastro ◴[04 Jul 25 15:01 UTC] No.44465144{5}[source]▶
    Not sure why this was downvoted, but I’d be very interested in learning how well does pglite compares to SQLite (pros and cons of each, maturity, etc)
    12. MobiusHorizons ◴[04 Jul 25 15:43 UTC] No.44465512{5}[source]▶
    Interesting. TIL