Managing Your Instance

Once an instance is running, day-to-day operations — checking status, reading logs, taking backups, exporting data, tearing it down — can be done from the portal or from your terminal.

Two different sets of credentials are involved, and it’s worth keeping them straight:

• Your PocketBase Cloud account manages deployments: pbc deploy, pbc pocketbase, pbc project and the rest, authenticated with pbc login.
• The instance’s superuser manages what’s inside the instance — collections, records, settings, backups: pbc admin use + pbc admin login, or the instance’s own admin panel.

Finding an instance

Using the portal

Open your project and go to the PocketBase tab for the list, then click an instance. The detail page shows its admin email, admin password, admin and API URLs, PocketBase version, and creation date — plus a verified custom domain next to the platform URL when one is set.

Using the CLI

pbc pocketbase ls                    # ID, name, status, domain
pbc pocketbase info --name my-app-db # URL, version, server, superuser login

Inside a directory with a pbc.json binding, drop the --name:

cd db && pbc pocketbase info

pbc pocketbase info --json prints the same fields as JSON, which is the reliable way to script against a deployment.

Reading logs

Using the portal

Open the instance and go to its Logs page — output streams live in the portal.

Using the CLI

pbc logs pocketbase --name my-app-db            # last 50 lines, then exit
pbc logs pocketbase --name my-app-db --lines 500
pbc logs pocketbase --name my-app-db -f         # follow until interrupted

--lines accepts 1–1000. For a backend, use pbc logs backend — frontends are static files and have no logs.

The instance’s own request log (every API call PocketBase served) is separate from container output:

pbc admin use https://my-app-db.pocketbasecloud.com
pbc admin login
pbc admin requests --filter 'status >= 400' -f

Collections, records, and rules

Using the portal

Use the instance’s admin panel at https://<your-instance>.pocketbasecloud.com/_/. The project’s Collections page in the portal also has Export and Import dialogs for moving a schema between instances.

Using the CLI

Point pbc at the instance once, then work against it:

pbc admin use https://my-app-db.pocketbasecloud.com   # saves a profile
pbc admin login                                       # superuser login

pbc admin collections ls
pbc admin records ls posts --filter 'published = true' --sort '-created'
pbc admin rules get posts

pbc admin use --name <profile> saves several instances side by side; --profile <name> picks one per command, and pbc admin whoami shows the active one. See Collections & API Rules for the full command set.

Backups

PocketBase takes backups on the instance itself, so this is a superuser operation rather than an account one.

Using the portal

In the instance’s admin panel, go to Settings → Backups to create, download, restore, or delete a snapshot.

Using the CLI

pbc admin settings backup create              # snapshot now
pbc admin settings backup ls
pbc admin settings backup download <key> --out backup.zip
pbc admin settings backup rm <key>

Backups include uploaded files, so they count against your instance’s storage.

Exporting data

Using the portal

Open the project’s Collections page and use the Export dialog to download your data, or Import to load a file into a collection — the import dialog asks for the target collection and a field mapping.

Using the CLI

There is no collection-level export command. For a full copy of the database, take a backup — it is a complete pb_data archive you can restore onto any PocketBase:

pbc admin settings backup create
pbc admin settings backup download <key> --out data.zip

For collection-level export and import, use the portal’s Export / Import dialogs on the project’s Collections page — an import needs a target collection and a per-field mapping, which the dialog walks you through.

Instance settings

SMTP, S3 file storage, and scheduled jobs live on the instance.

Using the portal

Admin panel → Settings (Mail settings, Files storage, Crons).

Using the CLI

pbc admin settings get                       # everything
pbc admin settings mail                      # SMTP config
pbc admin settings mail set '<json>'
pbc admin settings mail test [email protected]
pbc admin settings s3
pbc admin settings s3 test
pbc admin cron ls
pbc admin cron run <jobId>

Runtime configuration

Dev mode, the hooks pool, and the query timeout are platform-managed settings: they restart the instance when changed and are separate from the instance’s own settings above.

Using the portal

Open the instance and expand Advanced Configuration: Admin Credentials syncs the managed superuser without removing the others, and Runtime Flags edits dev mode, the hooks pool size (1–100), and the query timeout (1–3600 s). A running instance restarts after saving.

Using the CLI

pbc pocketbase config get --name my-app-db
pbc pocketbase config set --name my-app-db --dev true --hooks-pool 20
pbc pocketbase config set --name my-app-db --query-timeout 60

config get prints the three editable flags as JSON. config set needs at least one runtime flag and restarts a running instance. Inside a directory with a pbc.json binding, drop the --name.

Managed superuser

The superuser created at provisioning is managed by the platform, so a rotated or forgotten password can be fixed without the old one.

Using the portal

Open the instance, expand Advanced Configuration → Admin Credentials, enter the email and a new password (at least 12 characters), and save. Other superusers on the instance are left alone.

Using the CLI

pbc pocketbase superuser sync --email [email protected] --password 'new-password-here' --name my-app-db

This adds the account when the email is new and updates it when it exists; other superusers are never removed. pbc admin login with the same credentials keeps working for everything inside the instance.

See Upserting a Superuser Credential for the full guide.

Deleting an instance

Deleting removes the deployment and frees its slot. It cannot be undone — take a backup or an export first.

Using the portal

Open the instance, go to its Delete page, and confirm.

Using the CLI

pbc pocketbase rm --name my-app-db          # asks for confirmation
pbc pocketbase rm --name my-app-db --yes    # scripted

If the directory had a pbc.json binding, rm also clears it from that file. The same pattern works for the rest of your stack: pbc frontend rm, pbc backend rm, and pbc project rm.

Next steps

• Connect a custom domain
• Set up environment variables
• Extend your instance with hooks
• Plans & billing