PocketBase Automation and Hooks

Overview

Use this skill to implement event-driven behavior in PocketBase with predictable side effects.

When to Use

• Record lifecycle hooks and validations
• Realtime subscription flows
• File upload/delete lifecycle behavior
• Webhook or downstream event integration

Workflow

1. Define event contract:

• Trigger source (create/update/delete/auth event)
• Required payload fields
• Side effects and idempotency expectations

2. Implement hook logic:

• Keep hooks deterministic and fast
• Reject invalid state transitions early
• Avoid long blocking network operations inside critical path

3. Realtime design:

• Subscribe to minimal channels/topics
• Handle reconnect and duplicate event delivery
• Unsubscribe on teardown

4. File handling:

• Enforce allowed mime types and max size
• Apply naming and retention policies
• Clean up orphaned file references

5. Observability:

• Log event identifiers and error context
• Track retries and dead-letter behavior for async side effects

6. Handoff:

• API consumers -> pocketbase-api-and-sdk
• Operational hardening -> pocketbase-operations

References

• hooks-patterns.md
• realtime-patterns.md
• file-workflows.md

Common Mistakes

• Non-idempotent hooks causing duplicate side effects
• Heavy network calls in synchronous lifecycle hooks
• Realtime listeners not unsubscribed in long-running clients