ForgeBase
Your own Postgres backend platform, self-hosted on one small server.
- Status
- Open source
- Version
- v1.4.21
- Licence
- AGPL-3.0
- Runs on
- PostgreSQL 17 and PostgREST
Typical self-hosted backend stacks spin up a full set of containers per project, so a handful of projects eats a whole server.
ForgeBase runs every service once, multi-tenant, so a project is just a database, a role and a metadata row.
What ForgeBase does.
Engines
Real engines
Genuine PostgREST for REST, pg_graphql for GraphQL, real Postgres 17. Not reimplementations.
Table and SQL editors
Type-aware cell editing, schema editing with foreign keys, CSV import and export, a SQL editor with autocomplete, visual EXPLAIN and run-as-role.
Data
Auth
Email and password, magic links, OTP, twelve OAuth providers, OIDC and SAML SSO, TOTP MFA, rate limits and leaked-password screening.
Storage
Buckets with quotas, signed URLs, resumable uploads, S3-compatible access and image transformations.
Realtime and webhooks
Row-change streams over WebSockets, named channels with broadcast and presence, outbound webhooks.
Operations
Projects in under a second
Create, pause, resume and delete isolated Postgres databases in about a second. Idle projects sleep and wake on any request.
Backups you can trust
Nightly backups with continuous WAL archiving, point-in-time recovery into a new project, and a verified monthly restore drill.
Small footprint
About 800 MB base. A dozen projects still fit on a 4 GB VPS.
How it runs.
Install on one Linux server. TLS, firewall and fail2ban are set up for you.
Create a project. You get connection strings, a REST and GraphQL API, and JWT keys.
Add auth, storage, realtime and edge functions per project from the same panel.
Branch, back up and restore projects without leaving the server.
ForgeBase gives you the parts of a hosted backend platform, projects, auth, APIs, storage, realtime and branching, on a single server you own. It is open source under AGPL-3.0.
Why it exists
Typical self-hosted backend stacks run a full set of containers for every project, so a handful of projects fills a server. ForgeBase inverts that: every service runs once and is multi-tenant. A project is a database, a role and a metadata row. It costs almost nothing idle and is created in under a second.
What you get per project
A table editor, a SQL editor with an optional AI assistant on your own key, an instant REST and GraphQL API on genuine PostgREST and pg_graphql, auth with a dozen OAuth providers plus SSO and MFA, storage with S3-compatible access, realtime streams, webhooks, edge functions, branches, backups and monitoring. All behind one login with automatic HTTPS.
Operations built in
Nightly backups with continuous WAL archiving and real point-in-time recovery into a new project. A monthly restore drill that verifies the backups actually restore. Firewall and fail2ban configured on install. No SMTP or external object store required to get started.