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DocsGetting StartedCreating a Project

Creating a Project

Projects are the top-level container for all your deployments. Each project can contain PocketBase instances, backends, and frontends.

Step 1: Sign up

Head to the PocketBase Cloud portal and sign in with your Google account. That’s the only step — no email verification, no password to remember.

Signing up happens in the portal; the CLI authenticates an account that already exists, with pb cloud login.

Step 2: Choose a plan

To start deploying, pick a plan from the Plan page in the sidebar:

  • Free ($0/month) — includes 1 PocketBase instance and frontend hosting. A Stripe subscription is required to collect payment information and prevent abuse. You won’t be charged.
  • Starter ($5/month) — includes 1 PocketBase instance, frontend hosting, dedicated server cluster, and custom domains. No trial.
  • Pro ($20/month flat) — your own dedicated compute (2 vCPU) in a region you choose, backend hosting (Node.js/Next.js/Deno/Bun), and effectively unlimited PocketBase instances, backends, and frontends.
  1. Go to the Plan page in the sidebar
  2. Click Subscribe on your chosen plan
  3. Complete checkout via Stripe

Checkout runs in the portal — the CLI has no payment flow. From the terminal, pb cloud whoami reports which plan you’re on and pb cloud upgrade prints the link to change it.

Step 3: Create a project

Using the portal

  1. Navigate to Projects in the sidebar
  2. Click New Project
  3. Enter a project name (e.g., my-saas-app)
  4. Click Create

Using the CLI

Install the CLI first — see Installing the CLI.

pb cloud login                  # opens your browser
pb cloud project create my-app
pb cloud project use my-app     # make it the default for later commands
pb cloud project ls             # confirm

project use sets a machine-wide default. Directories containing a pb.json (written by pb cloud link or by the first deploy) resolve to their own project instead, so a repo can target a different project than your shell default. Pass --project <id> to override either.

Your project is now ready. From here you can deploy PocketBase instances, backends, and frontends.

Templates

The Projects page in the portal also offers templates — a full stack (PocketBase instance + backend + frontend, pre-wired with environment variables) deployed in one click. Templates are a portal feature; from the CLI you deploy one directory per resource, which the local development guide walks through.

Next steps

NextInstalling the CLI →