podbay.dev — static hosting with a database in the trunk

Deploy a folder,
get a URL.

Point the pods CLI at a directory and it’s live at <name>.podbay.dev. Every site also gets its own JSON document store with a REST API — so your “static” site can have a guestbook, a poll, or a leaderboard without a backend.

Deploy in 3 commands Read the docs

HostingStatic files served at <name>.podbay.dev. All sites are public.
DatabaseA JSON store per site — a dedicated SQLite DB — with a REST API and a zero-dependency browser client at /pods.js.
IdentityPublishing requires GitHub sign-in. Every site is owned by the GitHub account that deployed it.
TokensOne JWT API token that auto-refreshes. No token juggling.

01 / launch sequence

Quick start

Install the CLI

curl -fsSL https://podbay.dev/install.sh | sh

One line, Linux & macOS. Or go install github.com/slopus/pods/cmd/pods@latest, or grab a binary from Releases.
Sign in with GitHub

pods login

Defaults to podbay.dev and opens GitHub device login — you get a short code, authorize it in the browser, done.
Create and deploy

pods init hello && pods deploy hello

That’s it. Your site is live at https://hello.podbay.dev.

Then keep going

pods dev hello # preview locally — live files + in-memory store, no deploy

pods list # every pod in the bay

pods open hello # open it in your browser

PODS_ENDPOINT=https://hello.podbay.dev pods db guestbook create '{"name":"hi"}' # the JSON store is per-site — point at the site host

pods rm hello # gone

02 / in orbit

Live pods3

aaa aaa.podbay.dev by ex3ndr 1 files 1529 B upd 2026-06-11 chess chess.podbay.dev by ex3ndr 5 files 160229 B upd 2026-06-11 hello hello.podbay.dev by admin 1 files 1529 B upd 2026-06-11

03 / flight manual

Docs

Auth model

Reading is public; publishing needs GitHub. Anyone can browse sites, query document stores, and watch event streams. To deploy or delete a site you sign in with GitHub: the CLI runs the GitHub device flow and stores a single JWT, which it refreshes automatically before expiry via POST /api/auth/refresh. Identity is provider-agnostic (user IDs are provider:subject) — GitHub is the only provider today.

Global API https://podbay.dev

Auth & identity
Endpoint	Does	Access
`GET /api/me`	Current user, or `{authenticated:false}` when anonymous (send a bearer JWT or session to identify)	public
`POST /api/auth/github/device/start`	Start device login → `{device_code, user_code, verification_uri, expires_in, interval}`	public
`POST /api/auth/github/device/poll`	Body `{device_code}` → `{token, user}` — the token is your JWT	public
`POST /api/auth/refresh`	Trade a still-valid bearer JWT for a fresh `{token, user}`	auth
`GET /api/auth/login/github`	Browser OAuth login	public

Sites & events
Endpoint	Does	Access
`GET /healthz`	Liveness check → `{"ok":true}`	public
`GET /api/sites`	List all sites	public
`PUT /api/sites/{name}`	Deploy a site — body is a `tar.gz`; name is DNS-label style	auth
`DELETE /api/sites/{name}`	Delete your site (owner only)	auth
`GET /api/events`	SSE stream of all site/doc changes	public

Site API https://<site>.podbay.dev

Every deployed site serves this, same-origin, no setup:

Static files, documents, events
Endpoint	Does	Access
`GET /`	Your static files	public
`GET /api/db`	List collections	public
`GET /api/db/{coll}`	Query docs — `?where=f=v&sort=-f&limit=n&offset=n`	public
`POST /api/db/{coll}`	Create doc; server sets `id`/`created_at`/`updated_at`	public
`GET/PUT/PATCH/DELETE /api/db/{coll}/{id}`	Get / replace / merge / delete a doc	public
`DELETE /api/db/{coll}`	Drop the collection	public
`GET /api/events`	SSE stream scoped to this site	public
`GET /pods.js`	Zero-dependency browser client	public

Browser client

Drop one script tag in any page on your pod — no build step, no npm:

<script src="/pods.js"></script>
<script type="module">
  const pods = Pods();
  const posts = pods.db.collection("posts");
  await posts.create({ title: "hi" });
  const { docs } = await posts.query({ sort: "-created_at", limit: 10 });
</script>

Deploy with curl

No CLI required — the deploy endpoint takes a plain tar.gz:

tar -czf - -C ./site . | curl -X PUT --data-binary @- \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  https://podbay.dev/api/sites/hello

For AI agents

The repo ships a Claude / agent skill at skills/pods/SKILL.md that teaches an AI agent to drive the pods CLI end to end — log in, deploy, and work the document store on your behalf.

Deploy a folder,get a URL.