Publishing Static Assets

PocketHost instances can host static assets. Upload files to pb_public via SFTP or phio and PocketBase serves them over HTTPS on your instance subdomain or custom domain.

Hosting on PocketHost

Static files from pb_public are served through PocketHost’s edge and cached on the Cloudflare CDN. That is good for performance: repeat visitors get fast responses from the cache.

It also has a downside. A cache miss (first request for a file, or after the cache expires) reaches your instance. If the instance is hibernated, that request wakes it up and counts toward usage. A busy site with many assets, or traffic that regularly misses cache, can keep your instance awake more than you expect.

For small projects, prototypes, or apps where a few cache misses are fine, hosting everything on PocketHost is simple and works well.

Publishing to Cloudflare directly

If you can host your frontend or static assets on Cloudflare (Pages, R2, Workers, or another Cloudflare product that fits your stack), we recommend doing so when it makes sense for your project.

Benefits:

• Static traffic stays on Cloudflare’s CDN and does not wake your PocketHost instance.
• Your PocketBase backend stays idle until API or auth traffic arrives.
• You can split domains cleanly: the app on your main site, the database API on a subdomain.

Suggested DNS layout

Point your main site (or app hostname) at Cloudflare where you deploy static assets. CNAME your PocketHost instance to a backend subdomain, for example:

Host	Target
yoursite.com (or www.yoursite.com)	Your Cloudflare Pages / static host
db.yoursite.com	your-instance.pockethost.io

Add db.yoursite.com as a custom domain on the instance in the dashboard. In your frontend, point the PocketBase client at the backend URL:

import PocketBase from 'pocketbase'

const client = new PocketBase('https://db.yoursite.com')

Configure CORS on PocketBase (or in pb_hooks) so your Cloudflare-hosted origin can call the API.

When to use which

Approach	Good for
pb_public on PocketHost	Small sites, admin-only UIs, hooks-only backends, quick prototypes
Cloudflare + db.* subdomain	SPAs, marketing sites, high static traffic, keeping the instance hibernated between API calls

You can mix both: ship a minimal admin or health page in pb_public and host the main app on Cloudflare.