What does it actually do? Yes, I know what a backend is - and the backends I write have hundreds to thousands of lines of code that do very specific things. How can that be eliminated? What types of applications can be built with these tools?

It's meant to be a Firebase / Supabase alternative.

Yes, you can always build a better backend yourself if you know what you're doing, or you can go from zero to having a proper auth (username/password, 0auth providers, one-time emails, multi-factor) to plug into by running a binary.

Unlike Firebase, you can run it anywhere. Unlike Supabase, you don't need 10+ containers to do so.

It does the same things a typical CRUD backend does (REST/realtime API, authentication, authorization, validation, etc.). For example, you could use it when building a simple todo mobile app that syncs your data in the cloud. The catch is that the moment your requirements fall outside what the system supports, you are more or less f*cked.

While that may be true, it is worth seriously checking the docs and working out what requirements you have or might have. Pocketbase does an awesome job of providing extensibility, likely most of the stuff you want that’s not fully out of the box can be added in 20 lines of code or so.

So, that sits firmly where Django/Rails are at, except that you use a GUI rather than code to define the models? I suppose that lowers the bar ever so slightly, because any management rule or business logic is still deferred to a proper framework/programming language. Seems very niche and limiting, all things considered.

No you can setup everything (models and db migrations) with code, no need to use the gui, it's just here for "convienence" if you want it

I wouldn't group it with Django. It's a very simple but also well-done CMS. It is not as capable as something like Wagtail, Payload, or Craft.

I’m not quite sure what your point is, but it’s designed as a friendly but powerful GUI to quickly get a backend up and running.

It might not fit your use case, which is fine, but there are a lot of use cases it does fit, and my original point was that it’s more than you might think.

I wouldn’t really describe it as niche and limiting though, that sounds quite dismissive of what is actually a pretty impressive piece of software.

It’s niche and limiting in the same way that Supabase and Firebase are niche and limiting.

Looking at the examples on the front page it reminds me even more about Parse.