The application layer for PocketBase
Everything you actually wanted from WordPress — server-rendered pages, inline editing, realtime, auth — as one Go binary. No Node, no build step, no second server.
The layer PocketBase was waiting for
PocketBase was never trying to replace WordPress. It replaced everything underneath it — the database, auth, file storage, admin UI, and REST API — so you could build something better on top with dramatically less code. Zimmer Kit is that layer: the application on top of PocketBase that gives you what most teams actually wanted from WordPress, without the weight.
Why are you still using a JavaScript framework with PocketBase?
You chose PocketBase for simplicity: a single binary, realtime, built-in auth, a backend that doesn’t feel like punishment. Then most people immediately bolt on React, SvelteKit, or Next.js — and quietly give many of those benefits away. Zimmer Kit exists to stop that pattern.
See how it worksOne codebase
Frontend and backend live in the same process. The same thing people always liked about WordPress — on a much more modern foundation.
What you actually get
One Go binary
No runtime. No Node in production. No second server, no “frontend on Vercel, backend somewhere else.” You copy one binary and run it.
SPA feel, no framework
Smooth navigation and a modern app feel — without shipping a virtual DOM or a megabyte of JavaScript to every visitor.
Realtime that just works
The database and the app share one process, so live updates are natural. Contact submissions appear instantly. No extra infrastructure.
Full server-side rendering + SEO
Real HTML on every page. Works with JavaScript disabled. Still fast and modern when JavaScript is on.
Dramatically less code
Vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript instead of framework-specific patterns. Less code is less to own and maintain.
Smaller attack surface
Fewer dependencies. No endless Node update cycles. Less that can break, and less that can be exploited.
Extremely efficient
Uses very little RAM. A small VPS runs a real application comfortably — no autoscaling bill.
Flexible auth, built in
Email and password, OAuth, or passwordless one-time codes — already there, sessions and resets included.
You own your data
Your whole database is a single file on a machine you control. Back it up by copying it. No vendor lock-in, no metered bill waiting to spike.
One process owns everything
PocketBase (Go + SQLite) is the backend; HTMX gives you a live frontend with almost no client code. The pages you see are rendered inside the same binary that owns the database, the auth, and the files — no frontend server phoning a backend across the network. Data and markup come from one place, in one round trip.
How it worksThe stack
One binary you copy to a server and run. It even fetches and renews its own HTTPS certificate.
“Sounds like a toy. It’s not.”
That’s the common first reaction — it looks too simple. Then it turns out to cover almost everything most teams actually need to build: the sites, CRUD apps, dashboards, and internal tools that are most of the software we ship.
Talk to usWhat teams say
It looks too simple until you realize it does everything the old five-service stack did — for a fraction of the bill.
My whole ops runbook is a paragraph now. Copy the binary, run it, point a domain at it.
We deleted our entire Node frontend and the site got faster. One process, one file to back up.
Ready to lose the build step?
Self-host it free, or let us host and support it. Either way, there’s no Node in production and nothing to bundle.