Documentation

Introduction

Modback is a self-hosted Backend-as-a-Service written in Rust. It gives you a Postgres database, an authentication system, file storage, a GraphQL and REST API, and realtime subscriptions — all from a single deployable service.

The API server listens on 8080 and the admin dashboard on 3000. If you haven't installed it yet, start with the install steps on the homepage.

Quick start

Bring the whole stack up, then install the client:

git clone https://github.com/Nuvai/Modback.git
cd Modback
docker-compose up -d

npm install @modback/client

Point a client at the server and you're done:

import { createClient } from '@modback/client'

const modback = createClient({
  url: 'http://localhost:8080',
  apiKey: process.env.MODBACK_KEY,
})

Database

Modback runs PostgreSQL 16 with JSONB, pgvector and pg_trgm enabled. Every table you create gets an auto-generated REST endpoint, and row-level security is enforced by the database itself — so a misconfigured client cannot read another tenant's rows.

// Insert a row
const { data } = await modback
  .from('todos')
  .insert({ title: 'Ship it', completed: false })

// Query with filters
const { data } = await modback
  .from('todos')
  .select('*')
  .eq('completed', false)
  .limit(10)

Authentication

All of the following ship in the core:

• Email and password, with verification
• Magic link (passwordless) sign-in
• OAuth providers — GitHub, Google, Twitter and others
• Multi-factor authentication over TOTP or SMS
• SAML/SSO for enterprise tenants
• JWT session management

Storage

The storage API is S3-compatible and works against six providers without code changes. Objects support priority-based ACL, native replication, TTL auto-expiration and Redis-backed caching.

await modback.storage
  .from('avatars')
  .upload('user-1.png', file)

GraphQL

A schema is generated from your database automatically — types, queries, mutations and subscriptions. An interactive playground is served at /graphql.

query RecentTodos {
  todos(order_by: { created_at: desc }, limit: 5) {
    id
    title
    completed
    owner { email }
  }
}

Realtime

Subscriptions run over WebSocket with sub-10ms latency, and support database change streams, pub/sub, presence tracking and broadcast channels.

modback.channel('todos')
  .on('postgres_changes', { event: '*', table: 'todos' },
    payload => console.log(payload))
  .subscribe()

REST API

Every table is exposed under /rest/v1/<table>. The server issues an OpenAPI document, and Swagger UI is served at /swagger-ui.

curl http://localhost:8080/rest/v1/todos \
  -H "apikey: $MODBACK_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"Ship it","completed":false}'

POST /rest/v1/:table

Insert rows

GET /rest/v1/:table

Select rows, with filters

PATCH /rest/v1/:table

Update matching rows

DELETE /rest/v1/:table

Delete matching rows